By Ken Camp
After failing to reach a settlement with Baylor University, which has filed a lawsuit against it, the Baylor Alumni Association has filed a counterclaim asserting the school breached its license and recognition agreements and its promise to provide the alumni organization a building.
The claim seeks a judgment compelling Baylor to perform its obligations under the agreements and preventing the university from operating its Baylor Alumni Network.
In June, the university filed suit against the BAA, seeking a judgment to prevent it from representing itself as the school’s official alumni association and compelling the organization to fulfill its charitable purpose by limiting itself to providing financial aid to Baylor students.
“The Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor University spent the better part of the past month trying to resolve our legal dispute,” BAA President Keith Starr said.
Baylor regents, acting through their attorneys, gave the alumni association until Sept. 6 to approve their latest settlement offer, said Starr, no relation to Baylor President Ken Starr. The association insisted it needed more time to adopt revised bylaws, a process that requires approval by the organization’s board of directors and two-thirds approval by its members after posting a meeting notice published in the Baylor Line magazine.
“At the end of the day, our efforts at peace failed, and the timetable insisted on by the regents was unworkable,” Keith Starr said.
So, the association moved forward with its legal defense and filed its counterclaims Aug. 6 in McLennan County’s 74th State District Court.
Baylor University spokesperson Lori Fogleman expressed the school’s disappointment in that action.
“Over the course of the last two years, Baylor’s administration and board of regents have proactively engaged the alumni association in negotiations. Our most recent discussions were with yet another group of leaders appointed by the association for this purpose. Regrettably, our attempts at resolution have been unsuccessful,” Fogleman said.
“Sadly, the association appears to be unable to chart for itself or to otherwise approve a productive course forward in support of Baylor University and its students. The association’s actions today are disappointing to us all.”
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