Doug Raymond UC Class of 1967
Former Board Member, University of California Alumni Chorus
Life Member, California Alumni Association
Part 1 – Sustaining UCCE – what’s to sustain?
Why sustain the student choral groups?
The choral groups at Cal have always been a significant part of the university experience. In the choral groups:
It began when UC began:
In 1985 A Centennial Reunion took place to celebrate 100 years of choral singing at the University of California. The Alumni Chorus was formed in the aftermath of that event.
What we know today as UCCE has had many names over the years. Briefly consider the legendary axe of the Swedish Woodsman Ole Swensen. That axe was originally made by Ole’s great-great grandfather in 1870, when he forged the steel and made the hardwood handle with his spokeshave. Since that time, the axe has been used by several different owners. They all cherished it greatly, and took good care of it. It has had its handle replaced 20 times, and had its head replaced three times. But, by gosh, it’s the same axe.
Purists who probe deeply will note that the 1985 Centennial Reunion might have been 15 years late. No matter. In the interest of brevity, I’ll avoid settling this matter, and in general leave out the details. Carbon date that axe handle if you like. You can find some of the details at
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/campuses/ucb/cultural_print.html
which asserts that the Treble Clef began as early as 1870. You can learn even more by carefully using Google to look at thousands of web pages, each of which has a few clues on it.
This choral institution has survived 137 years. Lots of new heads and lots of new handles along the way, but it is definitely the same axe it was in 1870. This long term integrity may be reason enough for antiquarians to come to its rescue, but it’s not enough for the folks who hand it its budget. UCCE, along with the rest of the UC system, indeed along with the rest of the land-grant colleges in the USA, was once generously watered from the deep clear well of government. Lately, the flow has been cut and cut and cut. Today, desert conditions prevail. Visit the office and rehearsal hall someday to witness this for yourself. The budget includes nothing for cleaning, for maintenance, for the music library, for transportation, for retreats, for recording, for printing and postage to publicize a concert, for adventures in stage performance, for hall rental, for refreshments at receptions, … for anything, really. The word “threadbare” comes to mind.
As the traditional sources dry up and must be replaced with new sources, UC and all of its departments will increasingly look to alums and other private sources. This is an odd and uncomfortable concept for alums of a “public” institution. Private financing is more of a private-college model, and isn’t UC Berkeley always cited in the top drawer of “public” universities?
How do private institutions obtain their wealth? Several ways, most of them acting slowly over many generations. Alumni solicitation is one simple method. It’s a get-rich-slowly method, one that succeeds by tenacity and continuity. Private institutions train their students from Day One to become donors. Public institutions don’t. Donor education is an acknowledged and expected part of the business of running a private institution. In a public institution, it's not. Private institutions repeatedly remind their alums of the obligation to support the institution from which they sprung – their Alma Mater – and repeatedly remind their students that they are future alums. This method works. UC is essentially on its way toward becoming a private institution, and must learn to use and maintain this kind of tool.
Many alums who are reading this little essay are possibly grappling with this idea for the first time. They may not have not had the tradition of Donor Education drummed into them. Think of this as your first lesson, the first of a great many lessons. Think of your first donation as the answer to a pop quiz. It’s a way of life for all alums of many other superb universities. Think of yourself as being responsible for reminding others of their obligations as alums.
An additional syllogism of particular interest to members of the Alumni Chorus: UCAC members want UCAC to continue to exist. UCAC, as a part of UCCE, depends on the continued existence and goodwill of UCCE. UCCE’s future existence requires material support. UCCE’s needs will increase with each passing year. Those who manage UCCE increasingly count on choral alumni to sustain the institution from which they sprung. It is therefore essential that UCAC members contribute to UCCE materially as well as spiritually, and increase their support each year. Philosophy majors please record your counter argument, if any, on the back of a big fat check, and send it to UCCE.
For additional methods of supporting UCCE, see
http://www.dwraymond.com/ucce/ucce_support.htm
This part is for UCAC members, whether prospective, current or former.
UCAC has a longer turnover time than UCCE, and so can provide a degree of continuity that’s hard to obtain in a purely student-managed chorus. Where the UCCE turnover time is limited by the academic freshman-to-senior cycle, the UCAC turnover time is limited more by the cradle-to-grave horizons of basic biology. UCAC must provide for, and encourage, succession.
Each year, the membership elects managers and directors who handle the business of the chorus the best they can. The elected managers appoint additional leaders to run certain non-elected functions. In my most extreme moments, and without intending any disparagement, I refer to our chosen method of governance as a "neosyndicalist commune." It has managed to keep us going 20 years, arranged important contributions to UCCE, grown our numbers from 20 to 90, and taken us on several international tours. Its structure is appropriate as an alumni extension of the student-managed UCCE organization. Go take a look at the bylaws on http://ucac.net to see how UCAC is governed.
It’s fairly straightforward to serve as a manager or board member – some of the jobs are more work than others, but help can always be found. Each manager post has an operations manual, which eases the learning of the job. Our elections are held at each Annual Meeting for the following academic year, so the Spring Semester offers an opportunity to work alongside the incumbent manager to learn by experience. The Annual Meeting, according to our Bylaws, is 3:00 PM the first Saturday in February.
We would particularly appreciate having some new blood in the leadership corps of UCAC. If you have every considered making this kind of contribution to UCAC/UCCE, please make your interest known, so you can be duly nominated prior to the Annual Business Meeting. The board-appointed Nominating Commiettee also might just come and ask you individually. But if you’ve got the ambition, take the initiative.