Columbus Torch Club dues for 2025-26 Program Year

Good news! Dues will remain the same as last year.

As a result of a number of cost-cutting measures, the Board of Directors at its August meeting agreed not to raise the Torch Club’s dues for 2025-26. The dues will remain at $460 per person and $870 per couple. The cost for a guest, which should be paid by the club member inviting the guest, will be $45 (except for the December meeting when it will be $50).

To pay your dues, make your check payable to:  Torch Club of Columbus and send to our Treasurer, Kent Bermingham, 521 Retreat Lane W, Powell, Ohio 43065.  Or bring your check to the first Torch Club meeting on October 2, 2025 at the OSU Faculty Club. 

Options for club members not attending Torch due to COVID

Although most Torch Club members have attended the in-person monthly meetings that resumed in October 2021, there are a few members who have been reluctant to attend in person due to ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. These members or persons in their households may be at greater risk for the illness for a variety of reasons. As a result, the Torch Club at its March 3 meeting set aside an area of socially distanced seating for members particularly concerned about COVID-19. This will permit them to hear the Torch paper. In addition, the Faculty Club will prepare a take-home dinner for these members. If you require a takehome dinner, please indicate that in your RSVP to Thom Seelbach’s monthly Evite.

Presentation by Richard K. Herrmann on May 7:

“How Did We Get Here? The Middle East,

the War with Iran and What Comes Next”

Richard K. Herrmann, professor emeritus of political science at The Ohio State University, will bring a lifetime of research and teaching on American foreign policy and Middle East politics to his Torch presentation May 7 on the United States’ war against Iran and its implications for our nation and our allies and adversaries. 

“The Trump administration's own National Security Strategy, released in 2025, declared that the era of the Middle East dominating American foreign policy was ‘thankfully over,’” Professor Herrmann notes. “Yet in spring 2026, the United States fought a direct war against Iran. How do we make sense of that?” 

Drawing on 50 years of regional trends — the collapse of the Arab resistance front, the shift of power from the Levant to the Gulf, the changing global oil equation, and the long erosion of the two-state solution — Professor Herrmann will argue the war, while not inevitable, was not a surprise either. 

He will examine what the conflict means for Israel's long-term strategic goals, for American credibility globally, and for the ambitions and vulnerabilities of China, Russia, and Europe. He also will look honestly at what might come next in Iran itself — and why the ideological foundations of Iranian hostility to Israel may be less durable than they appear. 

Biography of Richard Herrmann 

Richard K. Herrmann is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Ohio State, where he chaired the Political Science Department from 2011 to 2019 and directed the Mershon Center for International Security Studies from 2002 to 2011. 

He has written extensively on American foreign policy, international security, and Middle East politics, with research appearing in the American Political Science Review, International Organization, World Politics, and International Security, among other leading journals. His most recent article, published in 2025, analyzed U.S. strategy in the Middle East in the context of a 21st-century Cold War. Written before the spring 2026 war with Iran, the article anticipated many of the choices the Trump administration would face. 

Earlier in his career, Professor Herrmann served on Secretary of State James Baker's Policy Planning Staff at the State Department and has conducted research and lectured across the Middle East, including in Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Two ways to support the Columbus Torch Club and its members  The Board of Directors asks you to consider two ways to contribute to your Torch Club and to keep our fellowship strong as we look forward to our club’s centennial in 2026. 

1.  You may contribute funds directly to support the club by writing a check to “Torch Club of Columbus, Ohio.” Mail the check to our club’s treasurer, Kent Bermingham,521 RetreatLane W., Powell, Ohio 43065. (Donations to the club do not qualify as a charitable tax deduction.) 

2.  You may pay for the crudités or other foods served during the cocktail hour that precedes the monthly meetings. Anonymous donors paid for the crudités served at the October and November meetings and for the December meeting. The cost for the crudités is about $430, but there also are less expensive options. For information on donating the crudités or other options, please contact the club’s treasurer, Kent Bermingham who works closely with the Faculty Club on the menu and costs of the monthly dinners. Kent is at Kent1942@gmail.com

Torch Club’s monthly meeting agenda:

4:30-5:30 p.m. Board of Directors meeting

5:30-6:15 p.m. Cocktails and conversation

6:15-6:35 p.m. Business matters

6:35-7:30 p.m. Speaker

7:30-8:45 pm. Dinner and table discussion