WACO (October 27, 2009)—Interim Baylor University president Dr. David Garland Tuesday withdrew the university’s proposal that the school’s alumni association cease to function as an independent organization and become part of “an integrated alumni relations office” operated by the school.

Faculty and staff members were advised in an e-mail sent just after 5 p.m. Tuesday that the proposal had been withdrawn.

In a letter to association president David Lacy, Garland said the university has received no formal response to the proposal, but instead “we have seen opinion editorials from your president and executive vice president, criticizing our proposal, the University and its government bodies.”

“We have not seen a single instance in which you have publicly discussed the merits of the proposal directly and the impact it could have enhancing national alumni relations at Baylor,” Garland wrote.

“From our perspective, it was a sincere proposal to establish a new, energized well funded and focused alumni relations effort designed to better serve our alumni and the Baylor family,” Garland wrote.

A representative of the school’s Board of Regents made the proposal to association members during the group’s meeting over Parent’s Weekend in September.

Regents and Baylor officials united behind the plan, which they said would make the school’s alumni outreach efforts more effective.

Supporters argued that the integration was consistent with the practices of most other private universities, but many alumni association members bristled at the suggestion the group give up its independent status.

The association has maintained its independence from the university since the organization was formed in 1859.

Had the association accepted the proposal, it would have meant that its magazine, “The Baylor Line,” would have been absorbed by the school and would have been published under the supervision of university officials at a time when Regents are in the process of selecting a new president.

“It is now evident that these regents, who are accountable only to themselves and have the sole authority to hire Baylor's president, believe that control of all communications with alumni is more important to Baylor's future than such principles as editorial freedom and independent support,” said Jeff Kilgore, the association’s executive vice president and CEO in a message posted on the organization’s Web site.

There has been friction between the group and the university since the era of President Robert B. Sloan Jr. when the association took issue with some of the elements of Baylor's ambitious 2012 plan.

Sloan dropped a service contract with the alumni group for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, forcing the organization to become fully independent.

The contract was later restored, but, in 2007, Sloan's successor Dr. John Lilley pulled funding from the Alumni Association's annual operating budget.