RSS Channels IndexMore graduates, More Valentines
Newswise — In February, 13,023 valentines will be mailed from Miami University's division of university advancement.
About 14 percent, or 26,046, of Miami's living alumni population of 181,230 are married to other Miami alums. These 13,023 couples are called "Miami Mergers" and the university has been sending these merged couples Valentine's Day cards since 1973.
Officials don't know how many followed the Miami myth that whomever you kiss under the Upham Hall arch at midnight will be the person you eventually marry, but they do acknowledge there is a high romance factor.
Is it the picturesque college town? The famously beautiful campus?
"No individual factor explains the high marriage rate," says Jennifer Clark, director of membership and marketing for the Miami University Alumni Association. But, many mergers have shared their stories of romance on the school's alumni Web site, http://www.miamialum.org/pages/MergerProgram.htm.
An unofficial survey found the usual percentage of alums marrying alums from the same college to be in the 3-8 percent range.
Sure, some alums divorce or are widowed and ask to be taken off the list, but some who lose a spouse request that they stay on the list, and the university always orders extra for the newlyweds who call and request to be added.
The university now sells Miami Merger address labels and cake kits, as well.
Among notable mergers, Miami head basketball coach Charlie Coles and Delores Coles, and former Ohio Senator Mike DeWine and Frances DeWine.
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