ACS Seeks To Restore Lost Luster

WASHINGTON—On November 6 the American Chemical Society will celebrate National Chemistry Day. The posters proclaiming that "chemistry is everywhere” are part of the society's campaign to blunt the impact of such environmental disasters as Bhopal and Love Canal and, at the same time, gain crdit for some of the recent advances in medicine and biotechnology. Even as ACS is looking outward, however, it is also trying to harmonize its dual roles as a professional society and as an adviser on scientific issues for the government and public. That tension has shown up in its elections and budget decisions. The first-ever National Chemistry Day, conceived by ACS Past President George Pimentel, recognizes that chemistry has lost the “better things for better living” luster conveyed the DuPont advertising slogan introduced in the 1930s. It is part of other recent attempts to improve the field’s image, including a task force on public understanding of chemistry and programs for non-science students, as well as public service announcements and a news service on new developments. But because ACS is seen by some as having become a corporate giant with little concern for its 137,000 members, the society has also stepped up its efforts to communicate with them. Many have felt the effects of layoffs and forced retirements in the chemical industry, declining enrollments for college chemistry courses, and decreased federal funding of chemical research. ACS’s federal charter, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt 50 years ago, declares its main function to be a scientific and educational organization and adviser to Congress. The charter says little about the society’s responsibilities to its members, except that it is to improve “the qualifications and usefulness of chemists.” A mission statement adopted this year, “Target 2000: A Commitment for the Future,” more clearly spells out ACS’ role with respect to its members. It does not outline specific programs, but declares that “ACS should strengthen efforts to improve the professional security and economic status of its members.” “There has been a constant problem balancing members’ needs and the scientific/educational component,” said ACS Presidentelect Gordon Nelson, who is chairman of the department of polymer science at the University of Southern Mississippi. “The ACS began to expand its concern for members’ careers in the late ‘60s, during a time of tremendous unemployment. “This is still debated within the politics of the society,” Nelson said. “There’s no question whether we should have this kind of activity, but rather how much.” Growing Pains ACS presidential elections often turn on who will do the most to improve the status of members, noted Richard Lemmon, a former ACS regional director. But that approach, he believes, conflicts with ACS’s role as a scientific and educational society. ACS President Mary Good of Allied Signal has tended to place those topics above member-related issues. Although some expected Good, the second woman president, to use her office to advance the position of women in chemistry and ACS, she has not done so. But guild issues haven’t gone away. More than a third of respondents to a recent survey in Industrial Chemist, an independent monthly magazine, said they think ACS’ representation of chemists is inadequate, and is what they like least about the organization. That view is put forward vigorously by Bernard Mitzner, president of Value Fragrances and Flavors, a small chemical company in Goshen, N.Y. “ACS has outgrown itself into a corporation that exists for its own perpetuation with no concerns about its members,” Mitzner said. Some of Mitzner’s complaints are borne out in the society’s 1986 financial statement, which showed more than half (53 percent) of its revenues going to salaries, wages and fringe benefits. The average for other scientific societies is 35 percent, according to a 1986 survey by the American Society of Association Executives. Fifteen percent went to producing its books and journals, a proportion similar to the 12 percent figure for other societies; 11 percent went to data processing costs; 5 percent to building operations; and 4 percent to office operations. Different Masters At $125.7 million, 1986 revenues exceeded expenses by $4 million. During the past decade, ACS has had annual surpluses ranging from $1 million to $9 million. Its largest source of income (47 percent in 1986) is the sale of publications, including journals, books and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). Electronic and microform services have grown rapidly, to 25 percent of overall revenues. Annual dues, now $76, have risen steadily, but contribute only 6 percent to revenues. ACS Executive Director John Crum said the surplus has allowed the society to build up liquid reserves for capital funds and a cushion against bard times. It is planning a national science exhibit, with chemistry as the central science, at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. Many ACS members feel these activities don’t give them an adequate return on their investment. “ACS journals and CAS aren’t there to serve the small guy paying his dues. They’re there to serve industry,” complained Mitzner. Even the society’s public relations activities don’t benefit individual chemists, he charged. “National Chemistry Day and other activities are done so chemical plants get less pressure with respect to pollution and other problems. Chemists won’t get better jobs, more pay, or more security because of them.” Crum said ACS has tsken seriously the concerns of Mitzner and others. The society recently revamped its stodgy annual report to make for easier reading, he said, and created a task force on improving communications between the society and its members. Part of the problem is size. The ACS recently surpassed the American Association for the Advancement of Science in membership, making it the largest in science. Its two annual national meetings draw over 10,000 attendees each. The society employs 372 people at its national office in Washington, D.C., and 1,409 at CAS headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s no surprise that individual chemists sometimes get lost within the structure.” Good said. “But the tendency of some within ACS to feel that the chemical industry is ‘they’ and that individual chemists are ‘we ‘is wrong. One without the other is not a very viable entity.” ‘Sleeping Giant’ The society’s size also makes it difficult to reach a consensus on major policy issues. Members and outside observers have accused the society of ducking tough issues like SDI by claiming they fall outside chemistry. Even Good has called the society a “sleeping giant.” At the national meeting in New Orleans in September she said that “our problem is that we really don’t realize the amount of clout and expertise that resides in this almost 140,000-member .... . . We don’t live up to our potential most of the time.” A recent study found that NSF provides 45 percent of the total basic research funding at universities but only 25 percent of total organic chemistry funding. The pattern was similar for other chemical disciplines. Likewise, NIH funding for chemical research has been losing ground to other disciplines. Be tween 1977 and 1986, NIH funding for chemistry increased about 110 percent as NIH’s overall research budget rose by 300 percent. “A top priority now is to get chemistry recognized as a fundamental science in biotechnology, because that’s where much of the funds are going,” Good said. Toward that end, ACS held a June conference on biotechnology and materials science for federal and industry officials and financial analysts. Last year, 13 of the society’s 32 specialty chemical divisions organized a secretariat to make recommendations on biotechnology policy. In addition, a biotechnology associate editor was appointed at one of the society’s premier journals, Analytical Chemistry, and BioTech Updates was added to Chemical Abstracts Service. ACS is also trying to convince students that chemistry is the starting point for a variety of careers. Yet the gap between the organization and its members is apparent even in the plans for next Friday’s Chemistry Day. Although the ACS national office has budgeted more than $100,000 for materials, local sections are responsible for organizing and funding their own programs. Members in the 182 local sections hope to spread the message through industry open houses, chemical demonstrations and activities ranging from a battle of the burettes for high school students to the airing of classical music composed by chemists on local radio stations. National Chemistry Day will apparently take place without congressional hacking, however. A resolution marking the event has attracted only 49 co-sponsors, a figure far short of the 218 votes needed to win House passage. “The ACS people told us they’d beat the bushes and make the phone calls to get the other cosponsors, but it seems they haven’t done that,” said a staffer for Rep. Doug Waigren (D-Pa.), who introduced the resolution last May. Randy Wedin, ACS coordinator for the event, said “we don’t think the national resolution is the most important thing. We left it up to members to take the first step in contacting their congressman.” Bennett is a staff writer at Clinical Chemistry News, published by the American Association for

ACS Seeks To Restore Lost Luster

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Dawn Bennett

Published In

November 1987

Related Research Resources

How Do Embryos Know How Fast to Develop

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Become a PCR Pro

Embracing Polypharmacology for Multipurpose Drug Targeting

Genetic Insights Break Infectious Pathogen Barriers

Navigating Cold Storage Solutions

Products

Product News

Gilead’s Capsid Revolution Meets Our Capsid Solutions: Sino Biological – Engineering the Tools to Outsmart HIV

Meet the Upright ULT Built for Faster Recovery - Stirling VAULT100™

ChemiDoc Go Imaging System

Evotec Announces Key Progress in Neuroscience Collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb

ACS Seeks To Restore Lost Luster

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Dawn Bennett

Published In

November 1987

Related Research Resources

How Do Embryos Know How Fast to Develop

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Become a PCR Pro

Embracing Polypharmacology for Multipurpose Drug Targeting

Genetic Insights Break Infectious Pathogen Barriers

Navigating Cold Storage Solutions

Products

Product News

Gilead’s Capsid Revolution Meets Our Capsid Solutions: Sino Biological – Engineering the Tools to Outsmart HIV

Meet the Upright ULT Built for Faster Recovery - Stirling VAULT100™

ChemiDoc Go Imaging System ​

Evotec Announces Key Progress in Neuroscience Collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb

ChemiDoc Go Imaging System