Minutes of the Business Meeting: Charles Sanders Peirce Society 28 December 2007

Following the annual scholarly meeting, with papers by President Lucia Santaella ("Pervasive Semiosis") and Essay Contest winner Daniel McKaughan ("From Ugly Duckling to Swan: C. S. Peirce, Abduction, and the Pursuit of Scientific Theories"), President Santaella called the meeting to order shortly after 6pm at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

1. 1. Peter Hare reported on the health of Richard Robin, and a moment of silence was taken to remember Joann Robin, his wife, who died this fall.

2. 2. The minutes of the 2006 meeting, published in the summer 2007 issue of the Transactions, were approved.

3. 3. Lucia Santaella delivered the following report from the President and the Executive Committee:

   The Executive Committee met in the morning of December 28^th, from 7:30–9:30 a.m. The members present at the meeting were Nathan Houser, Peter Hare, Lucia Santaella, Jaime Nubiola, and Rosa Mayorga.

   The first subject to be discussed concerned three additions to the statement of eligibility in next year's contest announcement, namely: 1) entries from students who have not begun their graduate training will not be considered; 2) joint submissions are allowed provided that all the authors satisfy the eligibility requirements; and 3) including notes, papers should have between 6,000 and 10,000 words.

   The second subject concerned the 2014 Peirce Conference. In 2006, the Executive Committee chose Indianapolis as the place for the conference and André de Tienne as the Chair of the Organizing Committee. He has reported that (1) talks were underway to constitute the international membership of the organizational committee; (2) plans were being made to set up a local arrangement committee, as well as an honorary committee; (3) budgetary projections were being calculated in order to account, inflation included, for the cost of organizing, fundraising, and holding the event. The size of the event has not been projected yet, as that depends on several fluctuating variables. Issues to be resolved over the coming year include, besides, the selection of an optimal week for holding the event (taking into account the various academic calendars in different countries), the beginning of negotiations for a venue in Indianapolis (knowing that by 2014 at least two major hotels will have been opened downtown that do not exist yet), and a general programming plan that will allow the committee to target and commit a number of specialized scholars to the organization of major segments of the program.

   The Executive Committee was informed that Thomas Short has indicated that the C. S. Peirce Society can use the Peirce Foundation (of which he is President) to keep funds raised for the 2014 Conference.

   The Committee decided to ask the Secretary-Treasurer, Robert Lane, to begin preparing procedural guidelines for conducting the Society Business.

   The Vice-President, Jaime Nubiola, proposed a Committee of Delegated Members from Societies and Groups dedicated to Peirce Studies outside the United States. As President, Jaime Nubiola will consult the International Groups for the indication of delegates to constitute this Committee.

   Following a proposal of Rosa Mayorga, Jaime Nubiola will also consult the Secretary-Treasurer about the viability of having a blog with news and reports about Peirce studies and conferences around the world dedicated to Peirce's work. The International Committee would be in charge of sending information to the person in charge of the blog.

4. 4. Peter Hare delivered the following report for the Transactions:

   Good things happened this year. Our print subscriptions increased only modestly, but electronic use of the journal through Inscribe and Project Muse grew impressively. In future, as more and more content is under Indiana University Press copyright, the Press expects revenues from those sources to continue to increase. Most important, earlier this month in an Addendum to our original agreement (signed three years ago), the Press agreed to require no longer an annual publication subsidy. However, for the financial health of the Society it is imperative that we increase the number of sustaining subscriptions. Revenues from each sustaining subscription over and above the amount of a regular subscription go into the Society's treasury for support of the...