It would have been beneficial to me to network with Tulane alumni, like many other schools of public health allowed for their current students. I felt supported by the current students who also attended to the conference, but felt as if we were there alone representing our school. An integrated approach would have made our presence stronger and the depth of our community would have been more noticeable to the rest of those attending the conference.

Everyone I talked to at APHA 2015 was surprised and angry that students were not invited to this reception. I spent that Monday night time slot at a number of other schools' receptions where I was welcomed and was able to network with their faculty, students, and alumni. This makes our school look bad, and I intend to bring this issue up during the next Dean's Hours.

I was invited to and welcomed to both the University of Maryland and University of Texas school of public health receptions at APHA where I made numerous contacts and friends. I feel embarrassed that Tulane would not take advantage of the best opportunity of the year to connect current students with alumni. If the decision to exclude current students is a reflection of the attitude of the Tulane alumni association, which I sincerely hope is not the case, then I will not be contributing any time or money to the association in the future. As others have stated, this is embarrassing for our school and shows not only a lack of respect for students and a lack of foresight for not recognizing the potential impact on the university this event could have. I hope students will be invited in the future. Regards, Paul Schaettle