Fairmont Hotel, Chicago, Ill. June 6, 1998, President Oscar Arslanian presiding

Present: David Armstrong, Oscar Arslanian, Charlie Brown, Cleve Carney, Bob Conn, Dave Cook, Duane Cox, John Edwards, Bob Fuller, Frank Ginn, Bill Glenn, Tim Grumbacher, Al Hale, John Henry, Art Johnson, Ivar Jozus, Dick Keith, Art Kelton, Roger McArt, Mike Murphy, Bob Naegele, Phil Oehler, Al Olson, Pete Palin, Vic Rich, Pete Synott, Rick Taft.

I. Minutes of the Class Meeting of 1 Nov. 97 were approved as submitted and distributed by Secretary Robert Conn.

II. Treasurer’s report: Treasurer Ivar Jozus presented two reports, one for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997 and one for the current year through May 5:

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997:

The class ended with a balance of $36,434.86, after taking in $16,611.96 and spending $50,117.20, the largest chunks of which were for the statue and remaining reunion expenses.

For the 1997-98 year through May 5, the class has taken in $13,767.03 (with at least one more block credit for dues checks expected), and spent $19,975.77, leaving a current balance of $30,226.12. However, Ivar said he advanced the Chicago reunion committee $7,000 and he expects the bulk of that to be returned to the treasury.

The report was approved unanimously.

III. Art Kelton, our immediate past president and alumni council representative, reported on the council meeting that occurred two weeks previously. One major thing: transition from Jim Freedman to Jim Wright. He reported widespread enthusiasm about Jim Wright. Though he’s been a part of Freedman administration, "he’s a Dartmouth sort of guy."

The council honored all the former alumni award winners going back to the class of 1929. The first award in 1953....135 award winners were there. From our class, Ron Boss, Gerry Kaminsky and Vic Rich are all part of the honor roll. Boss was there for the dinner, Rich and Kaminsky could not attend. [The class recognized Vic with a round of applause.]

Kelton is the new chair of the athletic committee of alumni council; and will be working closely with Athletic Director Dick Yeager. The basic statistic: Dartmouth coaches are the lowest paid in the Ivy League and Art will do what he can to try to fix that.

IV. Oscar reported that Class and Club Officers weekend has been consolidated into one in the second weekend in September. Bob Conn pointed out that many classmates are club officers and encouraged their attendance, opening up the opportunity of a bigger reunion and class meeting on Leadership Weekend.

V. Hanover Mini-Reunion. Dates are Oct. 17 and 18, 1998. Minreunion Chair Art Johnson reported the general outline of the weekend will follow the usual pattern, Dartmouth Night parade with a reception afterwards (which he hopes will be hosted by Mike Gazzaniga.) Because of the noon start of the football game for television purposes, the pregame activities have been condensed. The Saturday morning class meeting will be at 8:30 a.m., followed by grilled lunch with the Fayerweather students, followed by the Yale game and a keg at the Frost statue site. Art will make sure an announcement about the keg is made on the PA system at the game. The headquarters hotel is split again, with a block of rooms at the Airport Economy Hotel and all rooms reserved at the Sumner Inn in Hartland that we used last year. The Inn is one interchange below White River. All but one of the Hartland rooms has been reserved by classmates already. The dinner will again be there with Football Coach John Lyons as the speaker. The food will be catered by local restaurants as we continue our relationship with them. One word of warning: don’t wait to reserve a room. This may be peak leaf weekend or one week after peak, and the demand on rooms will be huge. You will be disappointed if you don’t make reservations early.

VI. 40th Reunion: Art Johnson, who is also reunion chair, led this discussion; the critical decision at this point is whether to hold the reunion at midweek or on the weekend. The college would like us to hold it in midweek; we would get our choice of lodging and dinner sites. Since it is expected to be our last "big" reunion before the forces of mortality take their toll, some sites for dinner -- including such places as the Top of the Hop -- are out. Midweek we would get the new dorms, which are air conditioned. All of this would be problematical on the weekend. Former class president Vic Rich recalled poor attendance when we have tried mid-week and suggested polling classmates. Others noted that attendance at 30th (midweek) and 35th (weekend) were about the same. Bob Conn noted the steadily increasing percentage of retirees in the class, and the increase in weeks of vacation for those who are still working, so it should be possible for most to block out midweek. The ensuing discussion was wide ranging. Some people expect to be still working and are more likely to come on a weekend, but the whole week could be taken. The weekend allows for substantially lower air fares than midweek. There’s no reason why the reunion could not run longer than the allotted number of days and into the weekend, even starting during the week. We will have no natural affinity with anyone else who will be there, because 58-59-60 and 62-63-64 will have reunions at other years, so our reunion will essentially be self contained. Oscar tried a straw poll, and about the same number supported midweek, the weekend or a third option: people who said they would come to whichever works best. There were strong feelings that Oscar ought to send out some sort of straw poll to the class in his next letter, which he said he would do.

VII. Alumni Fund: Vic Rich made the report: We’re a small class -- so we’re a second class citizen. Small class doesn’t need to mean second class. We can hit our budget and participation level...We have 24 more days left and need another $40,000...If we can achieve that and achieve the participation, it helps us in dealing with college in class project...It would help if each of you write a check before June 30 and call people to make sure they have sent in their check...go over the goal of $155,000..

VIII. Website/E mail. Oscar and Bob Conn reported Ron Wybranowski has taken over the preparation of the web site and hopes to activate it in the next two weeks. The new web site will expedite the distribution of the letters from Oscar, news about reunions and minireunions, minutes of class meetings, the newsletters and the alumni magazine column. Bob pointed out that the deadline is June 15 for the September column, so the more rapid distribution through the website would provide fresher news. The dimensions of the web site are still being worked out. One possibility is putting the class directory on there, perhaps with some sort of password access (so the whole world can’t get to it.) Class officers will, however, be listed in the clear so leadership of other classes can contact us. The new college e mail is another matter. Few classmates have responded. Bob encouraged classmates to respond and to put in the bridge between the Dartmouth e mail and their everyday e mail, so classmates will be easily accessed with news and reminders. He asked for a show of hands on who used e mail or the World Wide Web, and all but two classmates raised their hands.

IX. The departure of President Freedman: Arslanian commended the presidency of James Freedman, noting the greater pressure for admission during his term and the outstanding nature of the current students: On balance, his term has been good for Dartmouth "I see the college as progressing." However, new President Jim Wright will be a "little bit more of a regular guy."

X. 60th Birthday: Next year is an interesting excuse to have a party...The 60s did a reunion in San Francisco and attracted 120 classmates. A number of possible sites were discussed.. While there was some sentiment in favor of a resort, concern was expressed on what spouses could do in a remote locale. The discussion turned to major cities, with San Francisco quickly winning the nod. Washington, Chicago, Hollywood, and New Orleans all had an element of cultural tourism. We can do something like that to add to the experience in San Francisco Oscar asked Bob Fuller to help facilitate the reunion, joined by our two vice presidents, Duane Cox and Roger McArt. Oscar will be looking for a local chair or chairs to make it in 1999, probably asking Bob "Otter" Anderson and Bill. Hutton first. Phil Oehler, who lives in Northern California -- but not in the Bay area -- volunteered to help in any way he can. A formal motion to choose San Francisco was presented and unanimously approved. A discussion of San Francisco weather indicated the best dates are late spring and mid fall, with the most likely to be somewehere between April 20th and May 20th 1999

XI. Performing Arts Endowment/Class Project. Oscar reviewed the discussion at the fall class meeting of possible class projects. He focused on the discussion of reviving the class fellowship program and Charlie Buffon’s recommendation against doing it again. Though the program was valuable, it involved only a handful of classmates at one time, and had a host of administrative problems.

Oscar then turned to the concept of the performing arts endowment. The plan would be to bring at least one known entity to Hopkins Center to perform and share life and experience with the students. While the College supports the operation and staffing of the Hop, there is NO college money to bring in special stars, and the Hop must make projections based on ticket sales. If $100,000 were raised it would provide annual income in perpetuity of $5-$10,000.The proposal has been greeted enthusiastically by the College and the Hopkins Center. The Development office has assigned an officer to it for one year. David Birney will chair, with Duane Cox providing support; our immediate goal is to raise $100,000 through a quiet campaign, then announce.

Pete Palin, our bequest chair, noted that should be a place in your estate planning for Dartmouth College. There are many ways to do it. The performing arts endowment is exciting -- a substantial opportunity for class to really do things by supporting Hopkins Center visiting performances

We have a great opportunity...

The discussion that ensued indicated general consensus that $100,000 was a minimum goal, with $250,000 being far more realistic in terms of what we are trying to accomplish.

Oscar read from the proposal prepared by Birney: "What we seek to do is contribute to the breadth of the college."

Oscar also read from a letter of support from Pres-Elect Wright.

He added, a lot of people want to be involved. If you feel want to be involved, let me know.

A motion was made to endorse the project, and passed unanimously.

XII. Business meeting adjourned to make way for Duane Cox and his latest edition of Passages-type discussion

Respectfully submitted,

Bob Conn, Secretary.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine
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