The American
Schools of Oriental Research |
PRESENT: P.E. MacAllister, Chairman; Larry Geraty, President; Joe D. Seger, Douglas Clark, Executive Director; Ed Gilbert, Larry Herr for COP; Martha Sharp Joukowsky, Vice-President; Eric Cline for CAMP; Burton MacDonald for CAP; Eric M. Meyers, B.W. Ruffner for Finance; James F. Strange, Secretary; Billie Jean Collins, Publications Office; Holly Andrews, staff and Selma Omerefendic, staff
ABSENT: David Rosenstein
1. 1:00 pm: CTO—P.E. MacAllister
2. Approval of the Minutes of April 30, 2004 Executive Committee Meeting, J. Strange
BE IT RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as distributed. Moved by Eric Meyers. Seconded by Jim Strange. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. Report from the Chairman—P.E. MacAllister--Waived
4. Report from the President—L. Geraty
We have the $150,000 from the Leon Levy bequest, which was divided among AIAR, CAARI, and Sy Gitin's pottery volume (ACOR having declined their portion of the gift). CAMP has a lecture series to discuss. The Center Directors are interested in being placed on the lecture circuit. We will vote on new Trustees' terms beginning January 1 instead of July 1.We must discuss a policy for unexpected, unrestricted major gifts. Term limits for Trustees has been suggested. Go off the Board, and then come on again.
Larry Geraty proposes six individuals to the Nominating Committee as new lay Trustees: John Anderson, M.D. of New York, N.Y.; Wilfred Geschke, M.D. of Portland, Oregon; Hart Hasten of Indianapolis, Indiana; Fred Cornforth of Caldwell, ID; Nader Rastegar of Atlanta, GA; Jay Mills of Chatanooga, Tennessee.
BE IT RESOLVED that these names go forward with short vitae to the Committee on Nominations. Moved by Eric Meyers. Seconded by Jim Strange. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Joe Seger suggested that some of the candidates on the list Larry Geraty presented might also be good candidates for the special Advisory Committee discussed in a Development Committee meeting at the 2003 Annual Meeting. No decision was reached.
5. Report from the Executive Director—D. Clark.
Doug Clark announced that he has bought a house and concluded his move to the Boston area. Doug and Holly Andrews have been meeting with Dick Ballou on Tuesdays regularly. The Auditors finished their audit Wednesday, September 29, and the first draft of their report should be in the Boston office by the end of October.
We should change the By-laws so that Trustees begin terms on Jan 1 instead of July 1 of any given year.
BE IT RESOLVED that the EC recommends to the Board of Trustees that the following change be made to the By-laws text: [Article III, Section 3] ‘These trustees shall take up their responsibilities at the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1.’ to read as follows: ‘These trustees shall take up their responsibilities at the beginning of the next calendar year on January 1.’[Article IV, Section 2] ‘The term of office of each officer of the Corporation shall begin on July 1 immediately following his or her election...’ to read as follows: ‘The term of office of each officer of the Corporation shall begin on January 1 of the next year following his or her election.’ Moved by Larry Geraty, seconded by P.E. MacAllister. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
BE IT RESOLVED that in the case of major ($5,000 to $25,000) unexpected and unrestricted donations to ASOR, the Finance Committee will decide in a timely manner how best to utilize the funds. Donations above $25,000 will be referred to the Executive Committee. Moved and Seconded by the Finance Committee. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Doug Clark presented a worksheet for the new ASOR Membership Committee, which combines the current Institutional Members and the Individual Members coordinating committees. Larry Geraty suggested Joe Seger, Chair, Steve Ortiz, Vice Chair (Individual memberships), and Martha Joukowsky, Vice Chair (Institutional memberships). He suggested 11 other names for discussion. Appointment of the committee will come later.
Doug presented the idea of a Strategic Planning Committee and suggested that the Basch notes and similar documents be made available to them as their homework. Larry Geraty suggested David Rosenstein, Chair, Joe Seger, Loren Basch, Ann Killibrew, Burt MacDonald, Pam Gaber, Carol Meyers, Rachel Hallot, with P.E. MacAllister and Larry Geraty ex officio. Martha Joukowsky suggested that a couple of graduate students be added. She further suggested the names of Eric Meyers and Gloria London for this committee.
Development Director Search Committee: Larry Geraty suggested Vivian Bull, Chair, Martha Joukowsky, Joe Seger, David Rosenstein, Loren Basch; Dick Ballou, Doug Clark, PE MacAllister, Billie Jean Collins, and Larry Geraty. Martha Joukowsky suggested that Dick Ballou be given some kind of recognition at the November meeting.
The iMIS Software will be set up in both ASOR offices in two weeks.
ASOR is sponsoring an NEH Summer Teaching Institute in Boston.
Doug suggested that our website allow one to donate to ASOR, and he suggested automatic membership renewals unless otherwise notified. There was no objection.
Doug suggested that ASOR be his institutional home and that Umayri be an ASOR dig, but with no financial commitments from ASOR.
BE IT RESOLVED that ASOR will co-sponsor the Madaba Plains Project – ‘Umayri, of which Doug Clark is a co-director, and that this sponsorship will come with no financial obligations for ASOR. Jim Strange moved. Martha Joukowsky seconded. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Discussion ensued of proceeding to hire the Development Director. If the two promised donors are ready to put the funds in place, we would proceed with alacrity. Larry Geraty will attempt to have the infrastructure in place by November.
Doug proposed that we buy three additional LCD projectors for the Annual Meeting and for other meetings, since it costs us $450/day to rent one at the Annual Meetings. No decision was made, but no objections were raised.
6. Report from the Treasurer—B.W. Ruffner. Fiscal year 2004 came out in the black due to the generosity of many on the Board. The fiscal year 2005 budget was distributed beforehand. The Two Year Comparison of Boston 2004 to 2005 shows a change in benefits. The 2005 budget reflects a $100 surplus, assuming we raise sufficient funds for daily operations. Ed Gilbert and Austin Ritterspach have managed monies separately and have done better than Smith Barney. Ed Gilbert reports that the Finance Committee approved the plan of the Investment Committee to transfer between $100k to $150k currently in equities in Smith Barney or Investment Committee Funds to the Sequoia Fund. This plan was received as an item of information to the Executive Committee
A question was raised why Qarqur is in the FY2005 budget. There was discussion about whether there was to be any lingering financial commitment to Qarqur when Rudy Dornemann left. Doug Clark will seek clarification from the severance letter and other documentation.
In the Boston Office, 2 Year Comparison, Doug points out that the budget assumes that "Board Expansion and other donations" will total $69,500. Our most recent records from BU may make this figure different, which will likely change "Board Expansion and other donations" to $85,500.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Committee recommend FY2005 budget to the Board for approval. Moved by P.E. MacAllister, seconded. PASSED WITH TWO "NO" VOTES.
7. Report from the Committee on Publications—L. Herr and B.J. Collins. Jim Weinstein, editor of BASOR, has a health problem and must have surgery. The prognosis is good. Larry called attention to the proposed publication of Khirbat at-Tannur. The question was raised why maps are not sold on the web. It is because the mechanism to charge to a credit card is not established on the web page.
BJ Collins reports that we will not produce seven issues of NEA this year as anticipated, as this stretches staff too much. The ASOR lawyers will go to court Oct 5 to freeze the assets of Academic Services in hopes that we can recover lost monies. Publications was in the black for FY2004. The Archaeological Sources for the History of Palestine project is now in a position to proceed. BJ used a Power Point Presentation to compare cash accounting and accrual accounting as applied to publications.
8. Report from CAMP—E. Cline. (Distributed beforehand). The San Antonio program is complete. The Ethics presentation is a very strong draw. There are now so many submissions for the program that some are being rejected. The lecture series is proceeding well, and Eric will contact Ann to use the directors of the Centers. The Honors and Awards Committee is not receiving many nominations, so Eric Cline has suggested new categories. Seven of the eleven regional affiliations are showing growth.
9. Report from CAP—B. MacDonald. Burt contacted Dick Zettler about the publication of cuneiform tablets from the market. Zettler thinks there should be some open discussion about this, as there is knowledge to be gained even from unprovenanced tablets. Larry Herr pointed out that ASOR cannot publish anything that is unprovenanced, given national and international law. It was pointed out that the situation with Iraq is truly exceptional, and we need to argue for an exception, not for a change in our policy.
BE IT RESOLVED THAT this issue be remanded to the heads of CAP, COP, and CAMP to make a recommendation to the ASOR Executive Committee in November of 2004 about the publication of unprovenanced cuneiform texts. They will consult with Patti Gerstenblith and Elizabeth Stone. Burt MacDonald moved. Larry Herr seconded. There was discussion of whom to appoint as chair. No consensus was reached. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
10. Old Business—None
11. New Business—Ed Gilbert asks if ASOR gets a grant for $2 million, what will we do with it? Doug Clark suggested that we follow the Feasibility Study.
ASOR's Top Five Priorities for 2005
Doug distributed P.E. MacAllister's ideas, B.J. Collins's ideas, his own five, and the Boston staff's recommendations. The discussion was focused on the need for committee development. It was pointed out that the Committee on Nominations is in charge of Board development, not just of finding people. It was mentioned that we need someone with real experience in Public Relations, because it enhances so many parts of our operation. It was suggested that we reflect on these aims and goals and write our thoughts to Doug Clark. Doug's suggested that his five goals for ASOR would be that we have a Development Director in place by January of 2005, Expansion of the Board, a Membership Committee working energetically, Financial management/fund raising, and Academic agenda enhancement.
12. 5:04 pm—Vote to Adjourn, P.E. MacAllister
Respectfully submitted,
James F. Strange, Secretary