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Minutes of the SPCL Business Meeting held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 7, 2006
Present were : Armin Schwegler (President) – Chairman Arthur Spears (Vice President/President Elect) Marlyse Baptista (Outgoing Executive Secretary/Treasurer) Adrienne Bruyn (Past President/Nominating Committee Chair) Don Winford (Ex Officio/JPCL Editor) 28 Members and 4 Visitors Rocky Meade (Executive Secretary/Treasurer designate) - Secretary
Apologies for Absence : Bill Samarin, Jeff Siegel, Anand Syea.
• Call to order The President, Armin Schwegler, called the meeting to order at 3:45 pm on January 7, 2006. He welcomed the members and outlined the agenda for the meeting.
• Confirmation of the Previous Minutes The outgoing Executive Secretary, Marlyse Baptista, read the minutes of the Business Meeting held in Oakland , California on January 8, 2005. The minutes were confirmed.
• Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes No matters arose from the previous minutes.
• Tribute to Jacque Arends: Marlyse Baptista reminisced about last time she saw Jacque and extolled his significant contribution to the academic community in general and particularly to linguistics and the SPCL. She then asked the members to stand to observe a minute of silence in his honour.
The President reminded the members that the Peck Fund has existed for quite some time but was largely underused and underfunded. Recently the fund has been more active with travel grants being awarded to student presenters, and the fund increasing with a one time transfer of $1,000.00 from the SPCL funds and the ongoing allocation of $2.00 per annum from the subscription of each member. There is still the need for regular donations and all were encouraged so to do. The meeting was advised that this year two graduate students, Veronique Lacoste and Don Walicek were awarded $400 each from the fund. It was noted that the amount allocated was in excess of the norm, but this was made possible by very generous donations by Marlyse Baptista and other members of the SPCL.
• SPCL and Peck Fund Financial Report The outgoing Secretary/Treasurer presented the financial report for 2005. Currently, the SPCL account amounts to $3,828.59 including $1,502.61 for the Peck fund (see Balance Sheet attached as Appendix A). She explained that the accounts were kept together in order to avoid fees that are charged against accounts with low balances. Proposals from the floor included opening a Credit Union account and opening an account that facilitate electronic transfers, both of which should result in fewer charges. The incoming Secretary/Treasurer noted that, since there are generally very infrequent movements in and out of the account, using a Savings Account plus electronic transfers where possible, may be the optimal solution. A member asked if the Society has charitable organization status. The president explained that we do not and suggested that it might be too expensive to go through the required procedure. The financial report was unanimously approved. The President subsequently advised the new Secretary/Treasurer that although in the past we have functioned with one named person on the SPCL bank account, it would be a good idea to have a second person so named, any one of whom could conduct transactions on behalf of the Society. Silvia Kouwenberg was recommended, and she has accepted the invitation to so function.
• Selection of Executive Secretary/Treasurer The President thanked Marlyse Baptista for her excellent service and presented her with a gift from the Society. Rocky Meade was selected, by the Executive Committee, as the New Executive Secretary, in keeping with the provisions of the Constitution. In his acceptance comments he thanked the Executive and members for the confidence they had demonstrated. He reminded the members to support the Peck Fund through donations. He also indicated that more persons need to subscribe, as it is only approximately one quarter of the persons listed with the Society that actually subscribe through John Benjamins. Various options for expanding subscriptions will be considered and brought to the membership at the next meeting, if they require constitutional amendment.
• Election of Officers Up to January 7, 2006 the Executive Committee was composed of: Armin Schwegler – President (until 2007) Arthur Spears - Vice President/President Elect (until 2007) Adrienne Bruyn - Immediate Past President (until 2007) Marlyse Baptista - Executive Secretary/Treasurer (until 2006) Rocky Meade - Officer-at-large (until 2006) Bettina Migge – Officer-at-large (until 2007) Shelome Gooden - Officer-at-large (until 2008) Don Winford - Ex Officio (as JPCL Editor)
Nominating Committee (up to January 7, 2006): Adrienne Bruyn - Immediate Past President/Chair (until 2007) Tonjes Veenstra – Member (until 2006) Clancy Clements – Member (until 2007)
Two sets of elections took place. The election of one officer-at-large for the Executive Committee, to replace Rocky Meade, and the election of one member for the Nominating Committee to replace Tonjes Veenstra.
For the Executive Committee, one Officer-at-large, the nominees were: Miriam Meyerhoff (by the Nominating Committee) Peter Patrick (by the Nominating Committee) Jeff Siegel (by the Nominating Committee) Fred Field (by a member from the floor) As Jeff Siegel could not assure attendance to most of the upcoming SPCL conferences, he opted to decline the nomination at this time. Fred Field was elected with 65% of the votes.
For Nominating Committee the nominees were: Miriam Meyerhoff (by the Nominating Committee) Peter Patrick (by the Nominating Committee) Malcolm Finney (by a member from the floor) Malcolm Finney was elected with 73% of the votes.
The current Executive Committee is composed of: Armin Schwegler - President (until 2007) Arthur Spears - Vice President/President Elect (until 2007) Adrienne Bruyn - Immediate Past President (until 2007) Rocky Meade - Executive Secretary/Treasurer (until 2010) Bettina Migge – Officer-at-large (until 2007) Shelome Gooden - Officer-at-large (until 2008) Fred Field - Officer-at-large (until 2009) Don Winford - Ex Officio (as JPCL Editor)
The current Nominating Committee is composed of: Adrienne Bruyn - Immediate Past President/Chair (until 2007) Clancy Clements – Member (until 2007) Malcolm Finney – Member (until 2008)
• Special Pleanary Sessions: The President outlined the pros and cons of having Special Session, and asked for comments. A dynamic discussion took place with different members indicating personal preferences for either one or two special sessions. The members then voted to have two special sessions at the January 2007 meeting. The suggestions of themes for the special sessions were as follows:
The members voted to have sessions on Acquisition and Creole Education at the next conference. The other suggestions are to be raised at the next meeting for consideration for future panels.
• Future Summer SPCL Meetings 2007 : The President advised the membership that the arrangements for the summer meeting in Amsterdam in 2007 were well underway and being coordinated by Hans den Besten. The dates have been set for July 9-11, 2007. 2008: The venues proposed to date were named as Cayenne , Cologne and London . The President read two messages (attached as Appendix B) relating to the Cayenne option, basically indicating that the local organizers at Cayenne were happy to host the conference, but that the SCL, with whom we were hoping to have a joint meeting, had not yet resolved the issue of venue for 2008. The members asked for clarification on the apparent disconnect between SPCL and SCL on this matter, and it was elucidated by various officers of the Executive. Danny Adone explained that she has identified and virtually secured possible funding for a meeting in Cologne , Germany in 2008 or 2009. A member noted that if we were going to meet in 2008, it would be best to do so jointly with SCL. The President also read an offer from Anand Syea (attached as Appendix C) to host a meeting in London . After a lively discussion on the pros and cons, the membership voted to allow the executive to consider the implications of and decide on whether to skip the winter meeting with LSA in 2008, in light of the concern about having two meetings per year for three consecutive years. The members also voted to have a summer meeting with SCL in 2008 at whatever location is selected by SCL, and a meeting in Cologne in 2009.
• Other Business Audio Visual Aids at Conferences: A member expressed concern about the cost of the OHPs that are rented from the hotels at the conferences, in terms of whether they are fully utilized by the presenters and whether it would not be more cost effective to purchase our own if they are needed. The President explained that we cannot use our own projectors due to hotel union rules. It was suggested that the matter be discussed with LSA to see if the cost of the visual aids could be included in the overall charge, and whether we could consider making our own arrangements. It was pointed out that we could not host such a conference without linking with LSA, but certainly we could ask LSA to address the issue. It was also suggested that the President contact the other small societies to see if they have similar problems. The President indicated that he did so in person two years ago (at the LSA meeting), and all are frustrated but recognize that the LSA was not as necessarily at fault. The membership voted to approach the LSA with the matter. LSA Survey on Minorities: Danny Adone read request for participation in survey on minorities. The relevant forms were handed out and should also be available at the LSA website.
• Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 pm.
Rocky R Meade Executive Secretary |
