Minutes of The Secolas Executive Council Meeting

MINUTES OF THE SECOLAS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING Thursday, April 6,2006 In the Mint 1 Room at the Charlotte Holiday Inn Center City President Murdo MacLeod called the meeting to order at approximately 4pm. In attendance were President Murdo MacLeod, President-Elect Stephen Morris, The Latin Arnevicanist editor Bruce Wilson, ExecutiveCouncil members Gregory Crider and Jimmy Huck, immediate past-Presidents Isabel Brown and Thomas Schoonover, and invited SECOLASmembers Richmond Brown and Jurgen Buchenau, who was also this year‘s Local Arrangements Chair. Paula Heusinkveld, the third Executive Council member arrived late. Absent were Secretary/Treasurer YvonneUnnold and SECOLAS Aniinls editor Nancy Shumaker. President MacLeod started the meeting by providing a meeting agenda to all attendees. Jurgen Buchenau then gave the Secretary/Treasurer report. The Secretary/ Treasurer’s report on the current state of SECOLAS finances was presented in a detailed spreadsheet. Jurgen then discussed the decline in the SECOLAS membership rolls, noting that we seem to be finally turning a corner and once again are witnessing a slight increase in memberships. The Secretary/ Treasurer’s report was accepted, without discussion, by acclamation by the Council. No report was provided on the SECOLAS Annals. Next, Bruce Wilson provided a report on The Latin Americanist. Bruce commented that the current edition of the journal is in the final stages of production and should be available for distribution shortly. He also discussed problems with planning the publication timeline due to the irresponsiveness of authors who were asked to revise and resubmit their articles. The main issue regarding the journal, however, concerned the end of Bruce Wilson’s tenure as editor and the transition of the journal’s publication and editorial duties away from Bruce and the University of Central Florida to its successor. The Council accepted Bruce’s report by acclamation and thanked him for his work on the journal and his service to SECOLASin his capacity as editor. Immediately following Bruce’sreport, Jurgen Buchenau presented a proposal, co-sponsored by Greg Crider, for the University of North Carolina - Charlotte and Wingate University to assume joint responsibilities for the editing and publishing of both The Latin Arnericanist and the SECOLAS Annals, as well as to house the SECOLASSecretariat for the period 2006-2009. Jurgen provided a detailed written memorandum to this effect and discussed the staffing and budget of various parts of the proposal. The proposal nominated Dr. The Latin Americanist, Spring 2007 Gregory Weeks, Associate Professor of Political Science at UNC Charlotte, as the editor of Tlze Latin Americanist, and Greg and Jurgen as co-editors of the SECOLAS Annals. Based upon Jurgen’s presentation and clarification of various related issues and questions, the staffing and budget elements of the written proposal were accepted with the striking of one sentence in the proposal that addressed the potential need to collect additional revenues to support the publication and distribution of the journal should the SECOLAS membership rolls increase to above 150. Based on Steve Morris’s suggestions, the Council decided that, should the need arise, any surplus funds generated by the annual meeting be allocated to the costs of publishing and distributing thejournal and that, if necessary,funds in the SECOLASsavings account could also be used for such purposes. The budget will be reevaluated on a yearly basis to determine if any additional financial measures need to be taken to support SECOLAS’scommitment to maintaining its important publications. The Council also discussed the possibility of merging the SECOLAS Annals with The Latiii Ainericanist by making the Annals one of the three issues of The Latin Americanist, though retaining the function of the Annals to publish works exclusively presented at the Annual Conference. This change will require a modification of the SECOLASby-laws, and Steve Morris volunteered to work on crafting an amendment to the by-laws accordingly. Following this discussions, in accordance with SECOLAS by-laws, a series of motions were made on each of the individual parts of the proposal for Council vote. First, Steve Morris moved to vote on approving the proposal submitted by Jurgen Buchenau and Gregory Crider regarding the editorship of the SECOLAS Annals. Isabel Brown seconded the motion, which received a unanimous vote of approval by the Council...