The Officers and Executive Committee met on Sunday, 5 May, in the Renoir Room of the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, VA, at 8:00 AM and continued deliberations until 4:45 PM. They reconvened on Monday, 6 May, from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM. Those attending were Frederick J. Newmeyer, President; Walt Wolfram, Past President; Ray Jackendoff, Vice President/President-Elect; Sally McConnell-Ginet, Secretary-Treasurer; Cynthia Clopper, Bloch Fellow; Stephen Anderson; Eve Clark; Michael Krauss; Donna Jo Napoli; John Ohala; and Sarah G. Thomason. Past President Janet Dean Fodor; Rebecca Wheeler; Donna Christian, President of the Center for Applied Linguistics; and Dennis Preston, Director of the 2003 Linguistic Institute, attended by invitation. Mary M. Niebuhr and Margaret W. Reynolds represented the LSA Secretariat.
President's Business
1. The Secretariat reported that the Society’s response to the National Council of Teachers of English grammar initiative had been well-received. Mr. Paul Bodmer, NCTE Associate Director, indicated that the changes and suggestions forwarded to NCTE would be incorporated in the final document that will be released at the NCTE Annual Meeting, 20-22 November 2002 in Atlanta.
2. The report of the Linguistics, Language and the Public Interest Award Committee was received with thanks. After discussion, the Executive Committee directed that the award guidelines be reviewed and voted to present the 2003 award to John Rickford (Stanford U) for his book (co-authored with Russell Rickford), Spoken Soul.
3. Linguist List was nominated and unanimously recommended for the 2003 Victoria A. Fromkin Prize.
Linguistic Institutes/ Cosponsored Summer Programs
1. Dennis Preston, Director of the 2003 Linguistic Institute, reported on plans for the Institute and provided the committee with copies of the Institute information to be published in the June 2002 LSA Bulletin. He noted that the University of Michigan had recently agreed to be a co-sponsor for the Institute.
2. The Secretariat reported on planning for the 2005 Institute. The committee asked that the organizers, Jay Jasanoff and Alec Marantz, be encouraged to attend the January 2003 meeting.
3. The letter of intent from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Colorado to host the 2007 Institute was received with thanks.
4. The committee reviewed the table of contents for the recently revised Guidelines for Linguistic Institute Directors and thanked Ivan Sag for his assistance in preparing this booklet. The Secretariat was urged to emphasize in the final draft that all Institute fees--including tuition, administrative, and Institute affiliate fees--require formal Executive Committee approval and that all faculty and administrators of the Institute who are in US Departments and Programs of Linguistics are expected to be members of the LSA.
5. The committee approved "Guidelines for Sign Language Interpreters at Linguistic Institutes and the Annual Meeting". [See June 2002 LSA Bulletin, page 23.] The committee noted with great appreciation David Perlmutter’s leadership in preparing these guidelines and approved a resolution of thanks to him and his ad hoc committee.
6. The report prepared by Dieter Stein, Director of the 2002 DGfS Summer Program, was accepted with thanks.
Publications
1. The report from the Editor of Language, Brian Joseph, was accepted with thanks. The committee approved his request that the number of Associate Editors be increased to 11. The Editor was asked to prepare the list of nominees for Associate Editor for the committee’s consideration in January.
2. The committee learned that the 75-year Index to LANGUAGE would be ready for press in late summer.
3. The report of the Web Advisory Committee was tabled until January 2003.
4. The report received from Project Muse noted that this year the Society had earned over $11,000 in royalties from Johns Hopkins University.
5. The Secretariat reported that JSTOR had been sent copies of all issues of Language and the LSA Bulletin. It is expected that a full run of 25 language and literature journals, including those of the LSA, will be available in late fall 2002 from the electronic full-text journal archive.
The State of the Discipline Projects
1. The Secretariat reported that three FAQs were out of print. The committee directed the Secretariat to reprint an appropriate number of these. In addition, the committee learned that John Rickford had agreed to prepare an FAQ on ebonics. Discussion continued on possible topics for additional FAQs. These included language vs dialect; how many languages are there in the world; animal communication vs human communication; and “primitive” languages.
2. Past President Janet Dean Fodor and Rebecca Wheeler reported on the LSA Video Archive Project. They noted that they had applied for a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, requested support from the LSA for another year, and asked that a Language Media Website Committee be appointed. The Executive Committee approved these requests.
3. Past President Fodor also reported on the Linguistic Enterprises project. She noted that she was no longer able to maintain the site in a timely manner and reported that Susan Steele was willing to assume this responsibility.
Committee, Delegate, and Secretariat Reports
l. The report of the Nominating Committee was received with thanks. Beth Levin was commended for her work as chair during 2002.
2. The reports from John Kingston, Chair of the Committee on Linguistics and the Undergraduate Curriculum; Sarah G. Thomason, LSA delegate to Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and the LSA Secretariat were accepted with thanks.
3. The report from the Committee on Committee and Delegate Appointments was accepted with thanks. After reviewing the number of submissions received in the Bloomfield competition and the subareas represented by those submissions, the Executive Committee approved a revised call for nominations for the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award. The Committee on Committees recommended, and the Executive Committee approved, the appointment of various members to serve on LSA committees and as delegates and liaisons. Further they noted that the name of the Linguistics, Language and the Public Interest Award was not particularly appropriate, but during the discussion, the Committee on Committees had been unable to suggest a replacement. The Executive Committee agreed that perhaps the name "Linguistics, Language and the Public Award" was an improvement.
Sister Organizations and Collaborative Projects
1. Materials from the Consortium of Social Science Associations, National Humanities Alliance (on Jefferson Day 2002), the Center for Applied Linguistics, the Coalition for National Science Funding, the Joint National Committee for Languages/National Council for Languages and International Studies, the National Museum for Language, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Research Council were received with thanks.
2. The Secretariat reported on plans for a special meeting of the Coalition on the Academic Workforce to be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in January 2003 in Seattle, WA.
3. In recognition of Phyllis Franklin’s long and distinguished service and leadership as Executive Director of the Modern Language Association, the committee approved a resolution of thanks to her as she retires. Further, the committee welcomed her successor, Rosemary Feal.
4. The committee adopted unanimously the American Association for the Advancement of Science resolution on freedom of speech. In endorsing the AAAS Council’s “Statement regarding the Smithsonian”, the committee approved adding “intellectual independence” to the last sentence. The Secretariat was asked to convey these actions and the text of the friendly amendment to the AAAS.
5. Michael Krauss, as the LSA liaison with the Volkswagen Documentation Project, reported that the first issue of the periodical was expected in June 2002. The Society had agreed earlier to send copies of this journal to Departments and Programs and to distribute copies at Linguistic Institutes, Summer Programs, and the Annual Meeting.
Secretary-Treasurer’s Business
1. The ballots sent to committee members since the January 2002 meeting were verified.
2. The committee received a report on the membership and noted the need for continued efforts to sustain and enlarge the Society’s member roster.
3. The Secretary-Treasurer reported on the following actions taken by the Finance Committee:
a. They voted unanimously to present the “Statement of Investment Policies and Guidelines” to the Executive Committee for approval.
b. After discussion of the possible uses of the draw down approved in January 2002, the Finance Committee determined that the following projects should be recommended to the Executive Committee: the Video Archive Project, the web renovation project, and the 75-year Index to LANGUAGE. They strongly suggested that there be some assessment of the usefulness of the Video Archive Project and that this evaluation be considered when considering future support.
c. They approved a gift of $100 to the American Council of Learned Societies in memory of John D’Arms.
d. They considered reducing various fees for emeritus members and determined after discussion to exempt such members from the proposed increase in meeting registration fees. Emeritus members would continue to pay $60.00/$70.00 in fees.
e. The use of funds contributed to the Membership Assistance Fund was amended to include not only unemployed linguists and scholars and institutions in countries with currency restrictions but linguists with other special needs as well.
f. They unanimously approved the following procedures to be observed by committees or individuals preparing grant proposals on behalf of the Linguistic Society:
"All grant proposals submitted on behalf of the Linguistic Society shall be forwarded to the LSA Secretariat, reviewed by the Finance Committee, and signed by the Secretary-Treasurer. The final version of each proposal including all the budget materials and everything else that is to accompany the application, must arrive at the Secretariat a minimum of two weeks before the proposal is due at the funding agency."
g. The reimbursement policy for members of the Executive Committee traveling to Committee meetings was amended to read:
"Members who stand for election to the Executive Committee agree to attend 6 committee meetings, 3 in the Washington, DC, area during early May and 3 at the Annual Meetings. The Society reimburses members for transportation to these meetings (at advance purchase economy rates, normally no more than $500) and provides per diem for the day(s) the committee meets. The Society is most grateful when Executive Committee members can find other sources to help defray transportation or accommodation expenses for these meetings."
h. The Finance Committee considered the proposed budget for 2002-03 and approved the budget with the following emendations:(1) A mailing/handling fee of $15.00 for US members and $25.00 for members with non-US addresses will be assessed on all current year dues received after 1 March.
(2) Dues payments from subscription agencies will be accepted only at the library and institutional rate.
(3) Presenters of papers at the LSA Annual Meeting will be required to register for the meeting. Preregistration and payment should accompany the short abstract and will be due by 15 October. If the fees are not received by that time, the paper may be withdrawn from the program.
(4) For the 2003 Annual Meeting, a new fee schedule for registration was adopted. [See p. .]
(5) The proposed budget for producing and mailing the 75-year Index to LANGUAGE was approved.
(6) The request from the Editor of Language that an honorarium of $500 be sent to the Associate Editors was approved.
(7) The honorarium awarded the Secretary-Treasurer will be increased to $5,000 per year beginning in 2004.
(8) The Committee approved naming Mary Niebuhr the Associate Executive Director.
The Executive Committee approved all the recommendations presented by the Finance Committtee.
Annual Meetings
1. The Secretariat reported on planning for the 2003 Annual Meeting to be held at the Atlanta Hilton, 2-5 January. After discussion, it was agreed that the LSA Officers would invite the Officers of the co-sponsoring societies to breakfast on Friday, 3 January.
[The full text of the minutes of this meeting are available on request from the LSA Secretariat.]
Future LSA Meetings
2004 Boston Sheraton 8-11 January
2005 San Francisco Hyatt 6-9 January
2006 Houston 5-8 January
2007 New York Hilton 4-7 January
2008 Chicago Hilton 3-6 January