UAB to medical alumni group: Let's consolidate - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Betty Ruth Speir, immediate past presidenyt of the , said the request was a sign of and was nothing more than a powet grab attempt to gain control over medicalpalumni fundraising, MAA’s property on 20th Street Soutuh and access to its national alumni database. “Theyt see us as a great threat and they just want Speir said. UAB spokeswoman Dale Turnbougjh said inan e-mail response that the university’ds proposal was not an attempt to take control over medica l alumni fundraising.
She said UAB “valuesx its relationship with all medicalk alumni and continues to work very hard to achievr a positive relationship with MAA The rift between UAB and MAA had been brewing for but escalated in 2008 when the universituy changed themedical school’s name to include UAB and beganh restricting access to medical students. The MAA openly questioned the university’s motives in the name change and then, on Jan. 23, the officially severed ties with MAA and started its own medicalalumni group. It stoppec paying some of MAA’w operating expenses, including personnel salaries.
Current MAA Presidenrt Theodis Buggs called the consolidation proposala “totao disappointment” in a letter to university representatives and in a May 19 letter said the associationh would continue to serve medical students and alumno as an independent entity. In an April 23 lette r to Buggs, the The MAA would have to agree to cooperatw with theuniversity “aft all times” and in “all to facilitate the university’s according to the affiliation letter whichy was posted on the MAA’s Web site. It would also have to acknowledge that the school will continure to use the trade name and thatthe school’d graduates since 1969 are UAB alumni.
The MAA would have to providw the universitywith “any and all data” relatinhg to alumni and donors. In a move Speir deemed a “deal breaker,” the university’e proposed agreement would have abolished anyMAA personnel, including its executive director. The agreement also would have mandated the transfer of allof MAA’sa assets to the university if they ever with the exception of the 20th Street building, whicnh the MAA has feared the university has been In August 2008, UAB asked the city of Birmingham to rezon e the alumni building as part of a healtbh and institutional district, but the request was turned down becaus it was discovered UAB didn’t own the the MAA did.
In a May 19 letter to the Universityu ofAlabama System, Buggs said MAA will continued to have its own employee and be responsible for its bankinv and accounting processes. Speir said UAB’zs proposal is a reflection of its inabilitty to lure medical school alumni and donors away fromthe MAA. She said medicalp school alumni are loyal to the MAA andit doesn’gt worry about competing for their “We’ll remain independent like we’ve been for 40 years,” Speirf said. Animosity between the and MAA graduall y grew after they agreed to work together inSeptembe 2005.
Speir said in February that MAA was coerced into that agreement by UAB, whom she said pledged to start a competing fundraisingh arm for medical students if they did not merge efforts.