Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Members Present: Ralph A. Sawyer – Chairman, Stanley S. Ballard, Ronald Geballe, W. W. Havens, Jr., R. B. Lindsay, Robert G. Sachs, Mary E. Warga, H. W. Koch
AIP Staff Present: H. W. Koch, Wallace Waterfall, G. F. Gilbert, Lewis Slack, Mary M. Johnson
Chairman Sawyer called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.
1. Minutes
Upon motion made, seconded, and carried without dissent, the minutes of the meeting of September 29, 1969 were approved as distributed.
2. Financial Statement for Second Quarter 1969
Mr. Gilbert reported that the second quarter statement had been mailed to all Board members on December 1 and that a copy would be attached to the official copy of the minutes of this meeting for record purposes. (Copies are attached for others who should have them.) The net income for the first half of the year was shown as $50,488. Mr. Gilbert pointed out that previous experience had shown us that no conclusions could be drawn from this half-year statement about the financial situation at the end of 1969.
3. Approval of Omitting Third Quarter Financial Statement for 1969
The Institute’s service contract with Member Societies requires that a statement be submitted each quarter. Therefore, Mr. Gilbert had sent a letter dated November 26 to the Secretary and Treasurer of each Society requesting permission to omit the statement for the third quarter. The reason given was that omitting the third quarter statement would save about two months’ working time of the Accounting Division and make it possible to get out the year-end statement earlier. Mr. Gilbert said that all Society officers questioned had approved omitting the third quarter statement and he asked approval of the Executive Committee. By motion made and carried, the Executive Committee approved. Several Societies had requested special information to help them prepare their budgets and Mr. Gilbert said he would furnish it.
In reply to questions, Mr. Gilbert said that the present delay in accounting is due largely to the lag in publication of journals. When the accounting system is computerized we expect to be able to render monthly statements. Year-end statements must include all prorations and should include all of the year’s journals to be most useful and meaningful but we cannot continue to hold books open indefinitely for very late publications.
4. Budget for 1970
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Salary of Director
Before proceeding with the discussion of the budget, the Chairman suggested that the report of the committee appointed to study the salary of the Director should be heard. That committee consisted of Messrs. Havens, H. R. Crane, H. I. Fusfeld, Sawyer (ex officio), and Waterfall (ex officio), with Mr. Havens as chairman. The Director excused himself from the meeting and Mr. Havens made his report and explained the considerations which had led to the recommendation. After brief discussion the following motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously:
MOVED that the salary of the Director of the Institute be increased to $44,000 per year, effective January 1, 1970.
The Director returned to the meeting and was told of the action just taken.
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Explanation of Proposed Budget for 1970
The Director pointed out that a detailed statement showing the revised budget for 1969, the projection to the end of 1969, and a proposed budget for 1970 had been distributed to all members of the Executive Committee about a week before this meeting. It had been accompanied by supplementary statements prepared by the Treasurer as an aid to understanding of various items in the proposed budget.
Next, the Director distributed a folder containing an outline of the matters he wished to discuss (attached as Exhibit A) and other papers to which he would refer in discussing the Institute’s current programs and their effect on the 1970 budget. Some of the points made by the Director in his presentation or brought out later in discussion are given below:
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Delay in publishing unhonored pages has substantially improved honoring. We believe no delay will be necessary in 1970 and the 1970 budget had been based on expectation of no delay. We propose to continue requesting information about whether the publication charge will be honored before we start processing manuscripts so that a delay can be instituted again if necessary.
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The 50% increase in foreign subscription prices approved by the Executive Committee last June is expected to produce about $175,000 extra income in 1970. Incidentally, this about equals the $180,000 in publication charge income which we estimate we lost on unhonored pages from foreign authors. Information available to date indicates that the increased subscription prices are not affecting the number of foreign subscriptions.
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Net income from sale of reprints is a major item, estimated at $101,550 in our 1970 budget. We will continue to study ways of producing reprints at lower cost.
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Conference proceedings supplements are included in the 1970 budget for JAP because we are committed to publish them. Following the action taken by the Executive Committee at its September 29 meeting we are working on other ways of publishing conference proceedings and expect to publish no more as supplements in AIP journals after 1970.
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To keep up with the increasing workload in Editorial Mechanics it was necessary to increase the staff substantially during 1969. To keep the staff and reduce turnover and loss caused by continual training of new personnel, it was necessary to increase salaries. We believe this has had the desired effect and that the 1970 budget provides properly for keeping a staff adequate for the job. Additional space was rented to accommodate the larger staff.
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When the 1969 budget was revised by the Executive Committee last June, approximately $27,000 was cut from the budgets of the Education and Manpower, Public Relations, and History Divisions. We have restored this in the 1970 budgets so that those divisions can go on with their planned programs.
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Provision has been made in the 1970 budget for a PT staff member to cover activities in Washington. As much information as possible should be given in PT about cutbacks in Department of Defense spending for research and other Government actions which affect the advancement of physics.
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Advancement of physics depends on proper employment of physics manpower. Curtailment of Government expenditures for research may result in reshuffling in the employment of physicists. Further manpower studies and greater activity in our Placement Service may be necessary.
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Because of uncertainties about future journal income and publishing costs and about the effect of tax legislation on journal income, it seems wise to set aside a part of our net income from publications as a publishing reserve. After consultation with AIP auditors, the Treasurer has suggested that the amount so set aside should be 50% of the difference between the “front end” expense and the “back end” income as explained in the attached Exhibit B. Setting aside $113,450 in a publishing reserve in this manner has been included in the 1970 budget.
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The proposed budget for 1970 shows an operating net income of $134,925. From this, $113,450 is set aside as a publishing reserve, leaving a net income of $21,475.
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The entire expense of the Physics Information Program, expected to amount to approximately $840,000 during 1970, is covered by grants from NSF as shown on Page 26 of the budget.
Following some further discussion, the following motion was made, seconded, and carried without dissent:
MOVED that the proposed 1970 budget, modified in accordance with actions taken at this meeting, be adopted.
(The budget attached to these minutes is the modified budget which was adopted.)
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5. Change in Dollar Limit on Bank Account Requiring One Signature Only
The Treasurer explained that at the present time the Institute has only one checking account with Bankers Trust Company providing for a single signature for checks under $100. The other accounts all require two signatures. The Institute issues approximately 14,000 checks per year and a large number of these are for routine expenditures in the range of $100 to $1,000. In the interest of saving the time of key personnel in signing routine checks, the Treasurer requested that the dollar limit on the special checking account, requiring one signature only, be raised from $100 to $1,000. On motion made, seconded, and passed without dissent, the requested authorization was given by the Executive Committee.
6. Status of Accounting Conversion to Magnetic Tape
The Treasurer reported that our accounting consultants, R. H. Management Associates, Inc., have completed Phase I of their work, involving a uniform chart of accounts, general accounting features of the ledger system and recommended schedule of system priorities. They rendered a formal report of their work and copies are available if desired. At the present time, they are working with our staff on the actual design of our computerized ledger system. As mentioned previously, we plan to hold a meeting of Society Secretaries and Treasurers in the spring of 1970, to inform them of our new accounting plans.
7. Transfer of Payroll to Bankers Trust Company
The Treasurer said that one of the primary considerations in the computerization of our accounting system is the establishment of priorities of our systems effort. Obviously, the most pressing current need is the need for timely financial statements.
The development of an “in-house” automated payroll system would require the time and attention of key personnel. Accordingly, we made a study of doing our computerized payroll “in-house” versus “out-of-house.” The “out-of-house” arrangement would represent a temporary commitment.
Our Management Committee decided to have our computerized payroll done by Bankers Trust Company commencing January 1, 1970. This will enable key personnel to devote their efforts to the computerization of our over-all ledger system. When this has been accomplished, we will then develop an “in-house” automated payroll system using our own computer facilities.
The following motion was made, seconded, and carried without dissent:
MOVED that the staff be authorized to execute a payroll agency agreement with Bankers Trust Company.
8. Status of Employee Savings Plan
The Secretary reviewed the efforts of the staff to institute an employee savings plan which was first approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting on January 31, 1968. Starting of the plan was postponed because of difficulties in obtaining IRS approval. Our attorneys have continued their efforts but were recently advised by an IRS representative that it may be unwise for us to pursue the matter further at the present time. The IRS regards employee savings plans as profit-sharing plans which do not fit in with the general philosophy of non-profit organizations. A ruling may be coming from Washington some time in the future that a 501(c)(3) organization cannot have an employee savings plan and any organization which does may be ruled as having abandoned its 501(c)(3) status. Under these circumstances it seems wisest to abandon our efforts for the present. Accordingly, the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that authorization for an Employee Savings Plan as given by the Executive Committee at its meeting of January 31, 1968, be rescinded pending clarification of the position of the IRS with respect to such plans.
9. Revised Retirement Plan
The Secretary explained that the previous Revised Retirement Plan had gone into effect in 1967 after several previous revisions of the plan. In a recent conference with representatives of Marsh & McLennan, our consultants on the pension plan, we learned that pension plan can now be improved so as to provide substantially better benefits at no greater cost. This comes about because of higher interest rates and greater earnings on investments. At the time our present retirement plan was authorized the Executive Committee said that we could work out a plan such that the cost of the retirement plan and the accompanying group insurance would not exceed 5% of payroll. When the plan was adopted the cost was just below 5% but the cost has been going down ever since, partly because of the credits the Institute receives when employees leave before the Institute contributions are vested in them. The Institute’s cost for 1969 will be about 2.8% of payroll and we already know it will be still less in 1970. By taking advantage of the new methods of calculation and by some small increase in the Institute’s payments, it should be possible to improve our fringe benefit program considerably and the staff believes that would be wise, particularly in view of the disappointment concerning the employee savings plan. Marsh & McLennan is working on some changes which they will propose to us soon and we have also requested a proposal from TIAA. We hope to have something specific to submit to the Executive Committee at either the March or the June meeting.
10. Corporate Associates
The Director reported that the Corporate Associates program appeared to be shaping up quite well for 1970. Three companies have decided not to continue but we received applications from others. The two following companies have applied for Corporate Associate status and, by motion made, seconded, and passed without dissent they were elected:
Honeywell Inc. | $1,000 |
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | 500 |
11. COMPAS Policy Statement on Non-Technical Involvements of AIP
Mr. Slack recalled that a year ago the Executive Committee had requested COMPAS to develop a statement on non-technical involvements of AIP. A copy of the report from COMPAS was given to members of the Executive Committee at the last meeting with the understanding that they would study it and be prepared to take action on it at this meeting.
Several comments were made by various Committee members which Mr. Slack said he would pass on to the chairman of COMPAS and the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the general conclusions and recommendations as contained in the background study paper, Non-Technical Involvement, prepared by COMPAS, be endorsed and that COMPAS be requested to prepare a statement, embodying these recommendations and conclusions, suitable for adoption by the Governing Board as a resolution reflecting the policies of the Institute.
12. Proposed Bequest to AIP by Andrew Gemant
The Secretary reported on correspondence with Andrew Gemant in which he has offered to bequeath to AIP his estate, estimated by himself at approximately $130,000, on the death of himself and his wife. Dr. Gemant is a Fellow of APS, has degrees in both physics and medicine, and became acquainted with AIP through our History Division when he contributed some books and manuscripts to our Niels Bohr Library. The correspondence with Dr. Gemant indicates that he would like to have the proceeds of the estate invested so that the income could be used by the Institute in giving what would be called the “Andrew Gemant Prize.” Nothing is said about the type of activity for which the prize would be given. Dr. Gemant is now 74 years old and lives in Detroit. The estate includes securities. cash, life insurance, real estate, original paintings, jewelry, silver, books, and unpublished manuscripts. There is some question about how much the Institute could realize from the estate at the time it is received but, presumably, there would be enough to provide for some kind of prize.
There was brief discussion during which the Secretary suggested a motion and the following motion, modified by suggestions of Executive Committee members, was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the bequest offered to the Institute by Andrew Gemant in his letters of October 25 and November 23, 1969, be accepted with thanks, with the understanding that (1) the proceeds of the estate, if adequate, can be used to establish a prize or fellowship preferably in some area of general interest to physicists rather than in some specific technical area in the province of one of the Member Societies, and (2) that costs of AIP in administering the prize or fellowship will be provided from proceeds of the estate, and (3) that the staff, with the advice of legal counsel, be authorized to complete an agreement with Dr. Gemant which will give the Institute as much latitude as possible in the use of the funds.
13. Increase in Bendix Awards Program
Mr. Slack recalled that for the last eight years Bendix has been giving $2,500 per year for a program of research awards for students in colleges. After the merger of Sigma Pi Sigma with AIP Student Sections it became apparent that AIP would have much more involvement with student activities and we suggested that Bendix might increase the amount of their award. They have sent us $3,500 for this year and promised to continue for at least one more year. The maximum award given to any student chapter is $500 and most of them are $200 or $300.
14. Possibility of Continuing Physics Data Collection at AIP
Mr. Slack reported that, on the basis of a suggestion made by Harvey Brooks to Allan Bromley, it appears that AIP may possibly receive financial support to help us with the collection of physics manpower information. Apparently, the data which we have collected and distributed in the past has been very useful and we shall pursue the possibility of securing outside support so that the work can be continued and expanded.
15. Report of K. T. Compton Award Committee
Mr. Ballard reported for the committee appointed following the last meeting (Ballard, Quimby, and Beyer). He said that the committee believes that it is appropriate to make another award during 1970 and that, if the Executive Committee accepts that decision, his committee will make recommendations regarding the recipient to the Governing Board at its March meeting. The Executive Committee agreed that an award should be made at the Assembly in 1970 and requested that Mr. Ballard and his committee submit their nominees to the Governing Board.
16. Scheduling of Society Meetings at Time of Annual Assembly of Society Officers
The Director pointed out that some problems have arisen because some of the Member Societies have scheduled special meetings of their officers which conflict with the planned Assembly meetings. The Assembly program includes an evening for Society caucuses. The Institute pays the expenses of Society officers to the Assembly and the Institute staff feels that it is unfair for Societies to take advantage of the situation to schedule meetings of their own which conflict with Assembly meetings. Members of the Executive Committee agreed with the position taken by the Director and the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:
WHEREAS, the purpose of the annual AIP Assembly of Corporate Associate representatives and Society Officers is to develop closer ties between these two important segments of the U.S. physics community and with AIP, and
WHEREAS, time and places for Society caucuses are regularly provided on the Assembly program, be it therefore
MOVED that the AIP Executive Committee request Society officers attending the Assembly to refrain from organizing or attending other Society meetings at times which conflict with the program of the Assembly.
17. Appointments
The Director suggested the following appointments which were approved by the Executive Committee:
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Representative to AAAS Council
Mary E. Warga – 2-year term to January 15, 1972
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Representative to USANC of IUPAP
H. W. Koch – 3-year term to December 31, 1972
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Representative to US National Commission for UNESCO
Lewis Slack – 3-year term to December 1972
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ANSI Graphic Standards Board
- H. C. Wolfe – 2-year term to December 31, 1971
- A. W. K. Metzner (alternate) – 2-year term to December 31, 1971
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Magnetics Conference Advisory Committee
Werner P. Wolf 3-year terms to November 1972 E. M. Gyorgy V. Jaccarine Stephan Von Molnar A. Brooks Harris -
Advisory Committee on PHYSICS TODAY
Dale T. Teaney (Chairman) – 3-year term to December 31, 1972
The other members of this Committee are:
Terms to 12/31/70 Terms to 12/31/71 John N. Howard W. W. Havens, Jr. Howard J. Lewis Solomon J. Buchsbaum Robert S. Marvin Clifford E. Swartz
18. Changes in Editorship of JAP and JMP
The Director reported that, early in 1970, Frank Myers will be retiring from Argonne and also from the editorship of JAP. He also reported that Elliott Montroll has asked to be relieved of the Editorship of JMP. Committees are now working on nominees for both of these editorships and their recommendations will be reported to the Executive Committee later.
19. Final Settlement with NSF on Translation Journal Inventory
The Director reported that a check for $53,000 had been sent to the National Science Foundation along with a revised final report on the project with the understanding that “the matter will considered closed and the National Science Foundation will assert no further rights with regard to the inventory in question or to the proceeds from its sale.”
20. Other Business
Mr. Havens said he was concerned about any publicity which might be given on discontinuing the delay in publication of articles with page charges not honored. It is true that honoring has increased markedly since the delay was announced and it is hoped that no further delays will be required. However, Government support of research and of publication charges is still questionable and he believed the threat of delay should be continued. After some discussion between Mr. Havens and Mr. Koch it was agreed that the two would collaborate on any announcement concerning changes in the delay policy.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m. with the understanding that the next meeting of the Executive Committee would be at breakfast at the Palmer House in Chicago on Wednesday, January 28, 1970.