Robert Frost for Site s.JPG (8613 bytes)          Dartmouth Class of 1961

                           Class Meeting Minutes

Home Page                                                                  Previous Page

101 Dartmouth Hall, Oct. 17, 1998

1. Vice President Roger McArt called the meeting to order about 9:15 a.m. (the start having been delayed for President Wright’s talk)

2. Award for Frost Statue

Bob Conn reported on class activities, and emphasized the receipt on Leadership Weekend of the 1998 Special Recognition Award by the class: "The Robert Frost statue that you generously donated to the College is but one example of your longtime devotion to your fellow classmates and to Dartmouth. The College is grateful to you for all you have done and is honored to present you with the 1998 Special Recognition." He told about how President Oscar Arslanian particularly cited former project chairman Mike Murphy and former president Art Kelton Jr. for bulling the project through. He said the class has to be proud of that achievement and that the class is now being acknowledged by the college for the gift.

3. Finance and Constitution Committees, Provisional Constitution Approved

Roger McArt summarized other actions of the executive committee on Leadership Weekend. He described the proposed formation of the finance committee, which would propose class dues policy and analyze the financial implications of spending proposals made at class meetings, and make final recommendations. The proposal was moved, seconded and unanimously approved. [President Arslanian had indicated at the Executive Committee meeting in September that if the committee was endorsed by the class, the initial membership would be Art Johnson, Pete Bleyler, Ivar Jozus and Roger McArt.]

The second committee proposed by the Executive Committee is a constitution committee. The College has proposed a model constitution, which is required for the class to continue under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The class needs to adopt this constitution as soon as possible. In the discussion of the proposed constitution, amendments were proposed for several provisions. In Article IV, Section 2, instead of stating that "one-tenth of the living members of the class shall constitute a quorum," it was proposed to state that "a quorum shall be a majority of those present at a duly called class meeting." In Article VIII, Officers, section 1 shall be modified to state that the class shall elect (rather than the executive committee) and shall enumerate specifically two vice presidents (none are listed) and shall add the webmaster to the list of officers to be appointed by the president. Since the College wants the class to have a constitution as soon as possible, and since further modifications probably will be needed, it was moved and seconded and unanimously approved that the constitution of the class of 1961 be provisionally adopted with the modifications as noted above, and that a constitution committee be appointed to study the constitution and recommend any other changes at future class meetings. [Again, in anticipation of such approval, President Arslanian has appointed a constitution committee of Roger McArt, Bob Conn, Ivar Jozus and former President Dave Prewitt.]

4. Conflict of Interest

The meeting of the class of 1961 was then temporarily recessed, and a meeting of the 1961 executive committee was called to order by Vice President McArt to consider the adoption of a conflict of interest policy that meets New Hampshire legal requirements. The conflict of interest policy as prepared by the College was read and discussed. It was moved, seconded and unanimously adopted by the executive committee, and Class Secretary Robert Conn was instructed to submit the policy to the College, if possible, on Oct. 17, 1998. The meeting of the executive committee was then adjourned and the meeting of the class of 1961 was again called to order.

5. Treasurer’s Report

Ivar reported that during 1997-98, the class took in $15,413.37 of which $14,950 was from dues) and spent $17,102.42, of which $8,307.16 was for the Alumni Magazine subscription for the class, $590.24 was for the dues campaign, $3,367.13 was for newsletters, $381.15 were for other communications, $2,768.12 was for cost overruns on reunions, and $1,500 was for class projects.

Ivar has set aside a $25,000 certificate of deposit, which generates interest. Including that CD, the balance on hand as of June 30 was $34,746.01. Since then, we have taken in $13.71 in interest and spent $539.10, mostly for the minireunion letter, leaving a current balance of $34,220.62. Dues letters will be going out shortly. Asked about filing a report to the government, Ivar replied that we don’t have to file a report so long as our three year average for expenditures is less that $25,000.

6. 60th birthday reunion.

The weekend originally had been scheduled for the May 6-9, but since May 9 is Mother’s Day, several members of the class said they could not come. So the executive committee in September had switched the dates to May 13-16. Several classmates present – including immediate past president Art Kelton – said they could not come on the May 13-16. Discussion ensued. Bob Conn said the new date already was in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine columns that were in the hopper and that he believed Tom Conger already had included the dates in a forthcoming newsletter. The final adjudication of the date was referred to President Oscar Arslanian for a decision before the end of October. [Oscar reported by e-mail subsequent to the meeting that the date was firm: San Francisco is May 13-16. Art Kelton’s meeting has been changed and he will join us in San Francisco.]

7. 40th Reunion.

The executive committee, after careful deliberation, recommended that the 40th reunion be at midweek. We would plan for events both before and after the reunion, to include Saturday nights for those flying in by air, and we would make every effort to augment attendance. With the 2001 dates locked in, people could put it on the schedules and plan vacation around it.

A motion was made to ratify the action of the executive committee. It was seconded and ratified unanimously.

8. Alumni Fund report

Pete Bleyler reported that the class exceeded its goal of $155,000, raising $161,000. The goal for next year likely will be $175,000. Overall the campaign is walking up to a goal of $20 million by the year 2000, with the 1999 goal being $19.5 million. We need to raise class participation and leadership giving. Last year, there were 49 leadership gifts – more than $1000; a total of 331 people contributed. The so-called 1769 Society, which had been for those giving more than $1,769, will be $2,500 or more next year. People who give $15,000 or more will actually sponsor a designated student; 77 of the recipients of those scholarships and 38 of the sponsors attended a special dinner.

The class of 1961 tends to be lost in the overall rankings on Alumni Fund giving. He said he was considering summarizing Wright’s approach to update non-giving classmates, in the hopes of encouraging them to resume giving to the College.

9. Class Projects.

The class once again recognized the efforts of Mike Murphy and Art Kelton on the statue, and voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Mike Murphy with thanks for a job well done Work is proceeding on the Performing Arts Endowment.

10. Web Site

Bob Conn mentioned the class web site and urged people to add their E-mail addresses to the directory.

11. The meeting was adjourned for the brunch in the Fayerweathers.

Respectfully submitted,

Bob Conn, Secretary.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Medical Center Boulevard
Winston-Salem NC 27157-1015
Rconn@wfubmc.edu