OT - New Camp Michigania Rule
Are there any other Michigania Campers out there who noticed the new rule stating that "every adult attending (camp) must be an Alumni Association member"?
The stupidity of this rule has my head spinning and I'm wondering if I'm the only one. What is the point of forcing my wife, who did not attend U of M, to join the U of M alumni association so that our family can go to camp? This seems like a petty money grab by the alumni association that only serves to dilute the whole purpose of having an alumni association in the first place. It actually makes me kind of embarrassed that to be associated with the alumni association...
Anger
January 7th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 12:00 AM ^
I don't think he is. It reads pretty clearly to me that you must be a member of the alumni association to "enjoy the benefits"
http://alumni.umich.edu/connect/michigania
Alumni Membership Required
You must be an Alumni Association member to enjoy the Michigania camp benefits. Join today.
January 8th, 2014 at 12:01 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 12:14 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 12:52 AM ^
This is MGoBlog. The only thing not worth complaining about is national championships in football, basketball, and hockey.
January 8th, 2014 at 9:45 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 9:59 AM ^
I believe a lifetime membership is $1400.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
on being able to consider $1400 "cheap."
I'm not familiar with the camp, so I'm not sure if there are capacity issues that they are trying to control, but this looks very much like a (sort of) sneaky moneygrab.
January 8th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
...is about $30 per year...assuming you live to be 72 or so...so not such a bad deal for a lifetime membership.
There are large groups who come to Michiganian and just have one alumnus in the group...so this may be an effort to control this issue.
There is a waiting list for every week other than weeks 1 and 11.
January 8th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
I'm not saying it's a bad deal, but asking someone to spend a few hundred or $1400 all of a sudden to attend a camp they had previously attended without that expense is significant. I don't think it's fair to dismiss it just because it annualizes out to a low cost.
That said, after looking through later posts from people who actually go to the camp, seems like this is an entry barrier to cut down on non-alum campers. The intent seems fine to me, but as others have pointed out, the solution seems like an overcorrection.
January 8th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
Everyone's anger about this is a typical example of people reacting before having all of the facts.
A $10 additional cost is hardly an egregious money grab.
Plus the alumni association membership has other benefits other than being able to attend Michigania...and they also offer discounts for recent grads.
January 8th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
Plus, that extra $10 should be placed in the context of shelling out around $3,000 for a family of four to attend a week at Camp Michigania. Is the OP really going to stop going there because it now costs $3,080 rather than $3,070?
January 8th, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
That is exactly it. Both spouses must be members of the Alumni Association and they are happy to take the money from your spouse who has no connection to U of M other than their marriage to you.
What is the point of an alumni association that is actively recruiting (or in this case coercing) members who have no connection other than marriage to the university who's alumni the association purports to serve? The only explanation I can think of is money.
The utter illogic of the whole thing just pisses me off. I'm not going to join the alumni association at Unverisity of Miami (NTM) just becasue my wife went there and there is no reason for my wife to join Michigan's alumni association.
I emailed them yesterday and got a really lame response. Right now I am resisting the urge to send a scathing reply, but I don't want to get myself banned from camp.
January 8th, 2014 at 12:32 AM ^
"Your wife is not a member of the Alumni Association?"
"Well, no, she didn't attend Mich-"
"No camp for you!"
January 8th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
Here's a direct quote from the Michigania Registration website:
"To enjoy the benefit of Camp Michigania, every adult* attending must be an Alumni Association member. If you are not an alumni, you may join the Alumni Association as a “Family, friends and fans” member. **Join today!"
http://alumni.umich.edu/connect/michigania-registration
January 8th, 2014 at 12:31 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 9:05 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 2:41 AM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
Ok, here isour family history at U-M.
Great grandparents - Undergrad, medical school and masters degree (2 great grandparents)
Grandparents Undergraduate and law degree
Two great uncles
Parents- 2 law degrees
Uncle undergrad
Son -in law law degree
Children 2 staffers
28 year campers
Is this good enough for you?
Yes we take up 3 cabins. And probably pay over $25,000 for the week.
February 27th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
Sorry you didn't like us at camp.
January 8th, 2014 at 2:48 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
But there wasn't a single step they could take in between "you need one UMAA member in your massive group" and "every single one of you has to be a member"? Like, maybe an "everybody gets one" rule, where half of the adults have to be members? The solution isn't proportional to the problem you posed. This is a money grab.
Besides, you seem to think there isn't any difference between "people who went to Michigan" and "members of the UMAA."
January 8th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
You hit the problem right on the head... How can you have a president of a university alumni association who is not an alum of said university? It makes about as much sense as forcing a graduate of Miami of Ohio to join the U of M alumni association so she can go to camp with her husband.
January 8th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
Can't they just add those adult relatives as AA members? Seems to me they should have made a rule limiting the number of non-alumni guests or simply say immediate family only, up to a certain number (and mayber surcharge the non-UofM folks).
January 8th, 2014 at 6:56 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 7:35 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 8:21 AM ^
Wow...thanks. While I've heard of it I had no first hand knowledge of it. It does sound great though - I'm amazed I somehow missed this in the 32 years since I graduated so I guess you could say attention to detail is not my strength.
January 8th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^
The camp is on something like a mile of lakefront on one of the premire lakes in northern Michigan a short drive from Petoskey and Charlevoix. I can only imagine what the land is worth today. Another intersting note is that it's right across the lake from where Earnest Hemmingway used to spend his summers as a child and many of his early short stories are set in the area.
January 8th, 2014 at 8:48 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 8:53 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
I went from the age of 2 - 18. One of the best memories of my childhood. Note that there actually are (or at least were) several camps - the one in Michigan, one in upstate NY, and I believe there was even one in Europe though not sure if it is still around.
I have actually been considering taking my family as an alum myself, definitely worth it especially if you have younger kids because they will keep them busy all day long with supervised activities.
January 8th, 2014 at 8:54 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
So, here's what an average day looked like at the upstate NY camp (it was in the Adirondacks near Lake George).
Family breakfast
Kids meet at the flagpole and go off to various activities broken out by age groups -- activities included tennis, crafts, waterfront, archery, etc.
Family lunch
Afternoon activities for the kids
Then late afternoon would be porch parties where people would gather at each other's cabins for wine / beer, etc. - sort of like a camping tailgate
Family dinner
Evening activities which often included lectures from UM professors
Also, throughout lots of card playing and competitive events (family olympics) plus it was close to a couple of golf courses and there was world-class tennis instruction.
The upstate NY camp was at a girls camp (it was held only 1 week during the summer after the girls camp had shut down) and was very nice -- lots of buidings spread around that were generally broken into 3 or 4 individual but adjoining cabins. Generally each family has their own cabin but some larger families had more than one (and this was actually a very good crackdown they did making sure that each cabin had at least one UM alum).
My info may be a bit dated, but that's pretty much how I remember it. Really great place, the kids got to run around and do lots of activities with other kids their ages and the adults got free time all day to do whatever they wanted - with tons of amenities and options to choose from.
January 8th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
When did you go? First or second week? My family has been going for almost 18 years now.
January 8th, 2014 at 7:19 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^
January 8th, 2014 at 8:08 AM ^
Bastards. Well that makes that decision easier at least.
January 8th, 2014 at 8:44 AM ^
For the record, an annual Alumni Association membership is $69 for an individual and $79 for a joint membership, so it's just a $10 difference. And your spouse does not have to be an alum for you to get a joint membership. The membership fees are also tax deductible, so the actual cost to yourself is even less if you itemize. Some facts to consider when assessing this new policy.
January 8th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
Kids are now 12 and 9 and we've been going since the youngest was 2. Best week of the year by far.
Coach Carr has been on the faculty forum two of the years we've been there.
January 8th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
I agree that $10 is totally worth it, and if the new rule this year was that all adults who are not alums have to pay $10 extra I'd have no problem with it. Heck they could charge $200 extra if they wanted. My problem is the total non-sequitur of forcing people with no connection to the university other than marriage to join the association. It doesn't benefit actual alums, and in fact only dilutes the whole purpose of having an alumni association in the first place.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
But what about long-time girlfriends? Same-sex partners (though I admittedly don't know UM's policy on allowing unmarried gay couples to register as 'spouses' for these purposes)?
I understand the desire to limit this to Michigan people. But IMHO this is too far.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it.
/Jokes aside, I agree with you in principle. Limiting it to 1 adult non-alum per AAUM member would solve the problem
January 8th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
The OP was specifically talking about his wife, but this is from the AAUM website:
Joint membership is available for spouse or domestic partner residing at the same mailing address.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
I kinda figured UofM would have a relatively modern take on "spouse"
January 8th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^
I did it for a couple years but then quit...
maybe I should rejoin and try this camp out with my family?
jdon
January 8th, 2014 at 9:44 AM ^