Rechcigl Reelected SVU President to Unprecedented 6th Term

On the occasion of its 20th anniversary SVU World Congress in Washington, DC, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences held it traditional annual meeting, convened in the elegant Morrela Courtroom at the American University Washington College of Law. The meeting was called to order by SVU President Miloslav Rechcigl at 5 PM. At the onset he appointed Dr. Jan Skalny recording secretary and Frank Safertal and Svata Kudej verifiers of the minutes. Dr. Clinton Machann was then asked to read the minutes from the 1999 General Assembly meeting in Minnesota which were approved. Subsequently he appointed a Resolution Committee consisting of Blanka Kudej (Chair) and Anton Novacky and Juraj Slavik. General Assembly then honored the recently deceased SVU members by standing.

Then followed brief reports by the representatives of SVU Chapters abroad, including that of Dr. Alena Moravkova for the Prague Chapter and Dr. Marie Bobkova for the Brno Chapter. The newly established SVU Chapter in Plzen, Czech Republic was represented by its President Karel Zastera, professor at the University of West Bohemia. Prof. V. Borkovec, jointly with Prof. I. Feierabend, then presented the winner, Petra Ticha of Ostrava, a current student at American University, the Josef Hasek Award,. for her paper " Westernization of the Czech Republic"

The next item on the agenda was the traditional SVU President's Annual Report, "State of the SVU in the Year 2000," presented by Mila Rechcigl. He recapitulated the Society's activities in the last two years, including last year's successful SVU Conference in Minnesota, held on the occasion of President Havel's visit to the US. He described in detail the efforts of the Board to restructure the editorial and administrative apparatus of Kosmas in order to bring about a speeder operation and distribution of the periodical, and the launching of a new monograph program. At this point he also introduced the new editor-in-chief Prof. Clinton Machann, thanking him for putting out his first issue in record time - less than four months since he took over. A number of new activities undertaken by SVU have their foundation in the new project on the "Preservation of Czech and Slovak Heritage in America,"under SVU President's direction, with partial support by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Notably, the photographic SVU exhibit at the Congress on the life of Czech and Slovak communities in the US are part of this effort, in which leading Czech-American organizations participated. In his remarks, Rechcigl stressed the emphasis on young people which was amply visible by the number of speakers and other participants in this Congress. In his concluding remarks he thanked the organizers for their "job well done" and also the media, particularly Petr a Vera Bisek, for their help in publicizing the Congress and the SVU aims, in general.

Then came the Treasurer's report, presented by Frank Mucha, on the status of SVU finances which was accompanied by the Auditors' Report recommending that the Treasurer's Report be approved Mucha's statement collaborated SVU President's conclusion that the Society is financially sound and well, thanks to the sound management fiscal policy of the Executive Board under Rechcigl's direction. The Treasurer's Report was approved unanimously.

While this was going on, the Resolution Committee, which worked diligently on the Congress resolution, completed their task and the draft resolution was presented to the General Assembly by Juraj Slavik. It was a clear and effective statement, written in superb prose, which was then approved by the General Assembly without changing a word.

The parting gesture of Rechcigl's Presidency was the presentations of SVU Presidential Citations, awarded to deserving individuals "in Recognition for Contributions to the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), the Advancement of Czechoslovak Studies and the Furtherance of Czech and Slovak Culture Worldwide." The recipients were: Bruce Robert Berglund (KS ), Alexej Borkovec (MD), Vera Borkovec (MD), Petr and Vera Bisek (NY), Marie Bobkova (Brno), Pat Krizek DeVoe (MD), Andrew Elias (VA), Jaroslav Folta (Prague), George Glos (VA), Blanka Kudej (NY), Clinton Machann (TX), Karol Marton (Kosice), Josef A. Mestenhauser (MN), Josef Machac (NY), Frank Mucha (NY), Anton J. Novacky (MO), Eva Rechcigl (MD), Jan Skalny (FL), Juraj L. J. Slavik (DC), Zdenek Slouka (Prague), Alexander Tkac (Bratislava), Jan F. Triska (CA), Jaroslava Turkova in memoriam (Prague). Vera Ulbrechtova (MD), Eva Vanek (VA), Zdenek J. Vich (MD), Zdenka and Marina Vozarik (VA), Anna Vysoka (MN), and Dagmar Hasalova White (VA).

Prof. Jan F. Triska, who served in the capacity of Chair of the SVU Nominating Committee, assumed the role of presiding chair de tempore and reported on the outcome of mail elections. The entire slate, as initially proposed, was elected by an overwhelming margin, i.e., Mila Rechcigl, President; Anton J. Novacky, Executive Vice President; Blanka Kudej, Vera Borkovec, George Glos, Josef Machac, Peter Rafaeli, Alexander Tkac, Dagmar Hasalova White, and Petr Zuna, Vice Presidents; Frank Safertal, General Secretary; and Frank Mucha, Treasurer.

In his acceptance speech, Mila Rechcigl expressed, in the name of the entire newly elected Executive Board, his sincere appreciation to members for their confidence in electing them to the SVU leadership roles for the next two-year period. "As for myself," he stated, "this is not the first time I am standing in front of you at such an occasion and I know exactly what is expected of me. Let me assure you that we will do our outmost to continue the splendid work of our predecessors in an effort to advance Czech and Slovak culture worldwide and foster cooperation between the men and women of science, letters and art on both sides of the Atlantic. We cannot obviously do the work alone and ask our members for their suggestions, initiatives and offers to help us in this important undertaking. We are particularly seeking the help of young people with the anticipation that they will fill our shoes and take over."

Rechcigl is certainly not a novice in the SVU affairs, having served as its President during 1974-76 period already and again during1976-78. He is credited for putting the Society on solid fiscal foundation and for greatly expanding its membership base and stimulating new programs. Sixteen years later when the Society was facing uncertainty and malaise he was brought back. In the last six years of his Presidency (1994-2000), the Society has witnessed unexpected rebirth and remarkable growth making it the most important organization of its kind in the world. With his unbound energy and initiatives the Society cannot but rise to higher horizons during his next two years as President of SVU. SVU PRESS RELEASE

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