[Gondring]

This is not a generic reference. It was self-referential, and should have used alumna. Besides, do you think a leftie like this woman would dare to use a masculine as a generic? If she didn't really want a sex change, then it just shows that she was trying to be more pretentious than using "graduate" but couldn't pull it off.

Random House Dictionary usage note:

Alumnus (in Latin a masculine noun) refers to a male graduate or former student; the plural is alumni. An alumna (in Latin a feminine noun) refers to a female graduate or former student; the plural is alumnae.

[Gondring]

Of course, I am not using formal writing in these posts...I note things like an extra comma in my second sentence. But this is not a senior thesis.

[9YearLurker]

I agree with you that it would have been better writing to use alumna. I’m only suggesting that there is a school of thought on the usage that would have her use the male form when referring to a pool of men and women in this context. And, there could further be a case made that she was talking about the circumstance of her being an alum generally, rather than anything specific to her being a female alum, to prompt the use of ‘alumnus’. The thing is incredibly poorly written, reasoned and predicated overall, so you and I are at best disputing a fine thread—when her outfit overall is afire.