The Ohio State University

A Message From our President and CEO, Archie Griffin...

Alignment

In early February, the Alumni Association and the university came to an agreement that opens the door for a closer relationship between the two organizations.

The first question we heard from many alumni was: “You mean you weren’t already a part of the university?” The answer to that question is: Officially? No. In our organizational mission? Yes. The Alumni Association has existed for more than 130 years to serve the university and its accomplished alumni. The only real distinction is that as a separate non-profit entity, the Association has been a largely self-supporting organization funded primarily by member dues.

The next question we received was perhaps the most natural one: “What is going to change for me?” I want to re-emphasize that the commitments alumni made to us via membership dues will be honored.  It would not be right for us to take away things that have been promised, and we have no intention of doing that.

This brings me to the third common question, “OK, so why make this change now?”

For starters, I can say that much thought and effort went into considering all aspects of the change. A joint university and Alumni Association task force led by our former board chair, Bill Lhota, and former board member, Tami Longaberger, spent many months studying best practices in alumni engagement at leading public and private universities. The task force adopted the best elements they saw in their final recommendations. It was important that we give careful consideration to make certain the change would result in a win for all parties involved.

Ultimately, we decided to make the move. Two important reasons factored in the decision.

One, there is nothing to be lost by strengthening our relationship in the university. Although it is more of an internal issue than one that is of concern to alumni, a more formalized reporting structure will undoubtedly enhance our ability to work closely and effectively with the university. Ohio State is a huge place, and although all university entities are working toward common goals, we feel that this aligned partnership will better define our role. It also more clearly defines our working relationship with university communications and university development, two entities with which we share many audiences and practices.

Two, this does offer the Alumni Association the potential for greater resources. This is not to say that the university will issue us a blank check and let us do with it what we want. A part of the more formalized agreement is a process by which we can develop important projects that will benefit alumni and Ohio State, then pursue the funding necessary to bring projects to reality.

So what kinds of things are we talking about? Many of them are things we have wanted to do in the past but did not have the resources necessary to realistically accomplish. We have long desired to do a more effective job of providing job and career networking services for our alumni, and we feel that our strengthened partnership will better position us to achieve that goal.

Some other initial discussions have centered on providing better lifelong learning opportunities and more cohesive volunteer recruiting and coordination efforts, among others.

There is no doubt that we will also work to enhance the efforts and breadth of our constituent groups around the country and here in central Ohio. The Alumni Association and the university share the view that alumni are this university’s most enduring asset. It is our goal to better leverage these vast talents for the benefit of you and your university.

I wish I had more specifics to offer now but at this early point in the process we have not delved deeply into how exactly we can achieve our shared goals. The establishment of this powerful partnership is just the first step in what will be a long journey that will strengthen Ohio State and benefit its alumni. I hope you are ready to join us on this exciting path, because it is going to be a great ride.

Good Sportsmanship

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure to participate in the taping of a public-service announcement promoting good sportsmanship. It was really a fun project and I loved having the opportunity to carry a good message and spend some time with members of Ohio State’s Sportsmanship Council, who participated in the PSA as well.

Good sportsmanship is something I think is essential to being a Buckeye fan. Period.

I’ve heard debates back and forth about how heated some of our rivalries are and how much animosity can flow between fanbases at times. Having heard all of that I’ve yet to hear a compelling argument that suggests treating other people poorly is ever warranted.

Personally, I have a big problem with people showing poor sportsmanship. I really don’t like it when I hear our fans boo an opposing team when they come onto the field and it bothers me even more when I hear about altercations between different groups of fans.

Part of the reason it’s always stuck in my craw is that as a player, as heated as our rivalry with Michigan could be, that game was never about hate. We wanted to beat them badly, no doubt about it. However, that desire never ever led me or my teammates to engage in the type of crass behavior that would reflect poorly on Ohio State.

When we played the Wolverines the goal was the play as hard as we possibly could. We had to leave it all out there because we knew they were going to do the same. But at the same time, we had to play fair. And when the game was over you walked across the field, shook their hands, and offered them the respect they deserved for testing your mettle on that day.

I saw Woody make that walk many times and I talked to him about that rivalry many other times. And although his dislike of Michigan is well-chronicled, don’t ever let anyone tell you that he did not respect Michigan. He did, and if any player would have embarrassed him by showing poor sportsmanship on the field, I can promise you that player would be in for a week of practice he would not soon forget.

At the end of the day, these are games. We should never get to the point where a game leads us to behave in a way that would embarrass our families or our university. Being a good fan is something to me that is as much of a part of being a Buckeye as Skull Session or Script Ohio. It isn’t something I expect out of some of our fans. I expect it out of all of them wherever they are.

I hope you will all carry this message with you throughout the course of the upcoming season. If you’re watching in Ohio Stadium, at a game-watch party, or just with friends, show those people what Buckeyes are all about by exhibiting good sportsmanship in good times and bad.

Paying forward

When I came to the Alumni Association four years ago, one of the motivating factors for me in taking this job was the fact that it would give me chance to pay forward for future generations of Buckeyes.

As many of you may know, the concept of paying forward has been one of the bedrock principles that I’ve used in my life. My college football coach Woody Hayes was a firm believer in this idea and it was something I heard him preach and watched him practice. Coach Hayes got the idea of paying forward from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on Compensation. Emerson wrote, “You can pay back only seldom. . . . You can always pay forward and you must pay line for line, deed for deed, and cent for cent.”

These words have always been impactful for me, particularly because I can look back at my life and recognize that any accomplishment I achieved came in part because of the efforts of others. I consider myself an example of how paying forward can help advance a life.

This is why so many of our efforts at the Alumni Association are devoted to paying forward. It is why we decided to support the Recovery School District in New Orleans, an effort that to date has raised nearly $70,000 for kids in need. It is why we decided to make our Alumni Cup golf outing benefit our scholarship endowment, an idea that has led to more than $50,000 in scholarship funds being raised. And it is why I take tremendous pride in the fact that our clubs and societies raise more than $400,000 in scholarship funds each year.

Everywhere you look, you can find ways that the Association, our members, and our constituent groups are paying forward. You probably don’t have to think very hard to come up with ways that your group is helping to do the same. That makes me extraordinarily proud.

The idea of paying forward is also one that is clearly on the mind of Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. I had to smile when I saw his list of six strategic goals and got to goal No. 5, which is “Commit to our Communities.” President Gee recognizes that

and its alumni do not exist in a vacuum. We are all part of a broader community and being active in these communities is so very important.

This is the type of work that you and your group are doing on a regular basis. You’ve taken a leadership role, which is something that we take note of here at Longaberger Alumni House. So keep the faith, keep up the good work, and let’s keep paying forward to ensure that others will enjoy a bright future.

Archie Griffin, The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Inc. President and CEO