As can be seen from the letter from SUNY Counsel dated January 30, 2004, the Maritime College Alumni Association was recently given one business day’s notice by SUNY to vacate its offices on the campus. This we have reluctantly done. I am writing now to assure you that we as an association, and I as its president, intend to continue to support the College’s cadets and faculty as we have done for 100 years, both before and after SUNY arrived on the scene.

What the letter from SUNY Counsel does not mention is that our acceptance of the SUNY Guidelines would have meant yielding our Association’s independence to SUNY, either directly by allowing all alumni activities to be run by SUNY and the College administration, or, somewhat less directly, by changing our organizational form to a “supporting organization,” which would still have yielded control to SUNY. The letter from SUNY Counsel also fails to mention that the SUNY Guidelines themselves expressly permitted “grandfathering” of alternative structures such as ours, but that SUNY repeatedly rejected our requests for “grandfathering” without ever citing a reason why that request was denied. Following SUNY’s refusal to “grandfather” us, our membership voted overwhelmingly (96%) in favor of maintaining the independence of our Association, which, like the alumni associations of many colleges (including the United States Naval Academy) is in a better position to serve the needs of its membership and stakeholders (including yourselves) if it is free to act unfettered by undue influence from the institution’s administration.

Notwithstanding the obstacles now placed before us by SUNY and the threat of further and greater obstacles, we remain committed to supporting Fort Schuyler’s superb multifaceted education through the same means that we have long employed, including such programs as cadet mentoring and the life experience forum, whereby cadets can meet and interact with alumni from the many career paths (both in and out of the maritime industry) in which Fort Schuyler graduates have excelled. We also fully intend to make scholarship funds available to cadets, although we anticipate a complete lack of cooperation from the College administration and SUNY in our efforts to continue these activities. This will mean implementing our own programs to identify and screen scholarship candidates. For that reason if no other, we urge you all to visit our website (www.fsmaa.org) frequently over the coming months to learn of these programs as they are developed and implemented.

Please also keep in mind that we are and have always been nothing more nor less than an organization of graduates of Fort Schuyler who share a bond with its past and a concern about its future. Cadets reading this letter will soon be in that category (as many of the faculty already are). And all Maritime College faculty and students (whether cadets or non-cadets, alumni or non-alumni) are persons with whom we hope to maintain the friendly dialogue that has developed over the years. Eileen Femenia, our tireless and dedicated Director of Alumni Programs, may be reached at our new office phone, (631) 563-2252. Please keep in touch.

Fraternally,