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APSA Council Meeting Final Minutes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2004

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PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , October 2003, pp. 891 - 902
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© 2003 by the American Political Science Association

Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Saturday, April 5, 2003, Chicago, Illinois, 9:30–4:00PM

Present: Theda Skocpol (president), Susanne Rudolph (presidentelect), Susan Clarke, Jennifer Hochschild, Robert Kaufman, Francis Hagopian, Henry Brady, Kirstie McClure, Marsha Posusney, Wilbur Rich, Peter Katzenstein, Jack Snyder, Steve Macedo, Gary Segura, Jeff Spinner-Halev, Margaret Levi, Margaret Weir, Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Jim Scott, Michael Brintnall

Not Attending: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Desiree Pedescleaux, Lee Sigelman, Nancy Burns, Michael Dawson, Martha Crenshaw, Larry Dodd

Guests: Kent Brudney, Larry Jacobs

Staff: Rob Hauck, Linda Lopez, Bahram Rajaee, Robin Smith, Rebecca Odum

I. Introduction of the Council and Welcome from President Theda Skocpol

President Theda Skocpol began by commenting on the continued progress of the Association and cited such examples as the new journal, Perspectives on Politics, and the various task forces. Through her travels to the regional associations, she noted that people are aware of what the Association is doing and are pleased. She also commented on the distinctive profiles and cultures that exist within the regional associations which present broader options for the Association's relationships with them. She recognized the Association for its role in the release of Dr. Ibrahim, the political prisoner held captive in Egypt, by contributing to the momentum of that outcome. Also, she noted that compared to other associations, APSA is the only one whose membership is growing. However, the Association is not without its budget challenges which will need to be met responsibly.

II. Report of the Executive Director

Executive Director Michael Brintnall introduced new staff members, Bahram Rajaee, Director of Institutional and Research Support and Robin Smith, Director of Finance and Administration, who represent two central positions for the national office. He also noted Sheilah Mann's retirement after a distinguished career with APSA. The Council expressed their appreciation to Sheilah Mann through a round of applause.

Brintnall highlighted APSA's new project and program activities including new directions for the Congressional Fellowship Program, data collection changes, the preprint paper server which will involve partnerships with international and regional associations, the community college consortium, and outreach to other associations, such as AAUP and COSSA. Also, he mentioned renovation plans for the building which are scheduled to begin in the summer months for flooring improvements and the Centennial Center. Brintnall ended his report by noting that overall the Association is quite sound, due in large part to the committed energies of the membership.

III. Discussion of Council Working Groups

Work and Family Issues

Members of this working group include Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Jeff Spinner-Halev, Fran Hagopian, and Jack Snyder. The group discussed the possibility of conducting two surveys, one of department chairs and the other of female assistant professors. The group noted that once a statement of best practices is developed, the information would be posted on the web for graduate students and chairs. They also stated this information would be shared and collaborated with other associations.

Some of the main issues addressed by the group will be field study and the tenure clock, and the options that exist for faculty. They noted that faculty with children have difficulty doing field work because of the lack of funding for shortterm study. They highlighted the °-speed tenure clock option in which faculty with children under nine can work half-time for half-pay and their tenure clock proceeds at half-speed. They noted that this option is not often put to use because of the department culture and the need to work full-time.

Council members offered information on the existence of data collected by the Southern Political Science Association's Women's Status Committee from female assistant professors on family-friendly policies. Council also encouraged the group to survey men as well as women because of the relative data they could provide.

The group indicated the survey of chairs would occur on a one-time basis and accompany the departmental survey as either a separate survey or within the survey itself. The group preferred it to be a part of the actual departmental survey. However, the memo from the Departmental Services Committee states that additional survey questions should be a separate survey. Staff noted this could be changed because the entire survey process is changing. Council suggested the second survey be conducted at low-cost, possibly through email or focus groups at the Annual Meeting.

Council Action: Council unanimously supported the group's recommendation to have the working group's survey of chairs included in the Annual Survey of Political Science Departments on a one-time basis.

The Council also asked the group to draft a concrete proposal for the August meeting on a statement from APSA regarding field study.

Public Presence

Members of this working group include Margaret Levi, Christian Davenport, Peter Katzenstein, Robert Kaufman, James Scott, Henry Brady, and Gary Segura. The group clarified its mission of supporting the work of the Task Forces and developing a strategy for supporting individual political scientists. The group suggested one way to do this would be to teach political scientists how to write op eds and provide information on getting them published. The group asked for feedback from the Council on how to proceed.

Council suggested offering short courses on op ed writing and using PS as a forum for models and exemplars of successful contact. Council also stressed that public presence is not just public relations, but public participation and encouraging political scientists to take a more participatory role in such things as policy and local planning committees.

Council members also suggested more non-political scientists be solicited to submit papers to Perspectives and encourage political scientists to write for a broader audience. Council was asked to send ideas to the group via email.

Political Scientists in Non-Ph.D.-Granting Institutions

Members of this working group include Larry Dodd, Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Kirstie McClure, Desiree Pedescleaux, Wilbur Rich, and Marsha Pripstein Posusney. The group announced plans for a reception at the Annual Meeting for small colleges and indicated publicity is needed for this endeavor. The purpose will be to link graduate students and faculty from non-Ph.D.-granting institutions for a paper reading exchange and a chance to network, which might also be of interest to the Mentoring Task Force. The reception will be a chance to collect information on their thoughts about the Association and what additional services they would like see provided for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions.

Council members suggested also holding forums at state and regional meetings where more small college faculties participate. Community college faculty were also mentioned as being interested in this endeavor because of the increasing number of Ph.D.s on faculty. However, attention needs to be paid to the approach because of the difference in the structure of community colleges. Most community colleges have no named political science departments. Also, community colleges are tied closely to their communities, so the working group should look to them for ways to get involved in the public arena.

The group noted the need to identify priorities, such as developing relationships with the Mentoring Task Force, the teaching conference, and community college initiatives.

Applied Political Scientists

Members of this working group include Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Susan Clarke, and Martha Crenshaw. The group recognized the challenge it faces in trying to connect with this illusive constituency and suggested several ideas. One would be to use PS to report on activities of people working outside core institutions. Another is to make the Annual meeting more interesting to them by providing tailored panels and pre-conference workshops. Also, APSA could encourage graduate training that signals other opportunities for political scientists.

IV. Governance Issues

Business Meeting Rules

As mandated by APSA's Constitution, a draft of the updated Business Meeting Rules was posted on the web for member comment for a period of thirty days. After such time, the Council was asked to approve the changes, including any comments from members. Proposed updates were non-year specific references and changes in dates to reflect revised publication schedules.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the updates to the Business Meeting Rules.

By-Laws

APSA staff proposed amending the bylaws to clarify the definition of the Council to include the editor of Perspectives on Politics as a member and interpret the term “mail ballots” to mean “email ballots” as well.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved amending the by-laws to clarify the interpretation of the Council to include the editor of Perspectives on Politics and “mail ballots” to include “email ballots.”

Council asked for an explanation of what is meant by personal signatures required for resolutions. The Executive Director responded that the formal interpretation of the requirement is an original hand-written signature or authenticated facsimile. Council discussed the possibility of allowing an email signature if the email complied with certain standards such as:

  • ·the member number was included
  • ·the endorsement was explicit in the email
  • ·the email address could be authenticated
  • ·only one individual per email (as opposed to one email with a list of names)

Council agreed that the Rules Committee would put together a proposal on the procedures for accepting email as signatures including who would do the authenticating.

All-Member Ballot

The issue before the Council regarding all member elections was a discussion of the possible options for setting up an allmember ballot. The in-house option cost could be between $10-15K to set up, then $2-3K of staff time. If a third party were to observe the election, the charge would be an hourly rate as needed in addition to set-up costs.

Council stressed the need to keep in mind the election tool would have to allow for majority preference voting as well. The issue of low turn out was also mentioned. In addition to being transparent and accountable, the method would need to be cheap and easy to maximize turn out. Some Council members expressed the concern that this issue has gotten this far because it would result in APSA funds being allocated to this over more productive programs. Council asked staff to retrieve data on the voter turn-out for email ballots from other associations. Council also expressed their trust in the staff to be able to create a system, with perhaps the Arbitration Association in the background to ensure accountability if deemed necessary. However, some Council members expressed a concern that the appeals mechanism might add substantial expense to the already high cost of creating an all-member ballot system.

Council president asked the elections committee to take up this issue and have a proposal for Council by the August meeting or an informed email for the Council to vote on before then.

Resolutions

Two resolutions were addressed by the Council, one on Iraq and the other on free higher education. Council was asked to approve the formal resolution proposed by the New Political Science Section regarding Iraq. The Administrative committee recommended the resolution on Iraq be ruled unconstitutional. In discussing this, Council members acknowledged the issue is an area of public concern and encouraged the Program Committee to establish a Hyde Park session on the topic at the Annual Meeting. The resolution on free higher education was not a formal resolution, so did not require Council action.

Council Action: Council unanimously ruled the Resolution on Iraq unconstitutional, but stressed the importance of academic freedom on such issues especially in a time of war. To further that, Council asked the Program Committee to include a Hyde Park session on this issue at the Annual Meeting.

With regard to the proposed resolution regarding free higher education, Council was divided on whether or not it should be ruled unconstitutional were it submitted officially. As it was written, some Council members felt the resolution had nothing explicitly to do with political science. However, it did have to do with higher education which is an APSA concern, so for this reason some Council members felt it could not be ruled out of order automatically. On the other hand, the issue did not have anything to do with APSA's direct purpose, so other Council members felt it fell below the bar.

At this point, however, the Council was not asked to debate the resolution substantively. The purpose of the discussion was to bring the resolution to the Council's attention and once it was sent formally, the Council would need to determine whether or not the Resolution fell within the bounds of the APSA Constitution. If determined constitutional, the resolution would need to be published in the July issue of PS, then voted on at the Annual Business Meeting.

V. Update on Council Initiatives

Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy

Chair, Larry Jacobs, reported on the progress of this task force. The task force has had two meetings, one in the fall and one in January with the purpose of moving forward several projects, such as streamlined and thematic reports to a broad audience including:

  • ·public presentations and media briefings
  • ·a scholarly book of organized research with critical reviews
  • ·information to post on the web, such as a set of materials for high school and undergraduate curriculum

The task force expected to have a report to the Council in one year. There will be an opportunity for open discussion with membership at the Annual Meeting.

Task Force on Mentoring

Linda Lopez reported on behalf of the Task Force on Mentoring and announced the task force's sponsorship of a panel and reception at the Annual Meeting. She indicated that current outreach efforts of the task force are focused on identifying mentees. The task force is also pursuing the possibility of publishing columns in PS on mentoring issues and receiving external funding.

Council expressed concern that identifying mentees would be difficult because potential mentees don't necessarily know they need a mentor. Information on when one would need a mentor would be helpful as well as proactive steps to reach out to graduate students. Council suggested a good resource for identifying possible mentees might be department chairs. In addition, the Council suggested switching the focus from mentoring to forging professional relationships and using terminology such as “network” and “professional skills.” Linda Lopez added that at this time the task force has not defined the relationship between the mentor and mentee, but will draw upon the experiences from other associations as guidance.

Task Force on Graduate Education

APSA President Theda Skocpol announced the Task Force on Graduate Education is now being co-chaired by Chris Achen and Rogers Smith. A draft of the proposal by the task force was included in the Council Book. The task force will have a panel and the formal proposal at the Annual Meeting in August. Council members suggested the task force focus on length of time for a degree and family-friendly issues, and not just getting Ph.D.s. Council suggested possibly adopting corporate standards, or perhaps, if that is not possible, offering alternative practices which would include statements about issues and various models that could be considered during departmental reviews.

Committee on Civic Education and Engagement

Stephen Macedo provided an update on the Civic Education and Engagement Committee. He indicated the focus of the committee at this time is on public institutions. The committee assembled three panels for the Midwest meeting and will have three panels at the Annual Meeting in August. Macedo indicated a report will be provided by September 2004 and he welcomed any comments or suggestions from the Council. Council asked whether or not funding for the committee projects would be an action item for the Council. Macedo indicated that the committee is looking to external funding primarily.

VI. Annual Meeting and Journal Reports

APSR Editors Report

Michael Brintnall reported on behalf of Lee Sigelman, editor of APSR, that everything is going well and submissions are increasing. He posed a question to the Council regarding the prospect of issuing press releases. Council responded this would be suitable if editors put a caveat at the end of the article indicating the opinions in the article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of APSA. Members of the Council also expressed their appreciation to Lee Sigelman for his hard work and dedication to the quality and diversity of each journal.

Perspectives on Politics Editors Report

Jennifer Hochschild, editor of Perspectives on Politics, reported on the status of the new APSA flagship journal and distributed a written report. The first issue of the journal was released in March. The book reviews from APSR are now appearing in Perspectives. The five associate editors from different fields do a strong amount of soliciting outside American politics. As standard practice, a high premium is placed on good writing and as a result, many papers are turned down at first review. However, the authors are offered a detailed explanation of the reasons for the rejection and feedback on how to approach the topic differently. They are then encouraged to resubmit. Acceptance rate is high after the second review. Council expressed their appreciation to Jennifer for the success of the first issue. Some members indicated a concern for the journal being viewed as a peer review journal, which is not necessarily the case, and suggested that perhaps the process should be explained in the journal.

Centennial Initiatives for Annual Meeting

Deputy Director Rob Hauck reported on Centennial Initiatives for the Annual Meeting and highlighted the new schedule and theme panels. New this year is the schedule which has been arranged to accommodate plenary sessions during the middle of the day that do not conflict with paper panels. With regard to Centennial initiatives, there will be 24 theme panels offering distinguished public speakers, new receptions, and a dinner honoring past presidents, one of which will be Pendleton Herring, who is celebrating his centennial along with APSA. Funding is being sought for these events from such sponsors as Policy Studies, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Tulane University (the Association was founded in New Orleans).

VII. Update on APSA Programs

Centennial Center

Deputy Director Rob Hauck reported on the status of the Centennial Center. Among the items he reported was the fact the tenant currently housed on the 3rd floor is moving out sooner than expected which means construction can begin on the Center a little earlier. At the moment, there are eight endowed fellowships, 32 applications, and a full house is expected in September.

Hauck also proposed the creation of a nine-person advisory board to oversee the center. An additional Honorary Board of Trustees would support the Center's strategic plans and activities. The Council president conveyed the Administrative Committee's recommendation to adopt the proposal. In addition, Hauck asked the Council to approve the expansion of the name of the Centennial Center to the “Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs” to emphasize the Center's broad public policy reach.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the creation of both boards and the expansion of the name of the Centennial Center.

Discussion on Minority Fellowships

The task force assigned to developing an allocation scheme for the Minority ID project highlighted the proposal in the Council Book which recommended a fairly flexible funding schedule that best meets the individual needs of the students. The fellows would be allowed to withdraw as early as possible a maximum of $1,000 for relocation expenses if needed, then allowed to withdraw the remaining portion of their award in installments of up to $2,000 as needed at specified points in their academic program. It is assumed the students would have to show satisfactory academic progress to qualify for the later installments. This schedule, the task force emphasized, grants flexibility to the students, but at the same time allows APSA to maintain control.

In general, the Council approved the allocation scheme, but also expressed the importance of being able to track the students after they receive the scholarship for help in promoting the program and APSA.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the allocation scheme proposed by the task force assigned to the Minority Identification project.

APAC Proposal

The Council was asked to vote on the APAC Proposal to establish a status committee for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Political Science by the Asian Pacific American Caucus. Council members speaking on behalf of the proposal stated the group would be open to anyone who self-identifies as Asian. Also, the purpose of the committee would be to ascertain the extent of the underrepresentation of certain groups of disadvantaged Asian Pacific Americans and to devise strategies to increase their involvement in political science. In addition, the committee would work with APSA to help build a more systematic agenda in both research and teaching that recognizes the significance of Asian Pacific Americans in political science. Council stated the committee would be identical to other status committees in terms of budget and APSA recognition.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the proposal of APAC to create a new status committee for Asian Pacific Islanders in Political Science.

Departmental Services and Personnel Services Program Changes

Michael Brintnall discussed the recent changes to the Personnel Service Newsletter (PSN) and the issues that led to a proposal to realign the Departmental Services Program (DSP) dues structure. Brintnall highlighted the fact that PSN is now completely online, subscription fees have been removed, and is available realtime to all members.

As a result, job listings placed by departments are now reaching a much broader audience and Brintnall stressed the importance of reassessing the value of these listings. It has been determined that across departments of all sizes, a program tends to list one ad/month for each of its faculty members. Thus, a program with 25 faculty will tend to list a bit over 8 ads/month (e.g. two ads for four months). At a conservative valuation per ad month, this is equivalent to $1,200 worth of advertising. At the moment, APSA is charging the larger graduate programs $715 in dues. In order to align DSP dues more closely with the value of the job listings services, staff proposed an incremental dues increase for all department types over the next four years.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved changes to PSN online making it accessible and free to all members, and the new dues structure for the Departmental Services Program.

Conference on Teaching and Learning in Political Science

Linda Lopez discussed the progress of the APSA Conference on Teaching and Learning in Political Science and referenced the proposal in the Council book that described the program's goals, design, leadership structure, cost, hosting institutions, funding sources, workplan, and dissemination. In light of the structure that is now in place, Council was asked to consider a 5% draw from the “Board Designated Fund” to proceed with this initiative.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved of a 5% draw from the “Board Designated Fund” for the purpose of funding the critical first steps of the Teaching Conference initiative.

Organized Section Issues

Council was asked to approve the formation of a new Organized Section for Qualitative Methods. As the proposal in the Council book indicated, the goal of the section is to give increased attention to the distinctive contributions of qualitative methods and initiatives aimed at bridging alternative methodologies and the section requires contribution and collaboration with the existing APSA Organized Section for Political Methodology.

Council expressed some concern about approving more new sections and raised the question of adopting sunset laws. The Council president recognized this as a legitimate concern and suggested it as a possible charge for a task force to investigate.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the creation of the new Organized Section on Qualitative Methods.

Co-Sponsored Journal with PSO

Council was also asked to consider the proposal from the Public Policy Section on co-producing a journal with the Policy Studies Organization (PSO). The proposal referenced in the Council book indicated the purpose of co-producing a journal with the Policy Studies Organization is to help improve the quality of the journal by attracting the qualified members of the section to contribute and at the same time the section would be able to use PSO's existing subscription base. Council supported the plan, but wanted to ensure certain questions, such as who has editorial responsibilities and if legal council had been consulted, are answered.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the co-publication of the Policy Studies Journal by the Public Policy Section.

Change in Start/End Dates for Standing Committees

Council was asked to approve changing the start and end dates for both standing and award committees, with the exception of the Trust and Development Committee whose terms are set in the Constitution, to September 1–August 31. The purpose of this change would be to align the start/end dates with the Council dates and to provide an opportunity for committees to meet during the Annual Meeting.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved of modifying the start and end dates of the standing and award Committees to September 1–August 31, excluding the Trust and Development Committee.

Research Support Committee

Council was asked to support a proposal to reorganize the Research Support Committee by replacing it with a Research Advisory Board comprised of APSA representatives to COSSA, SSRC, NCH, AAAS, and ACLS. As indicated in the proposal referenced in the Council Book, the president would name the Board chair and the Executive Director would serve as an ex officio member. This Board would gather at the annual meeting, and confer by email and conference call one or more times a year, to compare information from their associations and identify common themes and issues facing research issues in political science. The Board would then advise the Council on appropriate actions.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the reorganization of the Research Support Committee to a Research Advisory Board.

VIII. Items for Approval

The following items were unanimously approved by the Council:

August 28, 2002 Council Minutes

August 31, 2002 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

2004 Annual Meeting Committee

New APSA Logo

Small Research Grant Finalists

Review of Decisions since August 28 Meeting

IX. Report of Treasurer

Treasurer Robert Kaufman expressed appreciation to Laura Tyson for her hard work as APSA's director of finance and administration and welcomed Robin Smith into that role. Kaufman highlighted endowment values which have been reduced due to current economic conditions and indicated a concern for the cumulative effect these values could have on future funding commitments. He announced the T&D Committee meeting in the spring and notified the Council that a modified budget would be presented in August.

The actions before the Council were to approve the 5% dues increase, the FY02–03 budget, the audit, and any adjustments to the budget as a result of actions by the Council.

Council Action: Council unanimously approved the dues increase, FY02–03budget, audit, and adjustments to the budget in light of the creation of a new status committee on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Political Science.

X. New Business

Michael Brintnall introduced a proposal for APSA to assume administrative responsibility for the National Capital Area Political Science Association (NCAPSA) in a manner analogous to the support APSA provides organized sections, and to accept a gift to APSA from Walter Beach for the establishment of an APSA fund in support of NCAPSA. The Council approved this action.

XI. Meeting Adjournment

President Theda Skocpol thanked everyone for a successful meeting and called the meeting to an end at 4:00PM.