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Subj: Update on USNAAA Board of Trustees
Meeting held on April 30-May 1, 2003
Refer to: Central Region Letter 12-03, May 13, 2003
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AT MY USNA ALUMNI CLASSMAIL ADDRESS, len.wass@1964.usna.com
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Chapter Officers - Please give this e-mail the widest possible distribution
among your members and other alumni in your area.
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Because of a death in our closest friend's family I was unable
to attend the BOT meeting in Annapolis. I am passing on the notes taken
by the Eastern Region Trustee, Mase Wells ' 47, on the activities taken
and decisions made at that meeting. Mase's notes follow:
On Thursday, April 30, there were committee meetings and meetings of Class
Presidents and Chapter Presidents. I sat in on the Chapter and Class Presidents
joint briefings when I was not at a Committee meeting. I will give you
a few highlights of these briefings that I thought were interesting.
In my opinion, Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk is providing outstanding
leadership to our athletic programs. He has established very high standards
for our athletes and they are meeting them. Athletes are graduating at
or above the Brigade average. Their average grades are excellent. Athletics
(varsity, intramural, and club sports) at the Naval Academy are financed
by revenue from football (65%), government funds (13%), and other (22%).
The first two phases of the reconstruction of the Navy-Marine Corps
Memorial Stadium will be completed by the first football game. Chet
showed us some great slides of the work-in-progress and the future appearance
of the Stadium. I had a few minutes Thursday afternoon so I drove out
to the site. It would have been difficult for me to envision the final
product without Chet's slides first. The field is completely torn up.
Hard to believe that it will be finished for graduation!! Anyway, they
are lowering the field and moving the stands closer to the field. In fact,
the stands will be as close to the field as is allowed by NCAA regulations,
probably closer than any other stadium in the country. Drains under the
field are designed so that a six-inch rainstorm will drain in twenty minutes!!
Rain should not delay any Navy football games!! The lower levels have
all chair back seats with arms. The upper levels have chair backs but
no arms. All the seat plaques have been removed, are being cleaned up,
and will be replaced. All the memorial plaques around the stadium, many
nearly invisible before, have been removed. They are being spruced up
and will be replaced in far more conspicuous places. By 2004, the job
should be finished and we all can be proud of our Stadium. The memorial
aspects of the Stadium will be especially impressive. Although the stadium
renovations are paid for with private funds, there is a related environmental
program that has 50% federal funds, 20% City of Annapolis funds, and some
State of Maryland funds in a cooperative project! For more on the Stadium
renovation with pictures, go to www.navysports.com.
The Deputy Commandant gave a great presentation on life in the Brigade.
There are 4207 midshipmen broken down as follows: men 3565 (84.7%) women
642 (15.3%), minorities (including minority women) 848 (20.1%). Because
of problems at other schools, there was a particular interest in the next
portion of his presentation. The Naval Academy has a zero tolerance policy
in regard to human relations problems. Of course, there are some problems
(midshipmen are human), but not too many (probably less than ten events
per year). They are dealt with instantly and not swept under the carpet.
There is a detailed and very professional procedure for handling these
incidents. Everyone is treated with dignity and respect. There is an excellent
remedial program that is in effect when appropriate. There is a "robust"
urinalysis program!! This year, there were 14,000 applicants for entrance.
1200 were accepted. They would like to have taken more because there were
many great applicants but are limited in class size. The Naval Academy
conducts summer seminars for high school students. This summer, there
will be about 1800 students from 6000 applicants. About 37% eventually
become midshipmen.
Renovation continues at the Naval Academy. Memorial Hall, the Bancroft
Hall Rotunda, and Smoke Hall are finished and are beautiful. Be sure and
visit them! Classroom buildings have been gutted, outsides preserved but
insides completely rebuilt and modernized. If you visit Annapolis, be
sure and walk through Sampson, Mahan, and Maury Halls. Look in the classrooms.
It will give you a great idea about what is going on. It is a little scary
getting into the yard nowadays. There are sailors in camouflaged fatigues
with rifles pointed at the ground but with their fingers on the triggers
at all the gates. You must have picture identification, of course. However,
once you get in, the yard is beautiful and open! Very little seems to
be off limits. If you are a Life Member, visit the Midshipmen's Store.
Alumni Association Director of Information Tim Kobosko gave Chapter and
Class Presidents a briefing on recent and upcoming changes to the information
management system of value to them. He is now able to provide on-line
registration for reunions, collect registration fees, and provide many
other services to assist in class and chapter affairs. For more on this
subject, contact Tim by going to the "Contact Us" section of
our web site www.usna.com.
On Friday, May 1, we held our Spring Board of Trustees meeting. I will
cover only the highlights. The detailed story and full President's Report
will be on our web site shortly.
House Committee. The Alumni Association is housed in three buildings
at the corner of College Avenue and King George Street in Annapolis: Alumni
House (Ogle Hall), the Cottage, and 49 House. Ogle Hall was built in 1739
and is recognized by the State of Maryland and the US Department of the
Interior as both architecturally and historically significant. However,
it is in imperative need of about $400,000 in renovations. Our House Committee
headed by Western Regional Trustee Bob Stevenson has done an outstanding
job of developing a plan to accomplish this and the Staff will recommend
a source of funding, including a possible sale of rental property that
the Alumni Association owns in the vicinity. The House Committee's excellent
report with pictures and descriptions of our buildings may be found on
our web site at www.usna.com/about/readahead/readahead.htm.
Finance Committee. As with similar associations, we have suffered
some losses in our investments because of the downturn in the economy.
Our record, however, is better than the average. In order to keep within
a reduced budget, the Staff has taken some prompt action to reduce expenditures.
We will realize significant savings, for example, by staff reduction through
attrition and reducing the number of Shipmate editions annually from ten
to eight. We are expecting that our current fund drive Leaders to Serve
the Nation will go over our goal of $175m. If this happens, a portion
of the excess will be used to build up our investments labeled Unrestricted
Funds. If you contribute to the Foundation and do not specify a particular
recipient for your donation, it will go into Unrestricted Funds, which,
among other things, provides financial support to the Alumni Association.
Overall, we are in good shape and are fortunate to have an outstanding
Joint Finance Committee headed by Alumni Association Vice Chairman Corbin
McNeill and an excellent CFO Hank Sanford.
Governance Committee. About one year ago, this committee headed
by Roy Snyder was tasked by the BOT Chairman to review our committee structure.
They made their report at this BOT meeting. Should any of you have an
interest in this report, it may be found on our web site at www.usna.com/about/readahead/readahead.htm.
Essentially, they reported that the committee structure was sound except
for the Strategy and Planning Committee which, they concluded, should
not be a standing committee but an ad-hoc committee, convened only when
required. I personally take strong exception to this conclusion. I think
that the S&P Committee should be continued and strengthened. The Governance
Committee's report was presented to the BOT but there was no discussion
and no vote was taken on its conclusions. The Chairman stated that there
would be a discussion when the BOT reconvened after the incoming members
joined the BOT. Unfortunately, this did not occur but the new committee
list approved by the new BOT does not have any S&P Committee. I intend
to pursue this further.
Other Items of Interest. On the recommendation of our Membership
Committee, Admiral Vern Clark, the current CNO, and General James J. Jones,
the former Commandant of the Marine Corps and current Commander United
States European Command, were elected Honorary Association members. We
are allowed 25 honorary members and we have 15.
The Life Membership fee goes up on July 1. If you are not now a Life Member,
you should become one before the rate goes up. There are many advantages
and it will save you and the Association money over your lifetime. Go
to the Membership section of our web site www.usna.com.
There will be a USNA Alumni Register. However, its success depends on
each Alumni responding when they receive the Register questionnaire shortly.
CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community). Since this is a very
controversial subject and always generates more responses than anything
else that I have reported on in the past, I will spend this whole section
of my report on it. I will try and get my facts right; but, since it was
thrown at us pretty fast with nothing in writing, I may not have everything
exactly correct.
As you will remember, we pursued the CCRC a couple of years ago but eventually
dropped the particular project then under discussion.
In the past few months, an organization of developers called Two Rivers
has approached the Alumni Association. They own about 1400 acres in the
Annapolis area about 15 miles from the Chapel near our old dairy farm.
They intend to develop this as a retirement community. At present, the
plans do not include a CCRC (that is, no assisted living or nursing home).
The plan is for 1900 units with a golf course and other amenities. They
have asked us to associate with them on the project by lending them our
name and assist in permitting and marketing. In return, they will give
us free and clear about 20 acres of the land worth about $2.5 million
which we are free to use in any way including selling it. We are still
in a very exploratory mode. The Alumni Association has made no agreements
of any kind with Two Rivers. There were eight caveats attached to the
proposal (I think that I got these right):
1. The 20 acres of land is an unrestricted gift to the USNA AA.
2. We will lend them the USNA AA name.
3. They will allow us the future option of developing a full CCRC.
4. We will provide marketing assistance but will have complete control
over the use of our name in marketing.
5. We have the complete option of selling our 20 acres at any time.
6. We will have a defined role in governance.
7. Nothing will be done without prior approval of the full Board of Trustees.
8. The Alumni Association has an ironclad escape clause.
The Board agreed to give the Executive Committee authority to continue
to explore the project. This may require about $5000 in legal fees. No
commitment will be made without full BOT approval. Along with a few other
Board members, I am very leery of this project! Personally, I believe
that the Executive Committee should not oversee the project. I believe
oversight should be given to a committee of alumni who live in the Annapolis/Washington/Baltimore
area. This group should have experts in legal, financial, real estate,
construction, and management experience in projects of this nature. We
had a similar group convened briefly for the previous project. They should
report to the XC between Board meetings and report fully to the BOT at
each regular meeting. The committee members should be willing to devote
much volunteer time to the project. I will pursue this. In any case, I
am now a member of the Executive Committee and hope to have an input.
I solicit your comments. I am sure that I will get many!!
President’s Report. As always, President George Watt gave
an excellent report. I will only report what I thought were some of the
highlights. The full report will be on our web site shortly and again
I urge you to read it. Go to www.usna.com and then to the “About
Us” section and then the May 2003 BOT section. It is not there yet
because our wonderful and hardworking Secretary suffered an unfortunate
family loss just as the BOT convened last week. Bear with us; it will
be there shortly. Check it out next week and then print it out and read
it.
The President reported that we now have a total of 47,987 members made
up of 41,466 Life, 4990 Annual, and 1531 Associated Members. (We are allowed
10% of our total as Associate non-voting members.) We already have 760
Joint Life members even though it has only been available for a few weeks.
The President has set a goal of 65,000 members in a few years. Since nearly
100% of new graduates nowadays are Life Members, this goal is attainable
if we can recruit some of our alumni and non-graduates who are not now
members. We can all help here. Is your roommate a member? If not, recruit
him/her!! Our Leaders to Serve the Nation fundraising campaign targeted
to conclude at the end of 2005 already has reached $147.5 million of our
goal of $175 million as of April 30!! It is important to note the large
role our alumni have taken in the giving:
Alumni 67%
Parents 4%
Friends 10%
Corporations 10% (many of these are because of Alumni)
Foundations 9%
There is a plan to overhaul our wonderful magazine Shipmate to make it
even more valuable to our members. There soon will be a survey sent to
a portion of our membership. If you get one, please be sure and reply.
After the outgoing Board adjourned, we reconvened with out new Chair,
Admiral Carl Trost, welding the gavel. I look forward to my last two years
on the Board of Trustees under his leadership. The names of the current
Board of Trustees can be found in the “Contact Us” section of
our web site www.usna.com.
My five years on the Board of Trustees will be up at the Spring 2005 Board
meeting. It is a very interesting job. Any of you who have an interest
should start now to develop support for your election. Nominations will
be due in the Fall of 2004. Read our Bylaws and Operating Manual which
are available on our web site under “About Us”.
**** End of Mase Wells Notes ****
I'm indebted to Mase for his complete report and I would also invite comments
from all Central Region alumni on the BOT meeting. In particular, I would
like your views on the disestablishment of the Strategy and Planning Committee
of the Board (See "Governance" above) and on the CCRC (Continuing
Care Retirement Community) discussion above. Also, remember about dues
going up for life membership.
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