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Text of Letter:
University of Windsor
Department of Psychology
Lawrence Hartlage, Ph.D.
Medical College of Georgia
School of Medicine
Department of Neurology
Augusta, Georgia
U.S.A. 30912
Dear Dr. Hartlage :
1 am i reciept of your letter of February 5, 1985. February 13, 1985.
There are several issues raised in this letter upon which I wish to comment as follows:
(1) The date set for the Division 40 mid-winter Executive Committee Meeting was determined without consultation with me, K. Adams, L. Bieliauskas, and M. Meier. I am not sure whether the other three members of the Executive Committee were consulted.
(2) L. Biel iauskas, K. Adams,and I specifically requested that this meeting be held in San Diego in conjunction with the INS meeting. We did this because we three plus T. Boll and M. Meier would be present at this meeting. Since five of the eight Executive Committee members were present in San Diego, it is difficult for me to understand why the other three (i.e., you, G. Goldstein,and R. Dean) could not have been encouraged to attend in San Diego so that we could deal with Division 40 business. In fact, it is my understanding that G.Goldstein would have been willing to attend a meeting in San Diego had the offer been made to him.
(3) I cannot attend the meeting set for Washington because I am committed t o teaching on that day. For your information, I am a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Windsor. Part of my responsibilities in this positioninvolves the teaching of graduate and undergraduate students. These schedu les are set more than one year in advance and I can do nothing to alter them. (
4) You can be assured that I am prepared to comport myself in (your words) a spirit of cooperation (that) will characterize our mutual efforts to best serve the members of Division 40”. At the same time, I would point out that the operative word here is mutual”. I and several others have bent every effort to suggest to you a time when we would be able to meet. You have rejected that suggestion and have set another
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date. I have received absolutely no word from you regarding the dates
and times when I would be free to attend this meeting. Hence, I have cooperated
and you have not. I have entered into the beginnings of what could be a
mutually cooperative effort;you have chosen to act in an arbitrary fashion
without any consultation with me.
In sum, I find your behaviour in this regard to be unacceptable and un-democratic. Please be assured that I am prepared to attend a Division 40 Executive Committee meeting at a time that is mutually convenient and mutually agreed upon. I r e a l i z e,at the same time,that it may not be possible for all members to be present at such a meeting,and that the majority would prevail. So far, we have seen the wishes of the majority trampled underfoot. In the interests of common decency and fair play,it is incumbent upon you to engage in a consultative process that will eventuate in a consensus regarding a meeting date, time, and venue.
Byron P. Rourke, Ph.D.
BPR: ml
cc: K. Adams
L. Biel iauskas
G. Goldstein
M. Meier Medical
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College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia 30912
School of Medicine
Department of Neurology
February 5, 1935
Byron P . Rourke Ph , D .
401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, Ontario
CANADA N9B 3P4
Dear Dr. Rourke:
I'm sorry that the date set for the Division 40 midwinter Executive Committeemeeting is not convenient for you.
Having surveyed individuals who might be expected to attend with respect to costs of reimbursement, and taking into account the relative costs of a meeting in San Diego as opposed to the more traditional(Washington, DC, APA h e a d q u a r t e r s ) site, it became clear that prudent management of Division 40 funds could best be accomplished by convening the meeting at APA headquarters. The specific date was selected on the joint bases of availability of APA meeting space and availability of lodging at the hotel closest to APA. Additional consideration was given to the fact that several members would be at INS during early February, and so themeeting was not scheduled too close to the INS date to prevent inconvenience to those members who planned to attend INS.
I am confident that you and other Division 43 Board Members take seriously the responsibilities to the Division and will make every effort to discharge these responsibilities even though it may not be personally convenient. Hopefully, a spirit of cooperation will characterize our mutual efforts to best serve the members of Division 40.
cc: Gerald Goldstein
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Veterans Administration
February 4, 1985
In Reply Refer To: 645/15 1R
Byron P. Rourke, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Windsor
401 Sunset Avenue
Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4
Dear Byron,
As we discussed over the phone the other day, the decision to have the meeting on March 6 in Washington was entirely Larry's, and I never saw the results of the survey either. I did indicate that I would like to have some of my expenses paid by the Division, since I had no other source of funding to go to San Diego. As I indicated to you, while I can attend on March 6, that doesn't mean that other people can,and aside from Ken and yourself, I have no knowledge of who elso can come. My suggestion is that you inform Larry of your unavailability,and indicate to him that the meeting should not be held at a time. at which at least two Committee members will not be available.
Frankly, it seems to me that the meeting could have been held in San Diego,considering the number of members that would not require Division funding. I really don't know what the rationale was for having it in Washington. I am not happy with not being informed of these considerations,or of the results of the survey since as secretary, I think I should know about these things. I presume that you wrote me because you assumed that I did know about them. Personally, I will not attend a meeting at which I am not assured that all members of the Committee can attend. If people don't want to go that's up to them, but everybody should at least be able to attend.
As things worked out,I will unfortunately not be able to go to the San Diego meeting. I hope that we can arrange for a midyear meeting at some mutually agreeable time and place. Look forward to seeing you wherever and whenever that me be.
Sincerely,
Gerald Goldstein, Ph.D.
Secretary Division 40
GG/ag
"America is #I--- Thanks to our Veterans"
(End of letter text)