The Black Alumni Reunion (BAR) Planning Committee was a project to engage an entire alumni community through a committee of 14 volunteer leaders. OU's initiative to turn over the planning of an entire three-day reunion to volunteer leaders was a significant departure from standard practice but served to wholly engage those leaders, empower the entire black alumni community and largely repair a broken relationship.
From the Judges' Report
While the Ohio University Black Alumni Reunion has demonstrated the ability to achieve successful engagement and collaboration between alumni volunteers and the institution, the program has not gone beyond current benchmarks set by previous affinity programs. Many alumni associations and affinity groups have very similar experiences in varying sizes and scopes. However, what the committee was impressed with was how the volunteers came together to overcome some very challenging obstacles in working with the University, as well as negative sentiments among Black alumni. Please continue to work with the OU administration as partners and not adversaries, and keep working to engage your alumni to come back to campus and contribute to the social and educational ecosystem.
