A couple of million dollars and a pending name change later, the longstanding dispute between Baylor University, in Waco, Tex., and the Baylor Alumni Association is officially settled, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports.
The university will pay the alumni association $2 million in compensation for knocking down its former on-campus headquarters. In return the group will change its name, probably to the Baylor Line Foundation, pending approval, and will no longer market itself as an “alumni association,” according to the newspaper.
The dispute, which dates back as far as 2009, drew renewed attention two years ago, when Baylor sued the alumni group for using the institution’s name and trademark, after the university said the group no longer served its “charitable purpose.”
The alumni group countersued, saying Baylor had “breached its contract with the association” and “improperly tore down its campus headquarters under false pretenses,” according to the Tribune-Herald.
Under the settlement agreement, the university will continue to operate its own alumni group, the Baylor Alumni Network; the Baylor Alumni Association will be able to continue to publish its magazine under its new name; and the Baylor Board of Regents will include three alumni-elected positions. Both parties will need to agree on the three alumni board members, according to a university statement released on Tuesday.
The alumni association’s president, Tom Nesbitt, told the Tribune-Herald that having alumni-elected representatives on the Board of Regents would be a first. He predicted the agreement would “usher in a new era of governance at Baylor University.”
