The first order of business of the 7 December 1971 meeting of the Board of Directors was the Presidential Selection Committee's report.

Mr. Masback called the meeting to order and announced that a quorum was resent. He then called on Mr. Chamberlin for a report of the Committee for the election of a new AFS President. A copy of the Selection Committee's report was ordered filed with the records of the meeting. During the months since June the Committee held 14 meetings and formally considered a total or 175 men and women, not including a number of other names which were immediately set aside for one reason or another. Mr. Chamberlin announced that the Committee was now prepared to make a unanimous recommendation to the Board and it was with great enthusiasm and confidence that he submitted the name of Stephen H. Rhinesmith as the new President of AFS. After reviewing Mr. Rhinesmith's qualifications at length, Mr. Chamberlin called on the members of the selection Committee, each of whom added his warm endorsement of Mr. Rhinesmith. Following a general discussion on the proposed new President, the following resolutions were unanimously carried:

RESOLVED, that Stephen H. Rhinesmith be, and hereby is, elected President of American Field Service, Inc., effective as of 1 January 1972, and to hold office until his successor shall have been elected and shall qualify, or as otherwise provided in the By-Laws of the Corporation; and be it further RESOLVED, that resignation of Arthur Howe, Jr., as President of American Field Service, Inc., be accepted effective as of 31 December 1971.

At this point, Mr. Masback called a general meeting of the entire New York office staff at which he made the announcement of the new President. The general Board meeting was then reconvened.

Stephen H. Rhinesmith was not yet thirty years old when he was chosen President of AFS. Born December 13, 1942, in Mineola, Long Island, New York, the son of a Methodist minister, Steve had grown up in the incorporated village of Westbury, attending the public schools there. As a Junior at Westbury High School, he was chosen as an AFS Americans Abroad student on the Summer Program and spent the summer of 1959 in Germany.

Entering Wesleyan University, Steve concentrated on foreign languages and literature, spent two more summers in Europe working and traveling, and studied for a semester in Germany, part of which he spent at Goethe Institute. During the summers of 1964 and 1965 he worked for the Onward Travel department at AFS.

Graduating from Wesleyan, Mr. Rhinesmith attended the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He received his Master of Arts degree in December of 1966 and his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1972. Mr. Rhinesmith had become involved with group training and cross-cultural communications, and worked for the Peace Corps as a consultant and staff-training expert.

During these years Mr. Rhinesmith was increasingly engaged in cross-cultural and international activities, not only with the Peace Corps but also with A.I.D., extensively in Africa. In 1969, he was engaged also by the German Technical Assistance Agency to evaluate the staff training program. Also in 1969, Mr. Rhinesmith became a senior consultant to the Behavioral Science Center in Boston. Among his clients were the Office of Economic Opportunity, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the International Labor Organization. His work took him to Latin America, Africa, and Europe; his primary field was management training.

It seems remarkably fortunate that AFS should have found a President so trained and with such experience at the very time when its primary need seemed to be reorganization, fresh motivation of volunteers, and staff training. All of these areas were those in which Mr. Rhinesmith had demonstrated skills. As he himself puts it:

"The job of the presidency of AFS, in terms of the internal management, is to help sort out on some sort of an annual cycle what the objectives and goals will be for the coming year, determine then how the budget is going to be allocated in order to support those, and then to bring together the top management group and to facilitate their working together within those goals, and to work out any inter-personal or inter-organizational or departmental or divisional problems that arise as a result of that. So you're working the process side and you're working the task side. So I have a lot of training in that because I did that all the time for a bunch of organizations, only I had come in from the outside, whereas now I'm doing it within my own you know, organization, which is a little bit more tricky. It's a process in which you've got to be able to handle the interpersonal, political, persuasive stuff, and the conceptual, intellectual stuff. So I had intellectual training and I had interpersonal training at Pittsburg, over four years. And, I tell you, a more valuable background for this job. you couldn't possibly have. My two years in Boston, really oriented me much more professionally, and gave me experience with a lot of different kinds of organizations. So that, in the spring of 1969, no, it was 71, May, 1971, Arthur Howe resigned as President of AFS, and I know it very well because I remember, getting a copy of the letter.

"The reason I got a copy of the letter, which sort of begins the final segment now of this thing, the reason I got the letter was that in November of 1970 I was nominated by the U.S. Returnee Board to become a member of the U.S. Returnee Board, Executive Committee And in December of 1970, there was a meeting in San Francisco which I attended. Liz Bauer was there, and Bill Brown had just come off as Chairman of the Board, I think, and I don't even-remember who else was there, but they were there, and Art Howe was there; I remember that. And I hadn't seen Art since.. I mean really be with .. since 1965 when I left to go to Pittsburgh. So I was there, I think it was 1970, at my first Board meeting...J think I was elected Chairman of the thing for the coming year--it was a two year term and you usually don't get elected until the second year, but I was elected right away, because when I walked into the room, I was a consultant, professionally, and I started asking a lot of the right kind of questions. I'm a professional at approaching that kind of situation You learn when you're a consultant in this kind or thing...you've walked into a lot of situations around the world...you learn to diagnose what's going on and ask the right questions and establish yourself as a force in the situation, fairly quickly. That same basic process works wherever I go now with AFS, which is so necessary.

"But even to this day I say, that I think that one of the greatest acts of faith in young people and in the whole purpose of this organization was the fact that a Board of Directors had enough faith in a young person and in young people in the world, to turn over all of the assets and everything that this organization is to somebody who basically had nothing going for him, other than youth, enthusiasm, spirit, and some sense of management, and a lot of international experience; I had traveled by that time to some fifty countries, fifty foreign countries, so that I knew something about the world."

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As the new president took over, some pressing problems confronted the Administration. Deficits had been incurred in 1970 and 1971, and another deficit was expected in 1972.

The year ending 31 August 1971 had shown a deficit of $304,000, which had used up the remainder of the General Reserve Fund (which had stood at $230,000) and had necessitated the invasion of unrestricted funds set aside as Funds Functioning as Endowment. Total funds, however, as of 31 August 1971 had been $117,000 greater than at the close of the previous fiscal year, in large part because of extraordinary large gifts and bequests. There had been no great change in the Endowment Fund ($290,000), or in unrestricted funds, which now stood at about $500,000 and were available to help cover future deficits. The deficit forecast for 1971-72 was $236,000, which included $100,000 for a possible increase in the cost of international travel resulting from a drop in the value of the U.S. Dollar with respect to the hard currencies of major trading nations.

Program trends continued to show a decrease in Winter Program numbers; Americans Abroad numbers, however, were on the increase.

Recent attempts to reverse the trend in the Winter Program by establishing Regional Offices in the U.S., while successful in the regions where the offices operated, were expensive and funds were not available to establish them throughout the country. So other means of training and motivating volunteer committees had to be found, and the new President turned to Staff reorganization and restructuring of middle management jobs in New York.

"The Area Supervisors morale was really low, and they were very disgruntled with the structure and with their role and all the rest, " Steve Rhinesmith remembers. "And I think it was that...and my commitment to try and do something about that that then led to my review of the organizational structure. You recall at that time we had Area Supervisors, Regional Supervisors, Divisional Directors, Placement and Counseling staff, it was a five or six-tiered system, so the major thing that I dug into was reorganizing the staff here, in New York, and cutting back a lot, and moving out and trying to streamline, and getting job descriptions and all that kind of stuff. It was basic organization structure and design work for the first year. We reorganized by putting together job descriptions and flattening out the levels, especially within U.S. programs and operations.. That was the famous time when I came in on a Friday afternoon and announced that 75 jobs were being eliminated and that 60 would be created on Monday morning that were new, and that people could apply for them on Monday. In analyzing the way in which Area Supervisors were spending their time, we found that something like sixty percent or seventy percent of the Supervisors' time was being taken up with student counseling, and another twenty was spent with routine administrative matters, and that only five percent was being spent on actually paying attention to chapter development, which was the mainstay of the organization. So by reorganizing that job really into three jobs, in which you had a secretary to do the more routine work; field consultants to spend fifty percent of their time on chapter development, and student affairs consultants or counseling consultants, as they were called, to do the other part."

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Three actions had been taken by the Board of Directors in December, 1971, two of which would be implemented with long-range results.

1. The Multi National Program, which had been approved as a pilot program only was continued as a regular on-going program, this time with the Receiving Country Fee reduced from $1000 to $850. The Board, however, urged sending countries with the financial capability to assist less affluent receiving countries in meeting the fee. It was also recommended that additional funding should also be actively sought. (The European countries that had strongly sponsored the MNP now provided considerable financial backing.)

2. The Administration was "authorized and directed to initiate and develop a Community Centered Program. "This instruction was to result in successful Domestic Programs in the U.S., Italy, and Switzerland among others. The Programs were to be conducted between different AFS Chapters or groups and to be administered and financed in large part by the local AFS organizations. Start-up and central administrative expenses were, however, provided for in the AFS International budget.

3. A revision of the Americans Abroad fee structure, in line with the recommendation of the Diversity Committee, though authorized by the Board, received such a mixed and in some instances strongly unfavorable reaction in the field that it was never implemented.

In January, 1972, the Trustee Members approved the Domestic Exchange but withheld endorsement of the Multi National Program as a regular on-going program pending further reports on its development during the succeeding year.

Aftermath of the World Congress

The attention of the Annual Meeting and indeed of preceding Policy Advisory Committee and Board Meetings had been directed toward consideration of resolutions and recommendations emerging from the World Congress. In addition to the Domestic Exchange Program and The Multi National Program, the Trustee Members also considered the Statement of Purpose, the Internationalization question, and the revision of the AFS Charter.

The Statement of Purpose for the AFS as drafted by the World Congress was unanimously adopted:

AFS seeks to promote peace by stimulating an awareness of mankind's common humanity both between and within nations and by encouraging a wider understanding of the diverse cultural, social, and physical environments which make up world society. It acknowledges that peace can be threatened as much by social injustices between nations and within nations as by international tensions.

In pursuit of this goal the core of the AFS experience has been the unique relationship in which a family accepts a maturing young person from a different cultural background and in which people accept, for the duration of their experience, a new family and educational situation. In addition, through experience and experimentation, AFS encourages new models and opportunities for exchange.

AFS, an international organization does not concern itself with religious, political or partisan affiliations. The AFS experience is based on listening and participating on an individual basis within the community as well as within the family. AFS encourages all former participants to involve themselves with situations in which they can apply and project their AFS experience.

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In response to a request from the Congress, the Trustee Members empowered the Chairman to appoint a committee of eight, half of them from overseas (i.e. not from the U.S.) to study the question of greater internationalization of the AFS and to render annual reports of their findings to the Trustee Members and interim reports to the Board of Directors.

The AFS Charter was amended to allow for intra-national as well as international activities, specifically the Domestic Exchange programs.

Also at this Annual Meeting, the service of Arthur and Peggy Howe to the AFS was formally recognized in a resolution unanimously adopted:

WHEREAS, Arthur Howe, Jr., has resigned as President of the American Field Service as of December 31, 1971, after leading the AFS in deed and spirit for the past seven years, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Trustee Members hereby record their recognition and deep appreciation of the constant and extraordinary service rendered to the AFS by Arthur Howe during these years, and

RESOLVED, that the Trustee Members, on behalf of thousands of AFS students, staff, and volunteers all over the world express their gratitude for his leadership and for his great contribution to the planning, shaping and administration of AFS policies and programs and, even beyond all this, for his special qualities of empathy and integrity which have become part of the AFS, and

RESOLVED, that the Trustee Members convey their thanks to Art and Peggy Howe not only for a job well done but one always accomplished with unfailing enthusiasm, spirit, and courage.

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In reviewing events of 1971 one is tempted to label it as a year of "change and innovation" for AFS, marked as it was by the retirement of a President and the election of a new one, the initiation of the Multi National Program, and the occurrence of Convention '71 plus the World Congress. Financial stringencies had brought about staff reductions and redefinition of some staff responsibilities. Regional placement both in Europe and Latin America of AA students marked a trend toward decentralization of responsibilities as did the continuation of field offices in the U.S. One exciting innovation was the possible establishment of a teachers exchange program with the Soviet Union; initial steps had been taken and agreement reached with the American Friends Service Committee to take over the program, provided necessary arrangements could be made with the Soviet Government.

An interesting proposal was presented to the Trustee Members in the form of a draft of a residential international school to be established in Valle d'Aosta in Italy under the joint sponsorship of the Regional Italian Administration and AFS in Italy (A.F.S.A.I. Borse di Studio Internazionali). Since the financing of the School was not yet assured and there were uncertainties and reservations about the project, the Trustee Members voted to refer the proposal to the Board of Directors for appropriate review and action with the understanding that no positive action should be taken without a special meeting of the Trustee Members.

Obviously, there had been many positive results of the World Congress and in recognition of this fact the AFS decided to make the Congress a regular quintennial occurrence.

The Administration of new AFS President Rhinesmith had gotten off to an eventful start.

In February, 1972, President Rhinesmith instituted what was to be for several years an annual event in the planning cycle of AFS--an Organization Development Workshop. Thirty-two persons associated with AFS spent a weekend together at a retreat center in New Jersey. The group included the Chairman of the Trustee Members, a Director, the President and Department Heads from the International Staff, the European and Latin American coordinators, and a representative cross-section of the (New York) Program Staff.

The stated purpose of the workshop was "to review the current state of AFS/International administratively and programmatically, and explore future directions. " It aimed to determine the best ways to implement the policy mandates issued by the World Congress and Trustee Members in recent meetings.

As a first step in clarifying AFS goals and priorities and in improving the effectiveness of AFS/International in New York, the workshop accomplished its purpose. In addition, as a means of acquainting the staff with the new President, it was equally successful. In leading a workshop of this sort, Mr. Rhinesmith was on familiar ground; he was "leading from strength."

Specifically, one of the important outcomes of the workshop was the restructuring of the Area Supervisor's role to allow this person to concentrate on chapter relations and the field-representative structure. The Area Supervisor was thus to become an Area Consultant and receive training on consultation skills and the development of community and field organizations.

Facing the prospect of another deficit year, the Administration proposed an Expansion/Budget Master Plan whose immediate objectives were: 1) to increase Americans Abroad placements, 2) to increase Winter Program numbers, and 3) to balance the upcoming budgets. A 12 to 15 percent reduction of the New York staff would reduce operating costs, and program expansion would increase operating income. The present aim was to reach 2600 WP's in 1972-73 and 2800 in 1973-74. (Actually the number in 1972-73 would be 2682 but would fall off again and not reach the 2800 level until 1977-78. AA 1972 Summer Program numbers reached 1402, thanks to a spectacular increase in Turkish placements from 56 to 123; in 1973 the AA S.P. numbered 1585, largely because of substantial increases in Brazil, Germany, Italy, and again in Turkey.)

New and more vigorous leadership was evident in the AFS Communications Department. Mr. Curtis Weeden had been lured away from the New Jersey Education Association by Mr. Howe and had taken up his duties at AFS shortly after Mr. Rhinesmith assumed the Presidency. One of his first steps was to make Our World an annual publication, and to begin publication of an AFS newspaper. Mr. Weeden also proposed an AFS Sustaining Membership open to any and all categories of people composing the AFS constituency. Mr. Weeden brought to AFS communications experience in all forms of modem communications media and a vigorous and creative approach to his responsibilities. It was fortunate that his arrival coincided with the increased emphasis on communications with "the field" and the training of AFS volunteer workers. Under his direction, the Communications Department issued and disseminated materials in written publications, in movies, in stills with coordinated sound tracks, and ventured into televised publicity.

What's New?

Innovations were the watch-word at AFS in these days. AFS charters to Europe and Latin America were begun. An AFS International Council consisting of persons of worldwide prominence was organized. The mini-computer authorized for the finance department in 1969 was being used to capacity and AFS was looking forward to securing more sophisticated data processing facilities. Steps were taken to open programs with Canada and Mexico. Meetings were arranged with the heads of the Experiment in International Living, the International Christian Youth Exchange, and Youth for Understanding to share ideas and open up channels of communication.

Extensive organizational changes had been effected by the middle of 1972, primarily to provide a better structure for program expansion and to strengthen the U.S. field structure through more extensive and intensive training. There were now only two program divisions, Eastern and Western, instead of four. New positions were Director of U.S. Operations, Special Project Coordinators for short term Exchanges, and Director of Domestic Exchange. The field office in San Francisco continued to operate, a new North Central Regional Office was opened in Minneapolis, and a Southeastern Regional Office in Raleigh-Durham. A single-person office operated in Indiana and an all-volunteer resource office was established in Los Angeles.

Changes in nomenclature (Area Supervisor to Area Consultant, Overseas Department to International Department, Overseas Representatives to National Representatives) indicated changes in emphasis within the administration and changes in attitudes within the international constituency. The creation of new positions, e.g., Program Specialist for the MNP and Educators Programs, and a Department of Training and Organizational Development, reflected program trends and the administration's emphasis on continuing evolution of more effective organization.

Under the reorganization the AFS/International staff was cut from 163 to 141, of whom 130 were at New York Headquarters and 11 in U.S. field offices. Thirty jobs were eliminated and 8 new positions created. Total gross savings were $210,000, but with annual and promotional increases, and the new positions, the savings netted out to only $25,000.

The U.S.S.R. Teachers Exchange

The year 1972 saw the beginning of the Teachers' Exchange with the Soviet Union.

In the Spring, announcements were made jointly by the American Friends Service Committee and the American Field Service International Scholarships of the eighth teacher exchange in a program begun by the Friends in 1961 and continuously sponsored by the AFSC since that year. School placements were solicited, and candidates to teach in the Soviet Union were invited to apply.

Four teachers from the United States, two of whom were Americans Abroad Returnees, spent the period from 6 October to 6 December teaching in the Soviet Union, and four Soviet teachers spent the same period teaching in U.S. Schools.

In both countries the teachers performed a varied role in the host school: language teaching under the supervision of the regular classroom teacher (Americans teaching English and Soviets teaching Russian), demonstrating methods and techniques, reviewing texts and advising on choice of reading, making practice tapes, and talking with other teachers about educational philosophy and practices.

Exchange teachers to the USSR were housed in hotels, but were entertained in private homes and taken to plays, films, musical events, and other cultural experiences by their official hosts. In the United States the Soviet teachers lived with families. In both instances, the visiting teachers became immersed in the language and culture of the host country.

Internationalization

The first meeting of the Committee to Study the Internationalization of the AFS was held in New York on 16, 17, and 18 November. The committee consisted of 9 members, 4 from the U.S. and 5 from other countries.

Sheldon Lurie, AFS International Department Staff member, was appointed Secretary to the Committee.

Twenty representatives of various parts of the AFS constituency were designated as consultants to the Committee.

The Committee had been appointed by the Chairman of the Trustee Members pursuant to resolutions adopted by the World Congress and the Trustee Members.

An Interim Report was delivered to the Trustee Members at their Annual Meeting in January, 1973, by Chairman John Taylor. As an interim report, the document stressed the inconclusiveness of the Committee's findings and called for "constructive and innovative assistance of anyone within or without the organization" to help identify "any areas" in which it (the Committee) may have misread the thinking of any part of the constituency.

Mr. Taylor outlined the areas of investigation of the Committee and in reporting the conclusions of the Committee emphasized that these were preliminary and tentative and in many cases not unanimous.

In response to the report and reflecting the consensus of the meeting that more factual information should be made available to the Committee, the Trustee Members authorized a worldwide survey of AFS resources. This report was to include information concerning AFS organization in all countries and fiscal resources.

While Committees and AFS policy bodies were discussing "Internationalism", many important developments were taking place "internationally."

AFS International Staff members were being assigned to Latin America and Europe to train national office staff to do final selection of Winter Program students. Regional placement of Americans Abroad in Europe was being expanded; virtually the entire summer program for Europe and about two-thirds of the School Program Northern Hemisphere was placed in Brussels, while two-thirds of the Latin American SP was placed by National Office staffs in Bogota, Colombia.

In addition, President Rhinesmith's emphasis on training, planning, and organization development was having "international" results. National offices were working on planning, budgets and controls, job descriptions and training, goal setting, the development of National Organizations, and the assumption of greater program responsibilities. Budgets to implement the goals were being developed and methods of imprest fund controls were being improved. Responsibilities of National Representatives and their staffs were set down in job descriptions, and functions of National Boards were outlined and recorded.

A Bright Outlook

After several years of planning, the Domestic Programs were finally getting started in the United States and Italy, providing students with a home or work experience in a different socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, geographical, religious, or vocational situation in their own country.

Happily, the fiscal picture was brighter than in the several preceding years. In fact, program income exceeded projections for the year 1971-72 by $250,000 (due almost entirely to a substantial increase in the number of Americans Abroad), while program expenses fell comfortably within the budgeted amount. Consequently, an operating surplus had been achieved, which was applied to the net cost of Convention '71 and the World Congress. Mr. E.F.L Backer, AFS Treasurer, also forecast a balanced budget for 1972-73. The late trend toward ever increasing annual deficits had been arrested.

Optimism extended to the development area as well. Mr. Andrew F.L Stifler, recently appointed Director of Development, revealed "A Five-year Framework for Development" that set a goal of $50,000 increase in gifts each year for 1968 through 1972.

Reflecting the generally euphoric feeling, the Trustee Members authorized the allocation of $50,000 from the general funds for the support of MNP through 1974-75, thus spending Mr. Stifler's $50,000 immediately. (It must be noted that though the MNP was enjoying excellent growth in numbers, from 19 to 39 to 60, receiving countries were limited by the necessity of raising a fee of $850 for each student.) By their action the Trustee Members recognized the Returnees' great enthusiasms for the programs and the improved international image of AFS that the program projected.

The newly born International Council of AFS was beginning to grow and gather strength. In January 1973 its membership already included a distinguished group: Morris B. Abram, U.S. Representative, U.N. Commission on Human Rights; Leonard Bernstein, Composer and Conductor; Kingman Brewster, Jr., President, Yale University; Edward W. Brooke, Senator from Massachusetts; Jacob Javits, Senior Senator from New York; Dr. Rudolf Kirschlaeger, Foreign Minister of Austria; John L Loeb, Jr., Investment banker and civic leader; Dr. Margaret Mead, Anthropologist; Frank Pace, Jr., Former Cabinet Member; Mrs. Marietta Tree, Former U.S. Representative to the U.N.

Another infant AFS organization, AFS Europa, failed to receive the official recognition of the parent body that its growing strength and lusty cries seemed to demand. The Trustee Members withheld their sanction and asked Europa to defer formal legalization pending further investigation of the concerns of the AFS world-wide family and determination by the Internationalization Committee of the place of regional organizations in the international AFS structure.

All in all, however, the year 1972 had been as the President's Report proclaimed it "A Year of Action. " For the first time, an Annual Report had been distributed to the AFS constituency and appropriately it appeared in the new AFS annual publication of Our World. The magazine itself was an attractive exemplification of the new AFS look. Under the leadership of Mr. Curtis Weeden, the Communications Department had produced a publication graphically and editorially professional and lively and interesting in its writing style.

In April, 1973, it was announced that AFS had been included in the National Advertising Council's bulletin of endorsed organizations. As a result, some 300 television stations, 500 radio stations, and 1000 newspapers would be authorized to carry messages from AFS as part of their public service announcements. Though the endorsement was for a two-month period, the media could, if they so chose, use the material for an indefinite period. Renewal of the endorsement was much more readily obtainable than the initial approval. Thirty- and sixty-second messages were written for radio, and actress Helen Hayes appeared and spoke in behalf of AFS in the television appeal.

Around The AFS World

Around the world, AFS organizations were making news. In South Africa, AFS was legally incorporated as a charitable institution, Morocco had its first Returnee National Representative, Iran formed a Board of Advisors, the Summer Program was approved to continue in Lebanon after consultation with the U.S. Department of State, and Afghanistan was for the first time submitting female applicants for the Winter Program.

In Asia and the Pacific, AFS Japan and Thailand were both legally incorporated, and AFS Australia also became a corporation. On the negative side, the Summer Program in India was drastically cut back because of a serious famine and a power shortage. The National Representative in the Philippines resigned, and Douglas Stevenson, a former International staff member, Peace Corps worker and AA Returnee in the Philippines was sent to Manila to reorganize the National Office. Mrs. Tsugiko Scullion, WP Returnee from Japan and experienced International Staff Member, was appointed Regional Coordinator of Asia and the Pacific.

The new Latin American Regional Coordinator, Fernando Cruz, visited his constituency and assisted in regional placement. Curt Weeden also went to Latin America to conduct workshops in publicity and communications. Inflation continued to create serious problems, notably in Chile, where the rate had reached 200 percent a year, and in Argentina, where a 10 percent per month rate was in prospect.

In Europe the AFS Europa Board of Directors met to discuss the resolutions of the Trustee Members withholding consent for legalization. The meeting agreed to defer legalization. At the same time progress was made in Europa's attempt to establish the character of the organization and to outline cooperative efforts of member countries.

The annual European Conference, held this year in Bourg St. Maurice, France, evidenced the great concern in AFS Europe with the need for a stronger voice in AFS International policy making. There was some sentiment for drastically altering the organization, changing it to a confederation of member countries with a Secretariat at the top. Several delegates voiced strong objection to the interim report of the Internationalization Committee, pointing but that the Committee appeared to be overly concerned with changes in mechanics and too little engaged with setting concrete goals for developing an ideal AFS structure. The Conference passed a resolution requesting the Committee to examine in greater depth five different areas covered by the report.

Fundamentally, the dissatisfaction, though in fact it was not universally felt, was centered in the lack of accountability of the AFS Board of Directors to the constituency of AFS. AFS Europa was functionally a constituent assembly, and its Board was a working Board back-stopping the European Coordination Office in such efforts as fund raising, coordination of volunteer activities, developing National offices, extending initiatives to Eastern Europe, and facilitating intra-European Communication. The Conference itself rejected the idea that the AFS, Europa Board of Directors was a policy-making Board. [ED: Considering the long, and at times agonizing travail leading to the emergence of AFS Europa, one is reminded perhaps of a tag from Horace: Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Mountains will be in labor, the birth will be a single laughable little mouse. Ars Poetica].

In spite of the, at times, somewhat acrimonious debates over the relationship between constituent countries and the central administration of AFS, many important points were made, and issues that would engage the attention of AFS, International for the next few years were raised. The strength of AFS was, in fact, tested and proven by the violence of some of the disagreements. In every instance the outcome of the debates was a reaffirmation of ultimate loyalty to the AFS bond.

The AFS conference held in Tunis two months after the European Conference was quite a different kind of meeting. Characteristically, this Middle Eastern-African Conference, bringing together representatives from Afghanistan, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Rhodesia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tunisia, and Uganda, was concerned with program operations rather than philosophy. The delegates and the AFS International Staff members present confronted operational problems faced by countries in one region. At the opening session of the Conference, the National Representatives themselves described the problems they were dealing with and thus provided the substance of the conference discussions. The pace of the Conference discussions was strong and spirited and the outcome indicated that the program in Africa and the Mid-East was alive and well.

As a gesture of friendship and concern, the National Representative of Turkey attended the conference as a delegate from AFS Europa. This sounded a note of good will that was evident throughout the conference; an expected confrontation between the black and white countries of Africa did not materialize, and the problems were met frankly and openly--another evidence of the basic strength of the AFS idea.

Because of the political situation in Uganda, the National office in Kampala was closed, and the program was operated from a newly established East African Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

The U.N.

On 4 February, 1974, the long-awaited affiliation with the United Nations was virtually assured when the membership Committee of the Economic and Social Council voted to recommend non-government consultative status in category 2 for AFS. Thirteen nations sat on the Membership Committee - Bolivia, Egypt, France, the German Democratic Republic, Guinea, India, Japan, Liberia, Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the USSR, and the United States. Seven members (France, the UK, the U.S., Liberia, Japan, The Netherlands, and India) spoke in support of this recommendation, citing AFS's scope, the quality of its programs and its positive impact on the world. The German Democratic Republic and the USSR, though also acknowledging the contributions of AFS, recommended a different category of membership. In the vote, however, these two nations joined with other members in making the recommendation unanimous. In April, the full membership ratified the admission of AFS.

In addition to this positive development, the United States Commission to the United Nations Commission to UNESCO appointed AFS to a three-year term to assist in developing United States policy for UNESCO.

The year 1974 was one in which some important reorganizational moves were made. Let us first examine some of the circumstances leading to these steps.

The National Advertising Council endorsement and the subsequent AFS campaign in newspapers, radio, and television brought an increase of 600 percent in public inquiries about AFS, but it was too soon for this to have an impact on the number of active volunteers. It was estimated that currently chapter attrition had reached the number of 100 a year.

Inflation and the energy crisis were bringing steadily rising costs and resultant annual deficits.

It seemed that some of AFS's most valued principle were being threatened. President Rhinesmith enumerated what he called the "five basic principles" and raised serious questions about AFS's ability to maintain them:

• the scholarship concept
• world-wide participation
• socio-economic diversity
• student care and protection, and
• broad-based volunteer support

Would AFS be able to offer financial assistance or would it be compelled to accept only candidates from the economically privileged? Would AFS have to close its programs in low income-high cost countries? Would AFS have to curtail some of the extensive procedures of extending care and counseling to its participating students and families? Could it maintain the mechanisms need to support its traditional world-wide volunteer structure?

Regional offices had been closed. AFS Europa was finally given the approval to legalize, but some initial financial support was required. Responding to this need the Board voted to advance $20,000 for a European support center in Brussels in 1975, $10,000 in the form of a grant and $10,000 as a loan to AFS Europa.

The 1968 resolution limiting program participation to new countries that had once been participants, to Eastern European nations, or to developing countries was reviewed and reaffirmed. The President, however, was authorized to negotiate with certain Middle Eastern countries on an ad hoc basis: Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were specifically named.

In an attempt to consolidate AFS operations at International Headquarters and to clarify the relationship between operations in the United States and operations internationally, and to meet the new challenges, the Administration on August 1 effected an extensive reorganization.

For the past year, the U.S. Field Development Department, staffed by two people, had done extensive analysis of the decline in hosting U.S. Chapters, had experimented with techniques for expansion, and had followed up more than 3,000 inquiries that resulted from the national media campaign. To bolster the Field Development effort, five more full-time Field Development Specialists were added and fifteen part-time staff were recruited from U.S. volunteers to assist with expansion in different areas of the country.

The Americans Abroad Department, as such, was dissolved and its functions were to be transferred ultimately to the U.S. Programs Department but for the time being would stay in the International Department, where perhaps the most sweeping changes were made.

All Americans Abroad in-country program matters became the responsibility of seven International Consultants--three for Europe, two for Latin America, and one each for Asia and Africa/Middle East. These International Consultants continued to have personnel and budget review responsibilities and to provide consultation services to National Representatives and National AFS, Organizations.

All of these organizational changes as well as a new chapter-support structure in the Western Division of the U.S. were designed to effect minor economies, and more importantly to bring maximum results from the expenditures in terms of increased volunteer support and headquarters support of the volunteer structure.

The final report of the Internationalization Committee, released in November 1973, created world-wide interest, if it did not receive world-wide acclaim or completely satisfy all the aspirations of national or regional groups, particularly those in Europe.

It might be well to review the history of the Committee at this juncture before proceeding to the substance of its report.

An Excerpt from the

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONALIZATION OF AFS, TO THE TRUSTEE MEMBERS

The Committee on Internationalization was appointed by the Chairman of the Trustee Members pursuant to resolutions adopted by the World Congress and by the Trustee Members at their meeting in January 1972. Copies of the authorizing resolutions setting forth the Committees charge are annexed together with a list of the Committee Membership.

The Committee first met in New York for three full-day, sessions on November 16, 17, and 18, 1972 and submitted to the Trustee Members for consideration at their annual meeting in January of 1973 an interim report. Since that interim report sets forth the preliminary conclusions of the committee on basic issues which underlie its final recommendations and conclusions, we have annexed a copy thereof to each copy of this report.

Since the January 1973 meeting of the Trustee Members, the Committee on Internationalization has met twice more. The second meeting was held in Echternach, Luxembourg, on April 24, 25, and 26, 1973. All sessions were attended by all members of the Committee. In action, there were present during the first day and most of the second day as consultants to the Committee Jacques Contant, European Coordinator; Fritz Otti, Austrian national Representative; and Ezio Vergani, Chairman of the Board of A.F.S.A.I.

Following that meeting, the Committee prepared and circulated to all of the Committee's consultants throughout the world, a report of its conclusions as to the appropriate program for further internationalization of AFS. That report set forth a description of the steps now being taken by the management of AFS in furtherance of internationalization, the reorganizational steps which the committee had tentatively decided to recommend and a number of questions soliciting the views of the consultants on matters which the Committee had under consideration but on which it had not reached consensus. A substantial number of consultants from all parts of the world responded thoughtfully and in detail to this report. The Committee is grateful to them for their thoughts. Each comment was considered by the full Committee, and a substantial number resulted in modification of the Committee's tentative recommendations.

To consider the responses from the consultants and to reach final conclusion on open points, the Committee met for a third time in New York on October 19, 20 and 22, 1973. Although Fred Balderston was unable to attend, the Committee had available to it written reports which the Committee had requested from various members of the international staff and the benefit of attendance at some of its sessions of Arthur Howe, Ward Chamberlin, Ed Masback, Steve Rhinesmith, Alice Gerlach and Charles Bergman.

The Committee's objective in these meetings was to reach consensus on a comprehensive plan for presentation to the Trustee Members at their meeting in January of 1974.

THE COMMITTEE'S CHARGE

A few preliminary words about the Committee's view of its charge and function are essential, particularly in view of criticisms of the Committee's recommendations received from various members of the AFS community. The resolution of the World Congress recommended "that control and policy making processes of AFS be further internationalized." We recognized in our interim report that the ultimate objective of any attempt at internationalization had to be internationalization of program. The Committee also unanimously agrees that the ideal objective of AFS is to achieve eventually one program with all countries sending students and all countries receiving students and all countries participating in the financial burdens of the organization on a similar basis. But we recognize, as did the Congress, that decisions on program are beyond the proper charge of the Committee and are within the competence of the staff, directors, Trustee Members and World Congress. Furthermore, our Committee has a limited fife and a single task whereas the program of AFS cannot remain static and must be subject to change by bodies with a continuing life. Our Committee's function, in our view, is to recommend a structure which will give authority and responsibility for determining program to the proper people who can best create a truly international program and to recommend a structure and procedure which will make it easiest for those people to obtain from the constituency throughout the world the most effective flow of ideas, comment, criticism and suggestion so that they will be equipped as well as possible to reflect the desires of the constituency and to implement them in an efficient and constructive manner.

The report sent to the consultants, which contained substantially the recommendations set forth herein, was also criticized by some, primarily in Europe, as representing a short-term patchwork view formulated without regard to a long-range plan or objective. Those consultants felt that the committee had given inadequate consideration to determining what AFS should look like in ten to twenty years. That view appears to result from a defect in our reports rather than our deliberations.

We indicated in our interim report that we had done some "blue skying" as to ideal structure. In fact, the Committee spent the bulk of its first three-day meeting in searching for the problems giving rise to internationalization and the desires of those who sought internationalization. The purpose of that lengthy analysis was to create a framework for determining what the ultimate forms of AFS should be and whether some other basic form would be more appropriate in the foreseeable future, and that there was no form which was likely enough to emerge so that we should now start moving toward it. The best we could do at this time was to modify the current structure to create the necessary flexibility to allow movement in any direction in the future should the change appear desirable.

Perhaps the most obvious of the results of the Committee's work were:

1. The formalization of the recurrence of a World Congress every fifth year and its function as a representative world-wide AFS body with a mandate to recommend policy changes to the Trustee Members;

2. The approval of the selection of five term Trustees by the Congress to serve during the five years interim; and

3. The creation of the new category of Trustee Member Emeritus.

[ED. Another recommendation of the Committee stressed the AFS International Council as a consultative body bringing also prestige, influence, expertise, and access to funds. Though recognizing that ultimately AFS/U.S. and AFS/International might be formally separate, the Committee felt that no immediate steps should be taken, and that the option should rather be left open. National and regional AFS organizations, it was suggested, could well be strengthened and given more autonomy and responsibility. The Board of Directors and the New York staff should include as great an international representation as was practically possible.]

Part IV: Youth Takes Over, continued

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