Two Board Members Speak

We too are saddened by the dispute between Dr. Ellis and the Board of the Albert Ellis Institute.

This letter is our response to the Institute’s comments regarding recent articles in the press.

We respectfully differ with several of the Institute’s statements and offer our comments for your consideration:

This dispute is NOT about personal loyalty for Dr. Ellis taking precedence over the Institute’s obligation to act within the law. Dr. Ellis and his attorneys have always maintained respect for the law and for its boundaries. Although we commend our fellow Board members for their efforts to prevent the loss of the Institute’s tax exempt status, we maintain that removing Dr. Ellis from all positions of responsibility, including the Board, was not the correct or the respectful way to address these matters.

We contend that the Board was NOT “compelled” to act with the haste and the secrecy that characterized Dr. Ellis’ removal on September 18th 2005 at the last meeting of the Board.

— Where is the evidence for the necessity and immediacy of this action?

—Where is the unambiguous proof that the payments made for Dr. Ellis’ medical care are “excess benefits”?

Dr. Ellis has received minimal compensation for the last 50 years. All his income went to support the Institute and purchase its building whose value is in the millions and worth many times over the original purchase price. Furthermore, because of Dr. Ellis’ conservative fiscal policies, the Institute is financially sound and debt free with a bank account in excess of 5 million dollars.

The only alleged “excess benefits” paid to Dr Ellis were for the purpose of medical bills incurred in the last 2 years since his illness. It was in fact the Board itself that established a trust for the purpose of covering Dr. Ellis’ medical expenses.

4. We oppose the hurtful and hasty removal of Dr. Albert Ellis, founder of REBT, the Institute, and grandfather of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, from the Board of Trustees. We hereby register our objection to the violation of the Institute’s own By-laws “to provide that at least one week’s notice of the proposed action shall have been given to the entire Board of Trustees then in office”.

In addition, the Board seems to have forgotten a basic psychological principle whereby penalties or consequences are most usually meted out only after clear and advanced warning has been given.

5. We agree that “negotiations recently reached an impasse”. However, we disagree with the Board’s hasty and cruel response to this impasse.We suggest instead that rational thinking, feeling, and behaving could have generated effective and productive problem solving. Where good will exists, alternative actions are discussed, not imposed.

The American Psychological Association requires a high standard of conduct from its members. By removing Dr Ellis without notice or warning, in a secretly hatched plan, sprung at the last minute on unsuspecting Board members, we believe the They Board has failed to model the high standard of professional conduct one would have hoped to have expected from them.

Nevertheless, because there is so much at stake — the future of the Institute and of REBT as well — we invite our fellow Board members to join us in dialogue and mediation with an impartial consultant.

We remain hopeful that Dr. Ellis may yet spend this precious time doing the work he loves for the thousands of people who continue to benefit from his efforts.

We encourage our fellow Board members to work together with us for the good and welfare of the Institute, of REBT, and of its founder, Dr. Albert Ellis.

Respectfully,

Deborah Steinberg and Emmett Velten