Editorial Board and Annual Business Meeting Immigration and Ethnic History Society March 31, 2007
John Bukowczyk, editor of the Journal of American Ethnic History,
announced that in the future he would schedule a separate meeting of the JAEH Editorial Board. President
Ron Bayor opened the Annual Meeting of the IEHS at
5:30 p.m. He asked for approval of the
2006 IEHS Minutes. Elliott Barkan moved to delete a sentence that was not presented
to the President. Secretary Bergland
reported that the bracketed sentence was added to inform the membership of
the fact and reason for June Alexander’s resignation from the Executive
Board. Lacking a second to the motion,
Bayor said, there would be “no action.” Bayor acknowledged and thanked the three
Executive Board members completing their term of appointment: Walter Kampoefner,
Yong Chen, Victor Greene. John Bukowczyk, JAEH Editor, reported that individual and institutional
subscriptions have increased in 2006-2007 over last year (276/271 and
417/393, respectively), adding that total paid circulation increased from 685
to 710 over last year. This reversal
of trends represents the fruit of a membership campaign he and the Book
Review Editor, Madeline Hsu have pursued.
He added that he continues to operate without secretarial or student
assistance, but his support-package at The most significant development of the year, Bukowczyk reported, was the unexpected announcement in
mid-February, that Transaction, the long-time publisher of the JAEH, had sold its journal division to
Springer Publications. Thus, JAEH is looking for a new permanent
home. He expressed concern that the
journal will fall behind in its publication in the transition. He would seek a motion on empowering a
committee to continue researching options and reach a decision regarding the
journal, but he first fielded questions.
Suzanne Sinke asked if any proposals are
currently being considered; Bukowczyk stated they
were awaiting one from Johns Hopkins.
Donna Gabaccia asked when the decision was
to be made; ”soon,” he responded. Gabaccia noted
that financial arrangements differ enormously from press to press with
implications for subscriptions and fees, so it is important to “get
this right.” Bukowczyk
noted that dues were raised significantly last year, so there should be
minimal impact for members, adding, the Journal is “in the
black.” Victor Greene asked if a
lawyer had been consulted; Bukowczyk answered that
lengthy discussions occurred with editors, but a lawyer had not been
consulted. Bukowczyk then moved that the IEHS membership
vote “to empower a special committee consisting of the IEHS President,
the JAEH Editor, the immediate past
president, and the current vice-president/president-elect to conduct all
necessary business pursuant to concluding new publication arrangements for
the journal, in consultation with and subject to the approval of the
Executive Board.” Greene
seconded the motion. A discussion
followed. Paul Spickard
asked what exactly the Executive Board would do. Bayor proposed
that the Committee would send out proposals from presses to the EB for
consideration. Bukowczyk
noted that the news was a “bombshell,” that he had been in
conversation with Transaction two days prior and there was no indication of
the pending sale. A question was asked
regarding on-line publications. Bukowczyk noted that he had to learn a great deal more
about the technical aspects of mounting the JAEH online. This aspect
of journal publishing is both expensive and technically complicated and we
lack the sophisticated expertise and language to discuss this in an open
forum in any meaningful way. Scott
Wong asked if on-line publication only was being considered; Bukowczyk replied that JAEH would never be an on-line only publication. Rather, he was sending copies of the
Journal to potential presses; the intent was to keep the Journal the same,
down to the color and size. Bayor requested a vote on the motion. Sinke requested
that Duke be considered. Barkan noted that the Incorporation Papers were handled
in conjunction with the IHRC and asked if the Betty Bergland gave the Secretary’s Report, announcing
the results of the election for the Executive Board, based on the submission
of seventy-five ballots. Three new
members were elected-- Eiichiro Azuma, Maria Cristinia Garcia and Diane Vecchio. They will serve a three-year term from
2007-2010. Bergland thanked the
Nominating Committee for their work, especially its chair, Paul Spickard. She also
thanked those that agreed to run in the election. Treasurer, Eric Arnesen submitted
his Report, noting that this was his first (partial) year as Treasurer and
that it was not a busy year. The
current account balance in the IEHS Account is $2, 468. Jim Bergquist, editor of the IEHS Newsletter, reported that the Newsletter is submitted twice a year
(May and November) and there are currently 748 subscribers. The cost of printing and mailing the last
issue was $581. The editor is always
interested in ideas for the cover article, usually one focused on
historiography or pedagogy. Vice-President and Program Committee Chair Barbara Posadas
reported on the work of the Program Committee (Nora Faires,
Maria Christina Garcia, Stephen J. Gross, Violet Johnson, Raymond A. Mohl, and K. Scott Wong). She thanked, especially, Nora Faires for her work in assembling one of the panels. Three panels have been submitted to the AHA
for the January 2008 meeting, and two panels were assembled for the OAH
Annual Meeting in March 2008 in Ron Bayor announced the Theodore
Saloutos Book Award for 2006 given to Eric Goldstein and the Pozzetta Dissertation Award granted to Rachel Kranson. John Bukowczyk
announced recipients of the Qualey Award--James
Barrett and David Roediger. The John Higham
Travel recipients are Eric Schlereth, Stephen Mak, and Maddalena Marinari. (See
separate section in the Newsletter
for details.) Turning to
Old Business, Ron Bayor addressed the issue of
pairing candidates on ballots for the Executive Board. He noted that Suzanne Sinke raised the issue after last year’s meeting
and the Nominating Committee discussed the issue this year. Sinke argued the
purpose of pairing was to address gaps on the Executive Board, to attract
people not currently represented, and to cultivate a more diverse group of
people in the Society. Categories to
address these issues, she believed, should be decided by the Nominating
Committee. Gabaccia
noted that OAH currently pairs ballots, using categories of scholarly fields,
gender and race. Spickard
stated that the idea of pairing ballots was not shared by everyone and that
younger scholars reportedly love the journal but wonder how they fit into the
Society. The idea then is to recruit
new members among a younger generation of scholars. A suggestion was made that since much more
discussion is required, the Executive Board discuss
this and report at the next Annual Meeting.
Nora Faires, an immediate past member of the
Nominating Committee, stated individuals were happy when contacted to serve
on the EB, especially those less visible in the Society; however, she noted
that pairing may not be the way to address the issue of expanding membership,
and we need to make more of an effort than we have in the past. She added
that as a former chair of the nominating committee for the Social Science History
Association she had a positive experience with pairing candidates. Paul Spickard made the following
motion (roughly formulated; precise language emailed): “The Nominating Committee will
present six candidates to stand for election to the Board. The committee will arrange those candidates
in three pairs according to principles of the committee’s choosing, so
as best to serve the needs of the Society and to insure that the voices of
diverse constituencies within the Society and in the larger fellowship of
scholars of immigration and ethnicity shall be represented.” Sinke seconded
the motion. Bukowcyzk
saluted the effort to broaden the membership, but suggested the entire
membership work toward that goal.
Bergland spoke against the motion, emphasizing the Society ‘s
long history of rejecting paired ballots—initially in 1979, in 1989
when the By-Laws were overhauled, and in 1997-98, when the Task Force
revisited the issue. The compelling
reasons raised in the past addressed practical and principled matters, she
noted, such as, who and how categories would be determined; the lack of the
depth in scholarly fields to do this effectively; concerns if the Committee
were unable to achieve a pairing; whether people would be informed of the
categories to which they were assigned; whether IEHS should ascribe
identities to members; and challenges to IEHS sustained practices. The discussion continued. It was noted that only 75 of 271
members voted, reflecting a low participation rate among members. Bayor added that
the Executive Board is already diverse and there has been an ongoing effort
to recruit. Greene added such efforts were made under the leadership of
Philip Gleason. Gabaccia
suggested that the diversity of the Executive Board should be used to recruit
and, also, that the perception and the reality of the organization needed to
change. Faires
proposed that the Society move away from thinking of the demographic profile
of the Executive Board and, rather, consider getting people from different
perspectives, different locations, and different points in their career. Maureen Nutting
stated she had recruited for the Journal among libraries, including junior
colleges, adding she was elected to the AHA Board as a result of pairing. Bukowczyk applauded such efforts. Greene noted that a good basis of pairing
was generational. Sinke
stated that because the Nominating Committee could not pair this year, it
could not address holes. Barkan noted that the Society has been aware of the issue
for some time and that we need to convince young scholars of the value of
membership. Kathy Conzen
raised the question about what IEHS membership meant, especially for younger
scholars. She felt the Journal was
most meaningful, but this is available on line; furthermore, activism in the
Society does not affect promotion.
Thus, she said, the Society might think about what we do as a Society,
in addition to the Journal. Roland Guyotte said he was impressed by the comments, but
distrustful of the motion as it stands and wondered if pairing worked for
OAH. He thought the issue should be
studied, since the Society does need to recruit. Bukowczyk
appreciated suspicions raised by the structure of the Nominating Committee,
adding if the Society sought to democratize, self-nomination should be an
option. Gabaccia
said the Urban History Society self-nominates. Bayor stated that
the motion could be tabled, or a small committee could be formed to study the
issue further. With no response, Bayor called for the question. The motion passed with
fourteen in favor and six opposed Bayor announced that the Executive Board
would discuss (through email) the proposals for the transfer of the JAEH.
The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Betty Bergland, IEHS Secretary
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