The Report of the follow-up Ad Hoc Committee on Policies and Problems of Membership, chaired by Dr. Janice Kaufman Norton, was presented to the Board and Executive Council at the Midwinter Meetings. The recommendations of this committee, following up the long study of the Katz Committee, were, in general, enthusiastically received. Institutes and Societies will now study the report, and a vote on acceptance is expected at the Annual Meeting.
Under the new provisions, application to the American Psychoanalytic Association may be made several months before graduation, and Active Membership may coincide with graduation if all other requirements are met, including a case at or near termination. During training, both institutes and students should be informed of the Minimal Standards, and preparation for fulfilling such requirements as case summaries would be made through the training period.
There was much discussion of the meaning of waiving the mandatory two-year period between graduation and eligibility for active membership. During this time, the ability to perform independent work can be observed, and an analytic identity may mature. However, the Kaufman Committee feels that requirement of a case supervised during the terminal phase is far more important than observing an arbitrary waiting period. “If the applicant has satisfactorily completed all other requirements, he would upon graduation become an associate member, pending evidence of the completion of a case, at which time he would be eligible for full membership.”
In summary, the new proposals would make membership in the American not a final feather placed by the authorities in the applicant's cap, but the fruition of an unfolding educational process, in which student, Institute, and national organization would collaborate from the beginning of the training process.
Drs. Moore and Weinshel have suggested that each Institute and Society discuss the Kaufman Committee Report by February 15, 1974. Summaries of these local discussions will be sent to Dr. Kaufman to help her prepare collated material to submit to Fellows and Councilors in advance of the Spring Meeting.