March 31, 1977

Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

Members Present: Philip M. Morse – Chairman, L. W. Fredrick, Melba Phillips, Jarus W. Quinn, H. William Koch, Sidney Millman

Absent: Robert T. Beyer, W. A. Fowler, W. W. Havens, Jr.

Nonvoting Participants: J. A. Burton (APS), Murray Strasberg (ASA), Jacques Ovadia (AAPM), R. A. Young (ACA)

AIP Staff Present: H. William Koch, Director; Sidney Millman, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; R. H. Marks, Associate Director for Publishing; Lewis Slack, Associate Director for General Activities; Dorothy M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; Mary M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary

Following dinner, Chairman Morse called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m.

1. Minutes

Upon motion made and passed without dissent, the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of February 7, 1977, were approved.

2. Status of Purchase of Woodbury Property

1. Zoning Action

   Koch reported that he attended a zoning hearing held by the Oyster Bay Township Zoning Board on March 22. He was accompanied by the AIP attorney, Philip Agar, and Gilbert. It appeared to go well from our point of view. However, our application is on the agenda for another meeting scheduled for April 12. We feel that the Town Board probably wants to demonstrate its responsibility in a zoning transfer that continues a tax-free status. We are tentatively scheduling a closing date of April 13 in anticipation of receiving the variance.

   (The variance was officially approved on April 12 but it turned out that the wording on the activities permitted by the AIP was too restrictive. It took a few additional days to get that modified, and we received an official approval with the wording satisfactory to AIP on May 3. The closing on the building took place on May 5, 1977.)

2. Estimates on Demolition and Renovation Costs – Recommendation to the Governing Board

   Marks noted that the Woodbury building was designed for the specific use of cancer research and clinic, requiring a large number of small examining rooms. There are very few windows in the building. However, the design and workmanship of the building are of high quality, and this includes the utility services. Considerable renovation of the interior is required. The architectural firm of W D M Planning, which has worked closely with us before, has now come up with a fairly detailed layout appropriate to our needs and has proposed suitable demolition of partition walls and other desirable renovations. Based on an estimate submitted by one contractor we think that the total demolition and renovation cost, including architects’ fees, will not exceed $600,000. This is, of course, considerably more than the $300,000 talked about at the time of purchase of the building. This would bring our total investment to $1,400,000.

   Marks noted that the Waldemar Director of Research told us that the building was supported only on external walls but this turned out not to be the case. A careful examination by our architect revealed that some of the interior walls are also load-bearing. Quinn remarked that at a total cost of $1,400,000, the building will turn out to be as costly per square foot as comparable space in New York City acquired by the New York Telephone Company. Marks agreed but pointed out that the Woodbury building also has 11 acres of land. Koch added that AIP is going to get several estimates for the necessary renovation but the figures reported by Marks refer to a ceiling for which Governing Board approval should be requested.

   Gilbert followed up on the presentation by Marks with proposals for the financing of the various building costs. He distributed a 2-page document containing financial data on "Acquisition of Woodbury Property" and went over the figures in some detail. He noted that the present estimate of the total cost of the building, including the original purchase price of $800,000, the previously authorized $30,000 for the purchase of the adjacent one acre of land, and the $600,000 for renovation, is $1,430,000. He thought that one possibility is to negotiate a new mortgage for $1,000,000 at 8 1/2% interest and use $430,000 from our short-term investments.

   Using these mortgage figures and some reasonable estimates for building maintenance, overhead, electricity, insurance and repairs, he came up with an annual operating cost for the Woodbury property of about $275,000 and a corresponding cost for an area of 36,000 square feet of $7.65 per square foot. Some members of the Executive Committee expressed surprise that the cost of space occupancy in Long Island should correspond to such a high equivalent rental figure. Another possibility which was favored by many members of the Executive Committee is to take over the existing mortgage of about $455,000 at 8%, use some of our money presently in short-term investments and obtain an additional mortgage, perhaps on our headquarters building, for the remainder. After discussing various alternatives, the following two motions were passed without dissent:

   1. MOVED that the Executive Committee recommend that the Governing Board authorize an expenditure not to exceed $600,000 for complete renovation of the Woodbury property for use as an AIP publishing and Society services center.

   2. MOVED that the Executive Committee recommend that the Governing Board authorize the staff to negotiate a mortgage of up to $1,000,000 to cover the purchase and renovation of the Woodbury property, subject to approval of the Executive Committee.

3. Status of Conversion of Computer Programs

Gilbert distributed copies of a memorandum from M. R. Martino, dated March 30, 1977, giving an up-to-date account of the various aspects of the installation of the new UNIVAC 90/30 computer; and discussed them in some detail. It was noted that the essential AIP services of subscription fulfillment, processing and dues billing are all up to date while the conversion from the old 9300 computer to the 90/30 facility is taking place and is about 90% completed. Preventive maintenance is in a highly satisfactory state reflecting the reliability of the 90/30 computer. Some technical difficulties encountered in the conversion of the Master History Record File up-date are still unresolved and will require an additional few weeks to straighten out. It was found desirable to order an additional 65k of memory.

4. NSF Proposal for Selective Journal Article Transfer from AIP to NASA by Satellite

Marks reported that AIP has been encouraged by the National Science Foundation to submit a proposal to develop a facsimile distribution system for transmitting AIP publications to NASA physicists using the Lockheed System with the delivery of the final document by facsimile via satellite. It would probably not be funded until 1978. We estimate the project would cost about $140,000 and take a year and a half to complete; the bulk of the money would go to support services from Lockheed. The project would be handled by Rita Lerner. Koch added that, because of the April 15 deadline for submitting the proposal, AIP intends to submit the proposal to NSF, if there is no objection by the Executive Committee. When a specific arrangement is worked out with NSF, it would be submitted at a subsequent meeting of the Executive Committee for approval. There were no objections voiced to submitting an appropriate proposal to NSF before April 15.

5. AIP Involvement in Publishing and Copyright Organizations

Koch distributed a 1-page document entitled "AIP Involvement in Publishing and Copyright Organizations" listing various outside activities that he and other members of the staff are involved in (copy attached as Exhibit A). He noted that all of these involve no compensation and felt that they are important for carrying out our publishing responsibilities. He estimated that his own involvement in these matters takes about 10% of the Institute’s standard working hours.

6. Status of Recruitment of Placement Officer

Koch reported that a recurring response from candidates for the position of Placement Director has been that the AIP salary offer is too low. One member of the Search Committee would have wanted us to ignore our salary scale if the candidate is well qualified for the position. Koch intends to persist in the position that the salary for the Placement Director should be consistent with the salaries of AIP officers, and the individual hired will not be permitted to spend an appreciable fraction of his time in outside activities. AIP’s initial offers have been at the $35,000 rate and he was wondering about increasing it to $40,000. However, some of the candidates wanted a range considerably higher than that. Koch asked whether the Executive Committee agreed with this position.

Fredrick thought that Koch’s actions are entirely in keeping with AIP policy. He suggested that this matter be taken up at the next meeting, possibly in executive session, if the problem has not been resolved by that time. Quinn agreed that this should be done. He noted that it has been a long time in the works.

7. Appointment of Fowler as Vice Chairman of the Council of the Friends of the Center for History of Physics

Slack noted that w. A. Fowler has shown great interest in the fund-raising activities for the Center for History of Physics, and he thought it would be appropriate to invite Fowler to serve as Vice Chairman of the Council of Friends. At Koch’s suggestion, Morse appointed Fowler Vice Chairman of the Council of the Friends of the Center for History of Physics.

8. Should the Executive Committee Propose an Amendment to the Constitution Changing the Member Assessment Charge from $1.00 to $2.00?

Morse noted that, after hearing that two Member Societies (the Acoustical Society of America and the American Astronomical Society) had turned down our request that the AIP Constitution be amended to delete the specific dollar value from the member assessment charge, he was told informally that these Societies would have approved an amendment proposing a specific appropriate amount.

Phillips pointed out that that was not the AAPT position. Her Society felt that any increase in the $1.00 per member charge should be requested for a specific purpose. She thought that, if we are going to get membership support for raising this dues, we ought to put the money someplace where it shows. Fredrick stated that AAS would not have objected to an increase of $1.00 in the member assessment dues but did not want to be caught by surprise after its budget is approved. Burton noted that Fowler would have favored the increase, and that APS approved the proposed amendment. Gilbert gave a  brief account of the history of the member assessment charge.

Morse suggested that this should be referred back to the Fiscal Policy Committee. He indicated that he will pursue it as long as he is Chairman of the Board. He thought it was absurd that the Societies keep asking the Institute to provide more services and, at the same time, are reluctant to increase the member assessment charge.

9. Selection of a General Activities Program for Review at a Subsequent Meeting of the Executive Committee

Morse noted that Havens had suggested that General Activities programs be reviewed in depth and that the Manpower Statistics, in particular, was selected for review at the June Executive Committee meeting. One of the programs will be reviewed at each full-day Executive Committee meeting.

Millman observed that the question had been raised as to how this fits in with the appropriate advisory committee role. Morse suggested that the chairman of the appropriate committee be invited to attend the Executive Committee meeting which focuses on his area. He thought we should try to have Ronald Peierls, Chairman of the Manpower Committee, at the June meeting.

10. Review of Agenda for Copyright Seminar

Koch distributed copies of a recommended motion on copyright policy, as approved by the Publishing Policy Committee. He noted that the staff had arranged a seminar for the next day. Ben H. Weil, of EXXON Research & Engineering Company, will show some slides of library activities at EXXON. Boyd Ladd of King Research, Inc., will describe the magnitude of copying going on in libraries today. Howard Anderson, of the Yankee Group quarterly journal, will describe, among other things, the facsimile 10-second transmitter. Ben Weil will speak again, this time describing his involvement in development of a payments center by the Association of American Publishers. Charles Lieb, our copyright attorney, will describe his attitude and interpretations about the new copyright law and specific transfer of rights from authors to publisher, and its importance. Koch suggested that members of the Executive Committee should listen particularly for the important issue of what to do about U.S. Government employees. Koch also reported that Rita Lerner and he met with six Government attorneys to discuss this. NSF, for example, takes the position that the principal investigators on their grants are permitted to take out copyright. An important question is: Can you copyright the derivative of a Government publication?

Strasberg was concerned as to how this would affect Government payment of page charges. He suggested we should bring up this question when we discuss this with the Government people. Koch stated that he did, and noted that it is their feeling it does not have a bearing. Burton agreed with Strasberg that the most important thing is not to jeopardize the page charges. Quinn asked whether someone will tell us the best and worst that can happen if these rights are not transferred. Koch agreed that this has to be done.

11. Review of Some Agenda Items of the April 2 Governing Board Meeting and Recommendations on Items Requiring Action by the Board

1. Recommendation on AIP Typesetting Software System

   Marks read a motion proposing the expenditure of $325,000 for a typesetting software system which will be presented to the Governing Board. Koch noted that the Executive Committee had already approved the expenditure and recommended its submission to the Board.

2. AIP Annual Report to be Published in Physics Today

   Koch noted that there is usually a brief discussion of the annual report at the Board meeting, with some members of the Board asking for clarification of a point or suggesting some modifications in the report before approval and authorization to publish in Physics Today is voted.

3. Financial Report for 1976

   Gilbert stated that he will present to the Board a new format for a summary statement of AIP operations which, he hopes, will be more meaningful to Board members and Society officers. Included in this summary statement are not only the AIP operations but also the purely handling operations performed for Societies such as dues collection, subscription handling, MHRF, ballots, mailings, administrative offices, collection of Institute of Physics subscriptions, etc. This is in response to the expressed desire of some Board members to see the total AIP financial operations. Gilbert distributed copies of his new "Estimated Summary Statement of Operations" format and said that he would also distribute copies of this document to Board members.

4. Financial Handling Charge for 1978

   Gilbert noted that the financial handling charge must be fixed annually by the Governing Board and, according to the AIP Constitution, it cannot exceed one per cent. It was set at 5/8 of 1% for 1977, and the staff recommends the same percentage for 1978. The following motion was passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the Executive Committee recommend that the Governing Board set the financial handling charge for 1978 at 5/8 of 1% (0.625%).

12. NSF Indirect Cost Rate

Gilbert informed the Executive Committee that the Institute was advised by NSF that they accepted our indirect cost proposal for the calendar year 1975. Accordingly, our new indirect cost rate is 22.44% on total direct costs. Our previous rate was 20.10%.

13. Status of Postal Matters

Koch distributed copies of his letter of 30 March 1977 to the General Counsel of the U. S. Postal Service expressing his understanding that the proposed rule on Second-Class Bulk Mailings – Definition of Advertising; Marking of Paid Reading Matter as stated in the Federal Register, Volume 42, No. 41, Wednesday, March 2, 1977, (which requires that scientific articles on which page charges are collected be marked "advertisement") does not apply to AIP and Member Society journals. This letter was written in line with the advice of our attorney that it is a good idea for AIP to go on record with such a statement.

14. Next Meeting

Morse noted that it has been suggested that there is presently no need for a meeting of the Executive Committee in Washington in April and that we might have a day and a half meeting in June when we would take up the review of the Manpower Statistics program. The following dates were decided on: Meeting to commence with dinner on Monday, June 6, and continue on Tuesday, June 7. The Manpower Statistics review could take place at 9:00 a.m. on June 7.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.