Cornell University Class of 1964

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Meeting Minutes: February 9, 2008

From: Barbara (Bobbie) Furman Attardi, Secretary

Present:

Name	Email
Don Allen	dra6@cornell.edu
Barbara Furman Attardi	battardi@aol.com
Nancy Taylor Butler	ntb4@cornell.edu
Marcia Goldschlager Epstein	mepstein@ccp.edu
Arnie and Mary Hammer	aahammer@aol.com
Janet Spencer King	jsk57@cornell.edu
Linda Cohen Meltzer	lcm12@cornell.edu
Karl Miller	kmiller@icdc.com
Stan Morgenstein	sm124@cornell.edu
Carolyn Chauncey Neuman	ccn3@cornell.edu
Bruce Wagner	bdw5@cornell.edu
Lenore Weitzman	Lweitzma@gmu.edu

The meeting was called to order about 2:30 by Janet Spencer King.

The minutes from the class meeting in 2007 had been circulated online and were not read.

1. Treasurer’s Report (Linda Meltzer)

Linda reported that our class is in sound financial shape. There were 483 dues payers and 525 bad addresses. We have funds from reunion surpluses, and we received donations to the JFK Award and Tradition Fellowship this year.

2. JFK Award (Janet for Joan Melville)

The book value for the JFK Award is about $158,000, and we are paying out $10,000/year. We would like to expand the pool of applicants for the JFK Award so that we encompass all majors across all colleges.

Carolyn Neuman and Michael Newman met with Connie at Day Hall to discuss making a broader announcement and suggested that we pay to advertise in the Cornell Daily Sun concerning this year’s award, possibly the week classes begin after Winter Break. Mary suggested those in the Cornell Abroad program may be a good target. A motion was made and passed to place an ad in the Cornell Daily Sun in the spring. The Senior Sun had an ad thanking the class of ’64 for this fellowship. We decided, if we have a good applicant pool, to give two awards this year: $10,000 for the first place and $5,000 for the second place, which will not be publicized.

The latest recipient Sorbriquet (Sorby) Grant, a Jamaican-American who is majoring in public policy, will be joining the Teach for America program next year. She will attend the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley.

Carolyn suggested taking the winner out to lunch. A motion was made and passed to have Carolyn and Janet take the winner to lunch in Ithaca.

3. Fundraising Campaign (Rich Glick, CU)

Rich Glick spoke to us about Reunion campaign milestones. We need a team in place by April, 2008 for fund raising both for Tower Club ($5,000 or more) and participation (regular gifts). Our goals for the numbers of participants and major gift givers will be set by Rich, Janet, and participant volunteers.

We discussed calling classmates about Reunion and then mentioning participation in gift giving. Everyone who has given to Tower Club in the past is invited to join the Major Gifts/Tower Club committee. How do we identify potential new Tower Club members? There was a matching gift given at the last Reunion, but we didn’t reach the goal. We’re at a good age to get new recruits, and CAU starts several days before Reunion. Marcia and Stan will get a list of classmates for choosing participation and Tower Club leaders.

There will be special edition of the newsletter, which usually comes out in March, geared to Reunion. We discussed trying to get it out earlier as part of the Reunion mailing. Proofs have been getting stalled in Alumni house.

4. Carol Tatkon Center

The Class of ’64 contributed $15,000 in 2006, and there is a plaque in the Center to this effect.

5. Cornell Duespayer Rewards Program

CU will provide incentives.

6. Website Review (Bruce Wagner)

The site now features classmate Bob Goldfarb, a 2007 recipient of the Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award; and Sorby Grant, 2007 JFK Awardee. We expect the web site to play a larger role in Reunion planning.

7. Other Business

This year’s new student reading project selection was “The Pickup” by Nadine Gordimer. Several copies were available at the meeting. We made a motion to send out next year’s book to dues payers. The motion passed.

Lenni reported on her discussion with David Harris to give a seed grant of $5,000 to the Institute for Social Science (ISS). David is now a Deputy Provost and has been very busy. We had hoped to give the money to a specific faculty member, but ISS wants to use it as part of the small grants program which is supported by other sources as well. There were 26 proposals submitted last year, of which 9 were funded for an average amount of $5,500. We would have preferred to have a relationship with the recipient, but we can still invite one of the professors from ISS to talk to our class (at Reunion). There is also a new program for young faculty members at CU (10 grants). We made a motion that we will fund this program at $5,000, which passed. There will be the potential to renew this, and we would like recognition. We thank Lenni for pursuing this cause.

There was a “Far Above” program in New York this year which was very successful. Six faculty members with different backgrounds presented. It will be held in several other cities in early 2008: Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Janet plans to organize a summer meeting of the Class Council in New York City. Nancy Butler proposed that we have a paid class dinner next year as a perk for Class Council members attending the CACO MWM. The motion passed with the amendment that it should not conflict with CACO or Philadelphia Club events.

8. Reunion: June 4-7, 2009 (Mary and Arnie Hammer)

Volunteers so far are Sue Holden, food; Arnie and Mary, souvenirs; Lenni, Michael, class survey; Barbara Brim, registration; Bruce, communications/website; Bobbie, class hike. We need volunteers for affinity chairperson, welcoming committee, entertainment, photography. Don McCarthy and Ed Dealy who did the affinity groups for the last Reunion should be able to specify the structure they followed.

Various ideas were presented for Reunion activities: Health Symposium on Aging Well, small group discussions, small affinity groups with comfortable questions, energy underground party (M. Newman).

Seed money will be about $10,000.

We discussed raising interest in attending Reunion: ideas for programs online, ask people “what would bring you back?” in newsletter, theme of getting back in touch with old friends etc. Send names and suggestions to Arnie and Mary. 

Meeting was adjourned about 5:00.

Several classmates went to Positano Coastal (212 Walnut St.) for dinner, while others attended “100 Years of Far Above” in the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott.