March 8,  2003 Minutes

The eighteenth meeting of the Indiana Chapter of the DINFOS Alumni Association was held at 11:30 am on March 8, 2003, at ll:00 am at The Garrison at Ft. Harrison State Park.  Attached is a listing of those who attended.

 The President, Dr. Jack Rubak, opened the meeting by asking Colonel John Christy, USA-Ret, to give the invocation.

 After lunch, each person present was asked to introduce himself/herself.

 The President extended regards from Art Barnes, BG John Carlson and Frank Wilson who expressed regrets for not being able to attend the meeting.  A moment of silence was held for Mary Rothgeb, former Editor of the Defense Information School’s “Military Media Review,” who died recently.

 Jack Rubak gave a DINFOS update from Colonel Bell.  Responses to the items in his message were covered in the minutes of the Executive Council meeting (copy attached).

 Bob Dittmer was then called upon to review the proposal he prepared on increasing membership in the DINFOS Alumni Association.  He remarked that the Commandant has given us clear guidance of what he can and cannot do, and this proposal has taken all of that guidance into perspective.  We need a larger picture that serves a larger group of public affairs and graduates, and we have to do something about it now.  Since the young graduates are electronic savvy, we should look at the opportunity to provide alumni service using electronic e-mail, etc   Particular audiences have been identified  -- faculty, staff and new graduates at DINFOS.  He suggested getting volunteers from DINFOS at Ft. Meade who are willing to take action on the items in his proposal.  Dittmer mentioned he has two people he will contact to see if they would be willing to talk about the Alumni Association at graduations.

 Dittmer also mentioned the ideas he has proposed to give each graduate a free, one-year membership and an e-mail address for life that will give them a direct connection to their DINFOS colleagues.   This is low cost and will give the graduates an excellent network.

In addition, Dittmer said he and Tom Conrad would work together to build additional things of value to present to the graduates.

 The President asked for a vote on Dittmer’s proposal.  The proposal passed with no objections.

 Dr. Rubak then read an unclassified message received from Colonel Bell concerning coverage of the war by the media (copy attached).

Next was an update on “What’s New at Ft. Harrison” given by the Deputy Mayor of the City of Lawrence, retired US Army LTC Chuck Ricks:

A new Wal Mart is opening on March 19.

Ft. Harrison is the temporary home of Governor and Mrs. Frank O’Bannon.

Ivy Tech is trying to raise about 16M dollars to purchase Building #400.  The second floor of the building will be dedicated to medical specialty programs. 

There is also a plan is to tear down the old Hawley Hospital building and put up a new building for the PX and Commissary at that site.

Several restaurants, a pharmacy and cleaners have recently opened on 56^th Street.

Money is available for the new library scheduled to open in 2005.

Behind the Commissary is an office building with retail businesses.

Dr. Rubak introduced the guest speaker, Dr. Ken Andersen.  Dr. Andersen was a member of the DINFOS Board of Visitors.  He served as Professor of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois, as well as Associate Dean and Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Illinois.  Dr. Andersen’s speech was on the “Wedding of Communication and Ethics.”

Dr, Andersen expressed how happy he was to come back to Ft. Harrison and how impressed he had always been with DINFOS.  He was impressed with how the school produced such quality students in such a short time and applauded those who for so many years worked to affect the lives of so many people.

He then paid tribute to Jack Rubak, who helped by providing needed information to the Board of Visitors so they could formulate school policy, and to Helen Stritt for all of her help over the years.

Dr. Andersen began his speech by saying that ethics and communication have co-existed for a long time.  Communication and ethics go back to Aristotle who believed that ethics was a matter of habit.  Ethics define how to live the good life and how to make that value live.

Dr. Andersen stated he determined a need for a current code of ethics, and so he gathered a group of people from different cultures to develop a Credo for Ethical Communication for the National Communication Association.  He explained that the object of communication is to bring moral respect into being, and that unethical communication threatens all of us.  He then expounded on each of the principles listed in the Credo (see attached).

At the end of his speech, Dr. Andersen said that the Credo is a set of ideals and it is not a document that binds the whole world but seeks to empower all.  His last point was that speech is a tool, and like the surgeon’s knife, it can be used to kill or cure.

A short question and answer period followed.

The meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

 Jack Rubak, President 

 Helen Stritt, Secretary

Attendees at the March 8, 2003 meeting of the Indy Chapter of the DINFOS Alumni Association:

Dr. and Mrs. Ken and Mary Andersen

Hal Barron

Diana Benoit

Perry Brandt

Col John Christy, USA-Ret

Tom Christy

Rose and Tom Conrad

Bob Dittmer

Maggie & Jim Dehaven

John Eagles

Marianne Gray

Manny & Evelyn Harper

Col Larry Icenogle, USA-Ret

Craig Ito

Mike LaBonne

Eula & Richard Mallery

Chuck Ricks

David Rook

Jack Rubak

Helen Stritt

Jan Walton & Alverta Keith

Guest Speaker, Dr. Ken Andersen

The President then introduced the Guest Speaker, Dr. Ken Andersen, a member of the DINFOS Board of Visitors, who served as Professor of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois, as well as Associate Dean and Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Illinois.  Dr. Andersen spoke on the “Wedding of Communication and Ethics.”

Dr. Andersen said it was really a pleasure to come back to Ft. Harrison and he expressed how impressed he always was with DINFOS, and how the school produced such quality students in such a short time.  He applauded those who worked for so many years and affected the lives of so many people.

He stated what a great opportunity it was to serve on the Board of Visitors and to interact with other members in public affairs, radio/television, journalism. 

He then paid tribute to Jack Rubak, who was truly an academic.  He sure helped the board to formulate which was a great help to the board.

He also expressed his thanks to Helen Stritt for all of her hard work performed in a quiet manner.

His speech covered these points on communication and ethics that go back to Aristotle

Have been married for a long time.  Ethics – how to live the good life and how to make that value live.  Go to put ethics and communication to work.  A Democratic Community.  A group that ran this democracy – a small contained group.  This is a renewal of vows.  Context is very different.  Need to come back.  Bring back the fusion of ethics, communication and politics.  I’m astonished a 5M dollar deficit.  The President reported who was leading.  Where was the background.  Have to make     in journalism to find communication.  Linkage political life building good communication in an ethical manner.  True as we live with our families.  Developing values with our own family.  Credo for ethical communication.  Need a code of ethics.  Have to sumit three copies of the proposed article.  What to agree on values of purpose.  Got a group of people, lawyers, academia, graduate students.  People from different cultures to try to come out with some statement.  A statement of believe.  Draw to attention issues of right and wrong.  It is a matter of integrating those things together.  We honor the basic moral view of the people.  It is a kind of moral respect.  The object of communication is to bring that into being.  Unethical communication threatens all of us.  We negotiate how were are going to live with one another.  It is our believe it is better for having that dialogue.

The matter of privacy and confidential gets to be tricks.  Accept responsibility of short and long term communication.  A credo is a set of ideals.  I want to be fair.  I want to be kind.  Most don’t have a single guiding principal.  People have tried to use in classroom.  How are we going to relate?  Why should I be held accountable?  Speech is a tool and like to the surgeon’s knife, it can be used to kill or cure.  The Credo is not a document that binds the hole world.  It seeks to empower all.

Questions:  Where does the little white lie fit it.  It’s a slippery slope  Aristotle believe that ethics was a matter of habit.

The meeting adjourned at l:30 pm.

Services

Join us!

Become a member of the DINFOS Alumni Association!