Institute activities: AIEE board of directors seeks membership views on Institute policy

In April, the AIEE Board of Directors at Dallas received the Smith Resolution, which says in effect that AIEE should continue its prime interest in the technical field and make no pretense of entering into nontechnical fields; in May a special committee of the Board sent around a memorandum on this subject to the Sections; in June the Swampscott meeting of Section delegates discussed it, and the article in the June Electrical Engineering engendered voluminous correspondence (EE, Jun ´49, p 536). Expressions of opinions pro and con are about evenly divided. Out of the discussion has come a substantial reassertion of opinion that some sort of an over-all engineering association with AIEE as one of its technical divisions is the ideal to be hoped for; there are, however, differences of opinion as to how to handle Institute policy in an intermediate period. In order to clarify and make more definite the field of discussion on the subject, the special committee wishes to direct the thinking of the membership toward answering several questions: 1. What is meant by nontechnical activities? 2. Can AIEE be really effective in such activities? 3. What would be the cost of undertaking such activities?