Report of the Board 

 of Regents 



The Board of Regents took special measures to mark the 150th 

 anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution. They held their 

 first meeting of the year in Los Angeles on February 9, 1996, 

 to participate in the benefit gala and public opening of 

 "America's Smithsonian." Regent Alan K. Simpson officially 

 represented the Board at the Los Angeles opening. As the 

 exhibition traveled to other cities, the Regents were 

 represented by Manuel L. Ibafiez in Kansas City, Daniel R 

 Moynihan in New York, and Regent Emeritus Claiborne Pell 

 in Providence. Barber B. Conable Jr. was the Board's 

 representative at the dedication of the Smithsonian's 150th 

 anniversary bell during the August 10 Birthday Party on the 

 National Mall. The annual Regents' dinner was held May 5 at 

 the National Portrait Gallery's anniversary exhibition, "1846: 

 Portrait of the Nation." 



On September 16, 1996, the Board met in Washington 

 precisely 150 years and nine days after the first meeting of the 

 original Board of Regents. Chancellor William H. Rehnquist 

 called the meeting to order with historical anecdotes, and the 

 Board sat for a group photograph in honor of the occasion. 

 The Regents also were honored at a British Embassy dinner 

 hosted by the Ambassador and Lady Kerr. 



Three new citizen members of the Board of Regents, 

 Howard H. Baker Jr., Louis V. Gerstner, and Anne 

 d'Harnoncourt, attended their first meeting in May. 

 Considering alternative approaches to enhancing their 

 deliberations, the Regents decided at that meeting to 

 establish a Regents' Committee of the Whole, which convenes 

 the afternoon before each Board meeting to discuss informally 

 and in depth select issues from the agenda. The Board also 

 established a broadly representative standing Committee on 

 Policy, Programs, and Planning. Members of the Board of 



Regents committees are as follows (* denotes non-Regent 

 member, ** denotes Regent Emeritus member): 



Executive Committee: Barber B. Conable Jr. (chairman), 

 William H. Rehnquist, Homer A. Neal; Audit and Review 

 Committee: Thad Cochran (chairman), Howard H. Baker Jr., 

 Sam Johnson, Jeannine S. Clark**, Charles McC. Mathias*, 

 Norman Y. Mineta**, Robert B. Morgan**; Investment 

 Policy Committee: Wesley S. Williams Jr. (chairman), 

 Howard H. Baker Jr., Hanna H. Gray, John W. English*, 

 Jane Mack Gould*, Thomas M. Keresey*, Donald Monarty*, 

 Charles H. Mott*, Marian B. Smith*; Nominating 

 Committee: Hanna H. Gray (chairman), Manuel L. Ibafiez, 

 Homer A. Neal; Committee on Policy, Programs, and 

 Planning: Hanna H. Gray (chairman). Barber B. Conable Jr., 

 Alan K. Simpson, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Anne d'Harnoncourt, 

 Manuel L. Ibafiez, Wesley S. Williams Jr.; Personnel 

 Committee: Charles McC. Mathias* (chairman), Caryl P. 

 Haskins**, Jeannine S. Clark.** 



The Regents learned with regret that Senator Alan K. 

 Simpson would retire at the end of the 104th Congress, and 

 they moved to designate him a Regent Emeritus at that time. 

 The Board awarded the Joseph Henry Medal to Regent 

 Emeritus William G. Bowen in grateful recognition of his 

 contributions to the Smithsonian Institution as a Regent and 

 Regent Emeritus from 1980 to the present. The Board also 

 adopted a design for a Regents' mace to be displayed in the 

 Regents' Room and used in significant institutional 

 ceremonial events. 



As requested by the Congress, the Board of Regents, 

 through its ad hoc Committee on Policy and Programs, 

 conducted an exhaustive study on the feasibility of admission 

 fees and informed the Congress that it does not favor 



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