Memorial for Departed LSMSA students, faculty, and staff

Problem 1: There is no standard mechanism in place for memorializing departed members of the LSMSA family.
Problem 2: There is no defined policy on the use of the ``alumni'' courtyard at LSMSA.

The alumni association has been asked to collect its view on this subject. We have a working proposal for Problem 1, but continue to solicit input on this to make sure we have a reasonable consensus. We have not opened discussion on Problem 2, but it is probably time to do so.

As we attain consensus on these items, we should move forward to implement them, as necessary.

You can direct your thoughts on this issue in private to André DeHon. More general discussion of this issue is appropriate fare for the unmoderated mailing list.

Problem 1 Proposal: Memorializing LSMSA Family

1. Create a standard, well-publicized, not-overly-expensive way for friends and family of any LSMSA[a] deceased to buy a memorium. [plaque, chair, brick, etc.---something in the $200-500 range[b], where most of the money goes to bettering LSMSA, not the plaque itself.]
2. Leave as open/understood that special/larger memoria are possible for larger donations and/or for special service recognized by the LSMSA community to be worked out on a case by case basis.

Notes:

• [a] "any LSMSA" -- to include faculty, staff, students, from the day they accept an offer from LSMSA
• [b] intent is to make sure there is an option at the low end of that range; intent also is that LSMSAAA working w/ the school identify the standard offerings and offer a well defined path for people to inquire about them and set process into motion.
• Implicit in this is that no graduate gets "automatically" recognized; but any graduate who's family and friends wish to memorialize him/her can be memorialized. The assumption is that anything which fell in this category could easily be handled by classmates; so it only complicates things needlessly to create a separate category for "current" students (as existed in the first proposal)---e.g. $1 from each of 200 schoolmates covers cost.