April 2008 Board Minutes Wick Alumni Center
Members Present: Kay Rockwell, Rose Marie Tondl, John Goebel, Lowell Moser, Max Clegg, Jim Kendrick, Jim McShane, Walter Mientka, Dan Lutz
President Bob Fuller called the meeting to order.Minutes of the March 4, 2008 board meeting were approved as posted on the website. The treasurer’s report submitted by Treasurer Walter Mientka was accepted.
McShane reported on the Wisherd Fund meeting between the representatives of the UNL Emeriti Association and the University of Nebraska Foundation. 3/21/08
Present: Jack Goebel, Herb Howe and Jim McShane for the Emeriti and Keith Miles, NU Foundation VP & General Counsel and Dan Morin, NUF CFO.
Understandings:
1. Re: request for funds:
a. It is enough to send a copy of the Emeriti Association (‘EA’) Board minutes accepting the recommendation of the Wisherd Committee. No copy of the original application would be necessary. They do not want to second guess our decisions, just to confirm such decisions have been properly made.
b. Recipients of scholarly research funds should keep records of expenses for their own tax purposes. If all the money is used for research purposes, there should be no tax liability. Persons receiving health reimbursements should be in touch with their lawyer or accountant.
c. To prevent future confusion re this process EA treasurer should contact the NUF Accounting Department (Mr. Morin’s shop) to request that checks be drawn.
2. Re interest:
a. The Wisherd Fund, according to the will, puts the interest from the fund to the benefit of the EA. This interest goes into the “Spendable Amount” category. But the will does not give us the interest on the interest i.e., the interest on the “spendable amount.”
b. We draw as much out of the spendable amount as we need for the purposes of the EA. The rest stays in that account, but the interest it accrues goes to the Foundation.
c. Part of that draw could be to take some of the money in the “spendable account” and put it back in (i.e., make a contribution to ) the Wisherd Fund. That would mean that the interest on the total (including our “contribution”) is what would be available to us each year. But we could never get such a “contribution” out of the trust fund to spend it because only the interest on the fund is available to us. We could not turn around and withdraw the whole amount we had contributed to the fund. Of course, the amount of interest on the fund available to us would grow proportionately with whatever we put in the fund.
For the record: The Wisherd Fund is made out to the UNL Emeriti Association. There is no claim on it from any other NU unit establishing its own emeriti association.
3. Re the meeting itself:
a. It must be noted that the meeting was quite cordial and the Foundation folks showed every evidence of wanting to be cooperative and supportive.
b. It was very helpful to have the presence of former administrators for the discussion, folks who knew the NU Foundation people and who understood the financial and the tax implications of the issues we raised.
J. A. McShane, 2007-8 Wisherd Committee Chair
Mientka recommended that the minutes include a motion passed by the board during a December, 1995 meeting that is relevant to the current discussion:
Whereas, the Maude E. Wisherd Fund was established at the University of Nebraska Foundation through the trust agreement of Zelma Wisherd. And Whereas: the trust agreement created a fund with “the income there from to be used for the welfare and comfort of the Emeriti Association of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Whereas: In 1998, Robert Raymond, then president of the Emeriti Association, pronounced that the association passed a resolution to provide the following types of support through the Wisherd Fund:
* Help Emeriti (or surviving spouses) pay health insurance premiums
* Underwrite part of the cost of completing research and/or creative activity.
* Help pay for custodial care of Emeriti
Whereas: It is in the Association’s power to have flexibility to use these funds for other purposes as verified by correspondence received on March 15, 2005 by the Association’s treasurer, Walter E. Mientka, from Ms. Tracy J. Edgerton, J.D. Assistant Vice President of the University of Nebraska Foundation.
The treasurer hereby submits the following resolution articulating additional types of support for the income from the Wisherd Fund.
Resolution (motion): Income from the Wisherd Fund may provide support for the programs and activities of the Association’s membership, Membership Relations, Program and Website Committees.
Motion seconded by Don Edwards, unanimously approved by those present.
Kay Rockwell distributed a listing of possible data collection processes regarding the proposed survey of Emeriti Assn. members seeking answers to the decline in attendance at membership meetings and participation in the affairs of the association. The question arose as to when and under what conditions the survey would be conducted.
Reversing an earlier decision by the board, it was decided not to conduct the survey of Emeriti Assn. members attending the President’s luncheon in May.
Rockwell plans to meet soon with an ad hoc committee appointed at the March 4 board meeting to design a survey and likely conduct it through small discussion groups, i.e., focus group interviews, this fall. Other members of the committee are Herb Howe, Dan Lutz, Rose Marie Tondl and Delivee Wright.
New business:
No specific ideas surfaced. Lutz will arrange for a postcard reminder of the April membership meeting, to be held at the International Quilt Study Center to be sent to Emeriti in the greater Lincoln area.
Rules for courtesy activities: Sympathy cards to survivors of deceased Emeriti or spouses will continue to be sent.
The possible eligibility of persons in the Lincoln area who have been given Emeritus/emerita status from another institution of higher education for membership in the UNL Emeriti Association was discussed. Two possibilities were suggested, either honorary memberships or Associate memberships. It was pointed out that such members would not be eligible for Wisherd funds. It was agreed to forward this issue to the Membership Committee with the intent that the committee would examine this issue {Fuller called it reciprocity} and bring their findings to the Board in May, perhaps in the form of a constitutional amendment for discussion by the Board. If approved by the Board it would go to the Members at a fall meeting.
The question was raised as to whether the UNL Emeriti Assn. should join the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE). If so, who would represent the Emeriti Assn. at a AROHE meeting to be held October 24-26 at the University of Southern California Los Angeles. It was moved by Goebel, seconded by Tondl, for the Emeriti Assn. to join the organization and send two representatives—the president and president-elect—to the fall meeting. Carried.
There being no further unfinished or new business, the meeting was adjourned.