Student Alumni Council History
The Student Alumni Council was established in the fall of 1972 as the President's Student Development Council (PSDC) by the president of the college, Msgr. Terrence J. Murphy. Msgr. Murphy received the idea for the council during a meeting with Fr. Reinert of St. Louis University.
According to Fr. Reinert, the idea for the Student Development Council at St. Louis University came from an effort on the part of students at SLU to solicit a grant for the university that had been originally pursued by the development office but was turned down because the donor, who had given for several years, did not like what he was hearing about student activism in response to the Vietnam War. The students called upon him and changed his mind. Soon after, a group of about 100 select St. Louis University students were formed to represent the university at meetings with alumni, potential donors, and friends of the university.
Knowing that the College of St. Thomas would benefit from a similar group, Msgr. Murphy wrote to his St. Thomas colleagues Donald Leyden (Vice-President for Administration), James Keenan (Director of Development) and William Malevich (Dean of Students) and requested that such a group be formed. Composed of articulate and "presentable" students, the group would be used at college social functions and in the recruitment of new students. Msgr. Murphy wrote, "The students should represent the very best of our student body and be the kind of persons who not only are articulate and presentable, but that we would be proud to see represent the College."
The organization first came under the auspices and advisorship of the Development Office, which at that time coordinated all alumni functions and special events. The organization maintained a closed roster of approximately 20-25 students annually, hand-picked by William Malevich and Msgr. Murphy. PSDC worked as hosts at fund-raising and alumni functions and manned a Student Complaint Center.
In 1977, it was decided that internal leadership, in cooperation with the administration, would guide the activities of the council rather than the administration alone. The mission of PSDC would be to serve past, present and future St. Thomas students and to represent the college at social, administrative and alumni functions. Officers were elected and committees formed. Murphy and Malevich continued to submit names for membership, but the group became open to all CST students.
In the mid-1980's, PSDC came under the joint auspices of the Dean of Students Office and the newly-created office of Alumni Relations. PSDC events grew to include Career Night, a January Extern program, sponsorship of a Coffee House in the Grill and Red Carpet Weekend. Budget support was shared between the Dean of Students and Alumni Relations departments. Involvement with the president's office became more token in nature; more of a symbolic gesture rather that a procedural reality. In 1991, activities involving potential students (i.e. Red Carpet Weekend) were discontinued with PSDC and moved under the sponsorship of the Student Ambassadors and the Admissions Office.
During the year 1992-1993, PSDC formed a long range planning committee to examine the future directions for the organization and to make recommendations to the university administration regarding its future. Results of that committee's report included changing the name of the organization to Student Alumni Council, moving to sole sponsorship and budgetary responsibility of the organization by the alumni Association, identification of the organization as an official committee of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and affiliating the organization with the national Student Alumni Association/Student Foundation Network.
Currently, SAC continues to be involved in many Alumni Association and university events in addition to the planning of the "Big Five " events: Taste of Saints, Alumni/Student Mentoring, Senior Banquet, Take a Tommie to Lunch, and Community Cleanup.
