Convention Notes — From the Editor

Convention Notes — From the Editor Procedures and policies seem to have a way of moving out of sight and out of mind for some of us who have been long-time RMMLA members and perhaps never have moved in sight for new members. Consequently, at its April 19, 1986, meeting, the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Executive Board decided that it might be a good idea to inform or re-inform the membership of some of the procedures and policies that have been approved by past and present Boards and are to be in effect at the annual convention. We hope that the following will take care of questions and problems that have come up at other conventions. If not, please see item five, below. 1 . ELECTIONS. Election of the person to serve as section secretary at the next year's convention, and chair of the section two years hence should be conducted at the end of a session. Selection should be made from among those who have presented papers in that session. Only audience members who have heard all of the papers are eligible to vote. It is the responsibility of the section chair and the secretary to insure that these guidelines are followed. Though it is not required, often the section secretary will come provided with ballots listing the names of the panelists and will take care of the election after the chair has moderated the panel presentations themselves. 2.OBSERVING TIME LIMITATIONS. It is the responsibility first of the paper presenters and second of the section chair to make sure that no reader exceeds the allotted time. It is the prerogative, even the obligation, of the chair to stop a reader who goes over time, so that later presenters are not deprived of the time allotted to them. Section chairs should inform their panels well in advance of the exact amount of time to be given to each paper, depending on how many papers are being presented and on how much time, if any, the section chair wishes to allow for discussion. 3.SPLITTING SECTIONS. At the April 19 meeting, the Board acknowledged that one sign of good health in our organization is the growing number of requests for special sessions and for splitting sections because a chair has received a large number of outstanding papers. This sign of health has, however, led to problems in scheduling. Consequently, the Board decided that it would not entertain future requests to split sessions, but would consider a second session resulting from an abundance of good things, // the extra papers could be joined in a proposal for a special session with a thematic or other link different from that of the "parent" session. (See item four below, regarding proposals for special sessions.) Otherwise the section chair will have to undertake the task of culling the very very best, from the best. 4.PROPOSING SPECIAL SECTIONS. In order to meet the increasing needs of the membership for more special sections at the annual meeting, we are making available the following guidelines for those proposing special sections. 127 Special sections afford the membership the opportunity for an exchange of ideas on specific topics of limited scope. They differ from regular sections in two ways: (1) they are initiated and organized by individual members who propose a specific agenda; (2) they must be approved by the Executive Board each year. Because special sections are highly specialized, their topics may vary considerably from year to year according to the changing interests of the membership. Means of organizing a special section such as issuing a call for papers on a topic or gathering together members working on a special topic are the responsibility of the person proposing a section. Members who wish to organize a special section generally should follow the criteria for MLA Special Sessions [see PMLA, 98 (Sept. 1983), 484-87] and adhere to the following guidelines: A.A proposal for a special section should reach the Executive Director by March 15 of the year for which it is proposed. B.A proposal for a special section should include: (a) the title of the section , (b) a precise description and rationale for the...