SVU Reelects Rechcigl as its President

At the 43rd Meeting of the SVU General Assembly, convened on June 28, 2000 at the University of West Bohemia in Plzen, on the occasion of SVU World Congress, Dr. Miloslav Rechcigl was reelected as the Society's new President. Prof. Jan F. Triska, in his capacity as Chairman of the Nominations Committee, introduced him as follows: " On behalf of the Nominations Committee, which voted unanimously--and proudly--for your reelection, we would like to congratulate you -- and even more, the SVU--for having the best President ever since its establishment in 1958. Your performance, ratified by the Pilsen Congress, was simply brilliant. You have been not only a thoughtful, tireless, tactful, daring, and imaginative leader, but also a great example to us all. We wish you and your hard-working Executive Council all the best."

The General Assembly meeting was scheduled for 3 PM but because of the insufficient number of members present, it was reconvened, as the SVU Bylaws prescribe, one hour later. The Assembly was called to order at 4 PM by SVU President Mila Rechcigl who started the meeting by welcoming the members and
thanking the Plzen co-organizers for their splendid work, both in terms of the logistical arrangements and the overall program, including the variety of cultural and social events. He then appointed Mila Saskova-Pierce to be Recording Secretary and asked the members to stand up to honor the memory of deceased SVU members.

The first order of business was the approval of the minutes of the last General Assembly meeting held in Nebraska in 2001. Rechcigl than named a Resolution Committee, consisting of Zdenek Slouka (Chair), Pavel Machotka and Jan Kmenta. Several reports were then given, including that by Dean Ivo Budil, on behalf of the Plzen Organizing Committee, and of the Congress Treasurer Ota Safertal. Since the latter could not attend in person, the report was read by Secretary-General Frank Safertal.

The next item on the agenda was the traditional SVU President's report, "State of the SVU in the Year 2002". Rechcigl recapitulated the highlights of the SVU activities in the preceding two years, which he characterized as "two extraordinary years in terms of SVU growth and development".He pointed out that the focus of the Executive Board was on the revitalization of the Society with younger people and the application of information technology in the SVU work, as reflected in the SVU fully functioning Website. The most important activity SVU undertook last year was its regional conference in Lincoln, Nebraska relating to "The Czech and Slovak Legacy in Americas" which led to the establishment of a new SVU chapter in Nebraska. The second most important event was the organization of SVU World Congress in Plzen in June 2002 which exceeded everybody's expectations. In publication area, apart from its two periodicals, Zpravy SVU and Kosmas, which he praised for their content and quality, the Society initiated publishing monographs. The first published monograph, entitled Taste of a Lost Homeland is a bilingual anthology of Czech and Slovak exile poetry with translations into English. The second monograph, Essays on Czech Music, is based on the writings of
Czech musicologist Zdenka Fischman. Almost completed is the newly revised SVU Biographical Directory.

As a part of its new initiative, SVU has issued a second report. resulting from its comprehensive survey of the Czech and Slovak historic sites and monuments. and archival material in the US, under the title Czechoslovak-American Archivalia. This report, together with the earlier report, Czech Historic Sites and Monuments in the US, generated lots of interest in the US, as well as in the Czech Republic, with the recommendation that they be published to make the information widely available.

"As plainly evident from my report", Rechcigl continued, "the last two years were indeed very productive. During this period, SVU's visibility and image has risen to new heights and reached new horizons. Its financial base has been strengthened and a large number of new members, especially young people, were added to its rolls."

The good SVU financial standing was echoed in the subsequent Treasurer's Report, prepared by Frank Mucha, stating that "it is better than the last time and better than at any other time since 1994 when our current president took charge again of the activities of the Society".The membership, consisting of individual members, spouse memberships and student members is approaching the magic number of 2000. The Society's world wide membership comprises 49 states of the union, Canada and 26 additional countries ranging from Singapore and New Zealand to Bolivia, Brazil, France and there are also local chapters, including three in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, each, totaling over 300 members. As has been the tradition of the SVU Congresses, the last SVU Congress did not result in a deficit and there is every expectation that the Plzen Congress will be as successful as the previous ones in this regard. The stated goals of the Executive Board include fiscal discipline, requiring an annually balanced budget, minimal overhead and maximal effort to "live" from current dues, and earned interest, without touching the existing corpus of the Society. This has been made possible by pro-bono service from all the members of the Board and the Council, by scrupulously insisting on external funding of all activities other than publication of our Newsletter.

Following the Treasurer's report, Secretary-General Frank Safetal presented the Auditor's Report which recommended that the Treasurer's Report be approved and the retiring Executive Board be absolved of its liability. The approval was granted by an unanimous vote of the General Assembly.

The Resolution Committee, in the meantime, completed its work and their resolution, a copy of which is presented elsewhere, was read to the membership who unanimously voted its approval.

As the retiring Executive Board left the podium, Prof. Jan F. Triska, in his capacity as Chair of the Nominations Committee, assumed the chairmanship of
the meeting pro tempore to announce the results of the election of the new officers. The entire slate of officers, as originally proposed by the Nominations Committee, was elected.

Mila Rechcigl, as the newly elected SVU President, returned to the platform, thanked the membership for their confidence in electing him and other officers to the SVU leadership roles for the next-two year period with the pledge that they " we will do our outmost to continue the splendid work of our predecessors to advance Czech and Slovak culture worldwide and foster cooperation between men and women of science, letters and art - on both sides of the Atlantic".

SVU Press Release

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