MEETING NOTES

WNUR Alumni Organization

Provisional Executive Council

Minutes of Meeting - August 10, 2000

In attendance:

• Stephen B. Rudolph

• Jonathan Lehrer

• Mark Goldman

• Don Jacobson

• Richard Aleskow

• Scott Case

• Rick Morris, Ex-Officio

Those present called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. 

Response to Initial Mailing

Meeting Chairman Steve Rudolph informed the group that more than 50 WNUR alumni had responded to his initial "blast" e-mail expressing support for the formation of the WNUR Alumni Association. Here is a sampling of the many comments expressed by alumni writing in by e-mail:

"WNUR was such a big part of my college life. I was News Director in1981-82...worked with Pierre Bouvard, J.D Roberts, Willie Wienbaum, Walt Speck etc. Please let me know what I can do to participate." -- Mijke Roggeveen

"Loose affiliation with Speech seems clearly the way to go… The beauty of modern communication is we can do it remotely, and we don't need to be corporally anywhere, so it would be a shame to those of us who are not handy to Evanston to be excluded from key decision-making because of geographic undesirability....it's also easy as hell to let us vote online; send an email to the listserv when the voting page is up, it tallies dynamically and shows results in real-time…I think if those currently involved in running the station want our input or expertise, such as it is, they can ask for it or set up some regularly-scheduled communication (quarterly conference call?); otherwise, I agree with you completely, let's let them have the fun that we had with nobody (besides the PD, in my case, Wally Podrazik) telling them what to do... I think a student award is a good idea, we could all contribute toward an annual award-cash money is always welcomed by starving, peanut-butter-eating students. And a job bank of jobs we have at companies where we work, or jobs we hear about through our work, is a natural." -- Stuart Rivchun

Suggested Activities

There were additional e-mails voicing general support for the formation of the Association, which led those in attendance to brainstorm for possible areas of responsibility that the WNUR Alumni Association could develop. Among the ideas:

• Developing a complete timeline or history of WNUR to support University archives and future reunions

• Developing a complete archive of WNUR staff lists from its first 50 years

• Developing a written collection of anecdotal remembrances of events in the station's history

• Preparing and sending a national news release about the formation of the WNUR Alumni Association

• Creating new avenues for mentoring and advising opportunities for students

Approval of Constitution

There was much discussion surrounding the ratification of the proposed WNUR Alumni Association Constitution. 

Steve emphasized the importance of involving non-Chicago area alumni in the process of formation, whether that is through ratifying the constitution or in a vote of another form. 

Jonathan expressed the desire to see the constitution go into effect now, thus completing the formation of the Association and starting from day one with a constitution. He further suggested that the first vote for the general membership be a selection of officers provided that the constitution is fairly standard and non-contentious. 

There was discussion among the group before a consensus was reached. A motion was made by Richard to adopt the proposed constitution. The motion was seconded by Don. There was no debate. Chair Steve Rudolph called for a vote and constitution was ratified by a 6-0 vote.

Immediately following the ratification, Steve pointed out that more than 50 e-mails were received in response to the initial informational e-mail regarding the formation of the Alumni Association. This exceeds the provision of the constitution that stipulates that the WNUR Alumni Board consist of no more than 40 WNUR alumni. 

Formation of Nominating Committee

There was a general desire to ensure that those WNUR alumni who expressed interested in the Association by e-mail should be named to the Alumni Board. Therefore, Jonathan made a motion to suspend the membership limitation of the constitution indefinitely. This will allow the Executive Committee, once chosen, to include as many people as desired on the Alumni Board. Jonathan's motion was seconded by Don. There was no discussion. A vote was taken and the motion passed by a vote of 6-0. A total of 52 people were voted into membership on the WNUR Alumni Board.

In accordance with the constitution, the first order of business as a provisional body was the creation of a Nominating Committee to select members of the Executive Committee. Provisional Chair Steve Rudolph excused himself from membership on the Nominating Committee, citing possible conflict of interest over his nomination as President. Mark Goldman was chosen among the remaining members to be Chair of the Nominating Committee. Following much discussion, it was decided among members of the Nominating Committee to draw from the list of names of those who have responded to e-mails and phone calls regarding the formation of the WNUR Alumni Association.

The Nominating Committee came to a consensus that there should be 10 committee co-chairs that will initially comprise part of the Executive Committee. The remaining members of the Executive Committee will be the President, Past President and Secretary as provided for in the constitution. 

Nominations of Officers

Following much discussion and evaluation, the following nominations were placed into consideration for the Alumni Association:

Following discussion, Scott moved to approve the slate of nominations made by the Nominating Committee. The motion was seconded by Don. A vote was taken the slate of nominations was approved by a vote of 5-0.

It was then decided among the group that Mark, as Chair of the Nominating Committee, would draft a letter to each of the selected Committee Chairs and Executive officers informing them of their nomination. This will be done in the form of an e-mail. Provided that each of the committee co-chairs and the Executive officers accept their nominations, the names will be placed on a ballot for members of the association to vote on. An e-mail asking Association members to vote will be sent no later than August 25th. Association members will then have an opportunity to approve the nominations up until 24 hours prior to the next WNUR Alumni Board meeting.

Next Meeting

The group decided on Monday, September 11, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. as the next meeting date and time. [Meeting was later rescheduled to September 25. Schedule of meetings is found here.] The meeting will be held in Annie Mae Swift Hall, Room 100 on the Northwestern University Campus.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Goldman Provisional Secretary