Fellow Alumni,

I would like to take this opportunity to update you on several issues of importance to us all.

We are now incorporated in the State of Delaware as the "Fort Schuyler Maritime Alumni Association, Inc." and are in the process of updating our Constitution and by-laws to reflect that change. We will soon have available our Certificate of Incorporation and new Constitution and by-laws for distribution to the membership. However, until certain filings are completed with the Internal Revenue Service, we are required to continue operations under our current Association structure.

Pursuant to a resolution at our last Alumni Board meeting on March 31, 2004, $30,000.00 was appropriated to fund scholarships to assist needy Cadets for the Summer Sea Term, 2004. A scholarship committee composed of Earl Baim, Austin Dooley, James DeSimone, Jose Femenia, Ted Mason, and Frank Ragonese will administer and award the scholarships. The scholarships themselves will consist of checks made out to the College and mailed directly to the recipient Cadets. Recipients are required to have a minimum 2.5 pt. cumulative grade point average, be enrolled on the cruise, be a Cadet in good standing in the Regiment and License program, and show financial need.

VADM Ryan and Captain Smith were notified of the program prior to Easter, and each Cadet in the Regiment has been notified of the program by U. S. mail. The program has been advertised on Domenet and the Alumni website. Applications must be made by April 28. Selection and award will be made as expeditiously as possible thereafter.

Unfortunately, the College has chosen to ignore our scholarship effort. Neither VAdam Ryan nor Capt. Smith replied to our correspondence or telephone calls and the College Administration has not made any attempt to publicize the availability of these scholarships. This is unfortunate as Cadets in financial need may not be able to avail themselves of these scholarship funds.

Recently many of you received a publication titled the "Maritime Navigator". Please be aware that this in NOT a publication of your Alumni Association. Please see the attached letter which was posted on the Alumni website, on Domenet and emailed to all members with known e-mail addresses. While we are pleased to see a college newsletter we are disturbed by their efforts to commandeer "Homecoming Day" and to gather information, including the names of children, from our members. Please do not send your personal information to State employees, and remember, your Alumni Association, not the College, has been running "Homecoming" and "Alumni Day" for the past forty years!

We have recently become aware that Alumni who have written to Chancellor King to express their opposition to the way SUNY has summarily treated their Alumni Association have been receiving responses from VADM Ryan. Unfortunately, these responses contain the same inaccuracies that were in VDAM Ryan's earlier correspondence to the membership in mid February. We have prepared a generic response to these form letters which has been posted on the Alumni website, Domenet and emailed to every member with known e-mail address. A copy is enclosed for your convenience.

The Alumni Association is in direct negotiation with SUNY to hopefully conclude a mutually agreeable contract. However, it remains to be seen whether SUNY will moderate its position on any substantive issue. These negotiations are being conducted under the auspices of New York State Senators Owen Johnson and Kenneth LaValle, with assistance from New York State Senator Guy Velella and New York State assemblyman Stephen Kaufman. Those Alumni who live in their districts should remember their efforts on our behalf.

In closing, we would like to see an accommodation with SUNY. In the meantime, we will never forget our allegiance to the College and to the Cadets and I will never violate my mandate to preserve an independent Alumni Association.

Fraternally yours,

Francis X. Gallo '64
President