We’ve heard it all before—despite the best efforts of the Advancement Office, Mac alums don’t support the college enough financially, which is why Macalester faces budget constraints and lower U.S. News & World Report rankings than many believe we deserve. Our alumni are popularly perceived to be A) disinterested, B) too busy paying off student loans to give anything more to the college, or C) barely able to survive on the meager salaries afforded them by the nonprofits they labor for, let alone contribute to Macalester’s future. The M Club, Macalester’s alumni athletic association, challenges all of those stereotypes.

Since the M Club was revitalized in 1991, the 25-member executive board has worked tirelessly to achieve its threefold mission: to encourage all M Club members (all alumni varsity athletes) to attend Macalester sporting events, to recognize outstanding athletic achievement and to support Macalester athletics through the annual M Club Fund Drive. Over the past decade, the organization has become a much more visible presence at campus events—as during this past basketball season, when the members of the 1981 championship men’s basketball team traveled from all over the United States to support the Scots’ playoff run—and has increased its fundraising an impressive tenfold. In 1991, the first year of the Fund Drive, volunteers raised $9,000 from M Club members; in 2002, the drive yielded $42,000; in 2003, $97,000. Steven Cox ’76, M Club president, whose experience playing soccer for Macalester has led him to a coaching hobby today, attributes the astronomical increase in alumni giving to the bridges the executive board has built throughout the college, citing strong relationships with the Board of Trustees, the Advancement Office and the Alumni Office. Realizing that their missions for the college often overlap, these college organizations have tapped into the enormous potential for support that apparently does, in fact, exist in the concerned Macalester alumni network.

From a financial angle, the M Club uses the funds it raises to supplement the needs of individual teams by helping provide equipment (like the new scoring table used by the volleyball and basketball teams), augmenting team travel budgets and hosting award ceremonies and campus dinners for athletes. They also host Sports Day programs in the fall, winter and spring and cover their own operating costs. Cox said in addition to providing the monetary support for athletic programs, the M Club’s goal is to become more visible on campus. The organization hosts events such as “We’ll Be There!” days, when local Club members meet to support specific teams in the pursuit of glory. Cox recalls one such event when the swimming and diving teams requested that the M Club supply them with donuts rather than the usual fruit and power bar snacks—four school records were broken. M Club donuts have been a tradition ever since. Taking a slightly different tack, the board of directors is working with members of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee to host an event in Fall 2004 called “What’s Out There?” which will give student athletes and M Club members a chance to meet, get to know one another and focus on career opportunities after Macalester.

The M Club has seized upon what may be the key to alumni involvement with the college: supporting the continuation of programs that define Macalester for individuals. We all live our four years here differently and tailoring opportunities for alumni support to the uniqueness of different Macalester experiences holds great potential for sustained alumni concern for the college. And because the M Club’s mission is broader than just fundraising, the relationship between the college and alumni grows deeper than a purely financial one. Student athletes shape Macalester as much as Macalester shapes them; organizations like the M Club realize that alumni can exist in the same kind of dynamic relationship with the college. The result? An optimistic future—one of which the whole college would do well to take notice.