By Aleksandra Sidorova
Along with the typical proceedings of a school year’s end, academic departments hold their own ceremonies celebrating their students — sometimes bestowing a monetary award upon an outstanding graduating senior. In the second week of the semester, administration said the practice needs to stop.
David Gregoire, assistant vice president for Institutional Advancement, explained in an email response that the office, which helps manage gifts to the university and relationships with alumni, has obligations to the donors themselves as well as state law.
“While there are a few instances when a donor has asked that their support provide funding to a graduating senior, the focus of the Foundation is on enhancing the experience of currently enrolled students participating in SUNY Plattsburgh programs,” Gregoire wrote in an email response.
The New York Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, signed in 2010, binds not-for-profits such as the Plattsburgh College Foundation, which supports most departmental scholarships, to spend gifts as the donor notes.
The Foundation could be violating the terms of the endowments if it allows scholarships for leaving students because most donors specify they intend to support “students enrolled at SUNY Plattsburgh” — which graduating students no longer are. According to the law, the Foundation must report the name of the scholarship recipient to the donor.
“When an award is made to a graduating senior at the end of their senior year, the Foundation cannot provide that information to the donor as it has promised to in the agreement,” Gregoire wrote in an email response. “Not only is this not in keeping with the intent of the agreement but also has the potential to harm the relationship with the donor and potentially impact future support for SUNY Plattsburgh and its students.”
Although the Foundation has worked to remain compliant with not-for-profit laws, awards such as the George and Nina Winkel Humanities Award or Hudson Scholarship in Science & Mathematics, have been known to be given to graduating seniors.
“The issue has been raised in the past,” Gregoire wrote.
Institutional Advancement continues to discourage such use of endowments, but in the cases that departments decided to nominate a graduating senior, the office tried to make sure the student receives the funds.
“IA believes in putting (current) students first,” Gregoire wrote.
Unless a donor specifically requests that their funds support a graduating student — such as the Anna Liem Nursing RN to BS Scholarship and the Tony Papa Memorial Award for art students — the Foundation will prioritize supporting students who will continue to be enrolled at SUNY Plattsburgh, Gregoire wrote.
Cardinal Points also reached out to departments of art, anthropology, the Center for Earth and Environmental Science, global supply chain management, nursing and teacher education. Only the Center for Earth and Environmental Science responded by Nov. 13.
The Center for Earth and Environmental Science has one scholarship designated for a graduating senior, but otherwise follows Institutional Advancement’s guidelines, according to Mark Lesser, associate professor of environmental science and interim chair of the Center’s Awards and Scholarship Committee.
“Often, graduating students who might be contenders for a scholarship based on merit have already received that, or another award, in previous years,” Lesser wrote in an email response. “So in the end, we help as many students as we can given the resources we have.”
