Marvin Margolis, completing his term as chair of the Board on Professional Standards at the Board's May 18 meeting, captured the ambience of the day's deliberations in his closing remarks (see sidebar). Having complimented the high caliber of the Fellows and committees of the Board, he declared himself pleased with the increased democratization and inclusiveness within The American.
The meeting was marked by thoughtful deliberation of issues that in past years might have raised hackles. Homer Curtis, chair of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Membership for IPA Members, proposed a bylaw amendment to allow membership in The American for all IPA members. The current bylaw allows membership only to IPA analysts trained outside the U.S. With the recent development of independent IPA institutes in this country, however, the need has arisen for a consistent policy.
The IPA has a minimum standard of two analytic cases for graduation and a delay of three years before active membership. However, other standards vary among the four independent institutes in the U.S. Because the quality of training has not been determined, the proposed amendment would require BOPS to judge qualifications on an individual basis. A possible model is a two-step procedure to determine qualification for membership. An IPA member would submit a curriculum vitae, detailing analytic training and postgraduate experience. If this was acceptable, the applicant would then present a case report of a recent analysis conducted at least four times a week. Many Fellows of the Board commented. A question raised by several was why these evaluations could not be entrusted to local institutes. One difficulty noted with regard to local evaluations is that The American is a member-based organization, not a federation of societies and institutes; one can belong to it without joining a local society. Another view expressed by many was that a degree of healing has occurred since the lawsuit that led to the IPA's approval of independent institutes, and that The American would do well not to create further obstacles. Some felt it would be insulting to require prominent and respected IPA analysts to undergo the process of presenting clinical work. However, the Board voted overwhelmingly to support this amendment, which was presented to the Council the following day (see page 6).
Robert Pyles, co-chair with Carl Davis of the Task Force on Board-Council Structure and Functions, proposed three amendments to the bylaws. The task force noted that the bylaws were written in 1946 and that since then both the
organization and the times have changed. The first amendment was that the president-elect will no longer be vice-chair of the Board. The second involved formalizing the established procedures for committee appointments: the president of The American appoints to committees of the Council, and the chair of BOPS appoints to committees of the Board. The amendment added that standing committees of Council or Board could be formed or discharged only by Council or Board, respectively. The final proposal would formally establish both the Steering Committee of the Executive Council and the Coordinating Committee of BOPS. The Board voted unanimously to support these changes. Also approved was a change in the internal regulation of BOPS to clarify the succession of the chair. In the event of the death or disability of the chair, the secretary of the Board would fill the office until a new election could be held.
Pyles described progress in the bylaw amendment to form a Board of Directors. At present the Council serves as a board of directors, but it is too large and unwieldy, has little time for deliberations at its twice-yearly meetings, and is not sufficiently well-informed on the increasingly complicated issues with which it must deal. Both the Pyles-Davis task force and the Committee on Bylaws, chaired by Anton Kris and Robert Wallerstein, have submitted proposals on possible structures for a Board of Directors. They will be discussed by local societies and institutes and brought back for discussion at the December meeting.
Richard Fox, chair of the Joint Task Force on Membership and Organizational Issues, noted significant changes in the character of The American. Increasingly multidisciplinary, it has a wide spectrum of members, not all of whom are affluent. The committee surveyed those attending the administrative meetings about replacing the current Fall Meeting, which lasts nine days, with two long-weekend meetings, one for administrative matters and another for scientific presentations. The task force is also looking to develop a plan for student affiliations.
Phyllis Tyson, chair of the Committee on Nonmedical Clinical Training, reported on the committee's seven-year experience with 198 waivers submitted by 26 institutes. She praised the high quality of applicants and the institutes' capacity for evaluation. (Some institutes, however, apparently resenting CNMCTs oversight, have sent inadequate documentation.) Tyson proposed a three-year experiment during which CNMCT waiver submissions would not be required for M.S.W.s holding the additional qualification of Board Certified Diplomate. This proposal sparked considerable discussion. Several felt it would be not an experiment but an irrevocable step. Others cautioned that without oversight, institutes might accept less qualified candidates. Since the question is not so much one of candidate suitability as of local autonomy, some thought that CNMCT has at times served as a lightning rod for the latter issue. Tyson said the committee made the proposal not primarily because CNMCT had no power to enforce adequate documentation but because the institutes were in fact evaluating well. The Board decided to readdress the proposal at the Fall Meeting, in order to allow local institutes time for discussion.
Lawrence Chalfin, incoming chair of BOPS, reflected on his recent experience as chair of the Committee on Institutes. He commended the greater openness evident throughout the organization in the move from authoritarianism to democracy. He reminded BOPS that this change is not without its casualties. COI has found that the reorganization of institutes can cause trauma, and that once a reorganization is completed there may be reluctance to address the trauma for fear of reopening old wounds. This embedded hurt may affect the ambience of institutes.
In discussing a recent site visit, Chalfin expressed the belief that the Board itself should join with COI to fashion creative responses to the needs of an institute experiencing difficulties. The Board should work with the institutes and COI in developing approaches to enhance an institute's ameliorative efforts. Institutes would welcome this, he believed, and would be amenable to site visits more frequent than the usual once every seven years.
Richard Fox reported a continuation of the recent trend of membership: the total membership remained stable at 3,204, but included an increase in life members and a decrease in active and affiliate members. The average age of recent graduates is 44.7, and the average length of training is 8.7 years. Of the twenty most recent graduates, Fox noted, the eleven who had four-times-a-week
training analyses saw only 2 of 39 analytic cases five times a week; this stood in contrast to the nine graduates with five-times-a-week training analyses, who saw 22 of 39 analytic patients five times a week. Fox also voiced concern that many women candidates have only limited experience with male patients.
Allan Rosenblatt, chair of the Committee on External Credentialing, updated BOPS on the situation with CORPA (see TAP 28/1, 28/2). Recent developments find CORPA leaning toward possible recognition of more than one accrediting organization per discipline. If The American continues to move in the direction of external accrediting of institutes (the initial step in external certification of individuals), three options present themselves: (1) go it alone; (2) unite only with the other IPA institutes; (3) continue on the present course, working with the consortium. These possibilities pose complications and require further discussion at the December meeting.
Newly appointed training and supervising analysts were announced. Appointees included James Michael Herzog and Peter F. Wohlauer of Boston; Henry M. Evans of Chicago; Sara S. Tucker of Cleveland; Sybil A. Ginsburg of Emory; Diane Martinez of Houston-Galveston; Walden M. Holl of the Philadelphia Association; Wendy Olesker of New York Psychoanalytic; Allan Jong of NYU; Michele Stewart of San Diego; Marshall Bush of San Francisco; K. Lynne Moritz of St. Louis; Maxine K. Anderson, Richard Carter, Sandra Connell, and Ivri Kumin of Seattle; Peter Loewenberg of Southern California; and Myron Hurwitz of Western New England. Lawrence Deutsch and Lawrence Shaderowfsky of Columbia were appointed child/adolescent supervising analysts, while Robert Furman of St. Louis was appointed geographic rule child supervising analyst.
Deanna Holtzman, chair of CORST, presented two applications for waiver; BOPS approved both.
Sander Abend, chair of COPE, announced the formation of a new study group, to be chaired by Jerome A. Winer, on the impaired training analyst.
Arthur Rosenbaum, chair of the Membership Committee, reported that fifteen of the twenty-one members applying were certified. The certification application form no longer includes an extensive curriculum vitae.
BOPS voted unanimously to accept Kansas City as a new training facility. Because the new training facility in Arizona has been unable to attract new candidates, the sponsoring institute, Southern California, has voted to re-form it as an extension division.
Margolis closed the meeting by thanking outgoing secretary Owen Renik and turning over the chair to the newly elected Lawrence Chalfin, who will work with new secretary Donald Rosenblitt.