Blue Ribbon Task Force
"FORSAN ET HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE IUVABIT"
(As time goes by it may well be pleasant for us to remember these things) Vergil's Aeneid, 1.203
In 1874, during commencement exercises at Ford's Opera House, a group of graduates of the University of Maryland School of Medicine gathered to discuss the formation of an alumni association. Leading the effort was George W. Miltenberger, M.D. (Class of 1840). Highly regarded for his medical acumen, Dr. Miltenberger was elected to the faculty as demonstrator in anatomy upon his graduation. More importantly, Dr. Miltenberger had served as dean of the medical school from 1855-69, during which time he witnessed the devastating impact that state fiscal reductions made on academic programs. He advocated a free-standing alumni association, supported entirely by financial contributions from its membership and immune to the ebbs and flows of state funding and politics. Dr. Miltenberger accurately predicted that, given the chance, alumni would relish the opportunity to control their own destiny and thus better support an independent and autonomous organization. In 1875, the Medical Alumni Association was born, and formal meetings began with the election of a president.
Over the next few years, the association struggled to develop its own identity as members were solicited for annual membership payments as well as philanthropic assistance to the school. In 1880, Dr. Miltenberger, now the president, scheduled additional meetings for the purpose of adopting a constitution and bylaws. At that time, there was no legal business separation from the medical school. Revenues produced through the association's fund raising quickly turned into an issue of contention between the school and the State of Maryland. Thus, it became necessary for the association to establish secure financial autonomy. In 1893, the association formed "The Trustees of the Endowment Fund of the University of Maryland, Inc.," a separate, legal corporation chartered exclusively to "receive, invest, and control at their discretion" funds raised by the association for the benefit of the medical school. The trustees' independence would be threatened many times during the next several decades but remained intact. Finally, in the 1950s, a legal challenge by the state legislature culminated in a favorable decision from the Maryland Court of Appeals in support of the trustees' absolute independence from the State, and this action was subsequently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The fund reached a value of approximately $35 million by the end of the 20th century and continues to function independently of both the association and medical school.
Membership in the association was bolstered when the Baltimore Medical College and The College of Physicians and Surgeons merged with the medical school in 1913 and 1915, respectively. The association realized it needed to convey mission and message to its newly expanded membership. Therefore in 1916, the alumni board released volume one of the Bulletin magazine. The Bulletin quickly gained acceptance as the central communications link between the school and its graduates and has been in continuous production since that time.
On January 9, 1929, the association announced that it was expanding its role on campus and filed papers to incorporate. The following day, association president Charles R. Edwards, M.D. (Class of 1913) signed an agreement to purchase the property at 519 West Lombard Street, located across the street from the medical building (as Davidge Hall was known at that time). To finance the $22,500 purchase, six percent secured bonds were issued to alumni, faculty and friends. Books, supplies and stationery were ordered, and a university bookstore was opened. A short time later, the association entered into a lease agreement to operate a cafeteria and lunch business in the basement and on the first floor. The building was renamed the Medical Alumni House.
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