By Ada Zhang
Staff Writer
The Baylor Alumni Association board members have a scheduled meeting on Saturday Oct. 5 on campus at the McMullen-Connally Faculty Center. Chad Wooten, BAA interim executive vice president, said the purpose of this meeting is to continue open discussion about the future of the BAA.
No votes will happen, Wooten said.
It’s just a discussion about ‘What do we do now?’” Wooten said. “It’s kind of a continuation of the last meeting.”
A survey was sent via email today to all BAA members, Wooten said, asking members how they would like to proceed now that the BAA is no longer permitted to use the Baylor name.
The survey outlines three options for the BAA in terms of their next steps. Members were asked to indicate which option they preferred.
The first option is to defend the BAA’s legal agreements and seek to maintain the Baylor name. This would likely lead to a law suit against the university.
Wooten said the potential for litigation will be seriously discussed.
“The university gave us 90 days to stop using the name, so if we try to fight it, the likely outcome is that it could end up in court,” Wooten said. “There will be a discussion about that. There’s no plans for a law suit, but based on our options right now, that could be in our future. Some people say we should defend our agreements, but its not majority by any means.”
The second option is to continue the BAA and its previous roles, but under a different name. The BAA, in this case, would be completely severed from the university. This option would mean starting from scratch in order to develop a new brand.
The third option is to reorganize or dissolve the BAA. The BAA could transform into a scholarship foundation, using its endowment to grant students scholarships from alumni families. Or, if the BAA dissolves, the endowment could be dispersed to an existing non-profit Christian organization that promotes higher education.
Wooten said discussion will revolve around these three options.
“We’re going to try to make progress on these options,” Wooten said. “That’s basically the whole agenda of the meeting.”
