American Schools of Oriental Research
Financial Committee and Executive Committee
Capitol Hilton
Washington, DC
17 November 2006
DRAFT MINUTES
PRESENT: P.E. MacAllister, Larry Geraty, Burt Macdonald, CAP, C.W. Sahlman, B.W. Ruffner, Selma Omerefendic, Staff, Joe Seger, Eric Meyers, President, Andy Vaughn, COP, Holly Andrews, Assistant Director, Ann Killebrew, Tammi Schneider, Jim Strange, Secretary, Trina Arpin, Rachel Hallote, CAMP, Eric Cline.
ABSENT:
VISITOR: Sheldon Fox
Meeting as the Finance Committee:
1. CTO 8:30am
2. Treasurer’s Report— B.W. Ruffner. ASOR investments, as seen on a year to year basis, have performed impressively. The Book fund is up considerably. The Budget reflects changes downward of about $100,000. Current budget only requires donations of about $100k. There was some discussion of including the Nies Fund income in the budgets annually.
BE IT RESOLVED that the revised budget presented in this report be adopted by the Board of Trustees. Moved by B.W. Ruffner; Seconded by Joe D. Seger. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
BE IT RESOLVED that ASOR borrow $7,500 from the Development budget for the pending NEH Archival Project and ask the Development investment committee to raise money to replace those funds. Joe Seger moved; Eric Meyers seconded. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Wiseman announced that the Provost of Boston University will recommend a ten-year lease to the Space Committee, which will be rent free.
Meeting as the Executive Committee:
1.CTO, P.E. MacAllister
2. Approval of Minutes
a. Change the minutes of May 5, 2006 from listed money to be used for, but it is a small change Andy Vaughn. Andy later sent an email to Secretary Jim Strange about a problem with resolution at the Spring 2006 board meeting. The board approved a change to the by-laws (approved the office of Past President) by a 2/3s vote to suspend the rules about the 30-day notice for changing the by-laws. However, the secretary later ruled that the rules cannot be suspended in order to change the by-laws. The board will thus need to take up change again when sufficient notice has been given to add the office of Past President.
BE IT RESOLVED to accept minutes of May 5, 2006 as corrected. Moved and Seconded. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
b. BE IT RESOLVED to approve the Minutes of Sept 9. Moved and Seconded. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. Action Items
a. SBL Proposal. Eric Meyers recommends adoption of the Proposal.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Committee endorses the proposal to meet with SBL annually as described in circulated page. Moved by Eric Meyers, Seconded. There was considerable discussion about several issues, including which entity would pay for what. PASSED with one nay and two abstentions.
b. By-Laws: Eric Cline reports no feedback from posting of by-laws on the web site.
BE IT RESOLVED that the new By-Laws be approved as Amended as of Nov 17, 2006. Moved by Eric Cline, Seconded by Tammi Schneider. The President and the Board of Trustees will elect vice presidents who will chair committees. The nominating committee will put out a call for those who want to run for office. PASSED with one nay.
c. Discussion of changing membership fees-- Andy Vaughn.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Committee consider the changes in fees and membership structure subject to recommendations from COP, Moved by Andy Vaughn, seconded by Tammi Schneider. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
d. Discussion of allocation of Nies funds--Andy Vaughn. We hope to have two recommendations from the Baghdad committee: first, how the Nies funds should be dispersed. Second, a subset of the Baghdad Committee wants to recommend a policy of publication of unprovenienced documents from Iraq. There should be a three-year special exception to the current policy.
e. Nominations to the Development committee: Ben Porter, Joe Seger, Tammi Schneider, Sandra Sham, Randy Younker, Bill Arnold, Margaret Cohen (graduate student). P.E. MacAllister appointed said nominees to the Development Committee.
4. Reports:
a. President’s report (posted and emailed)—Eric Meyers. The planned Exhibition of Excavated and inscribed materials lost its sponsor. Eric Meyers outlined what will be presented tonight in the President’s Forum. Eric reports that we hope to develop an online encyclopedia of archaeology on the ASOR website based on the Oxford series.
b. Board Chair’s Report—P.E. MacAllister. P.E. MacAllister is recruiting contributing members, while Joe Seger has been recruiting heritage memberships. He will also be developing work for the Board.
c. Treasurer’s Report—B.W. Ruffner, See above.
d. Development Committee—Ann Killebrew. Ann reported on development’s hopes that money can be raised for programs rather than operations. The first priority will be the NEH Archive Project. Joe Seger distributed information on the Heritage Membership initiative.
e. CAMP report—Rachel Hallote. Rachel asked for a clarification on the process to choose a plenary speaker. CAMP recommends that once the names go through CAMP, the names come to the Executive Committee, perhaps by email. It was agreed that the committee has its own procedures, and may choose to circulate a name among the Executive Committee, but it is not necessary. Rachel raised the issue of the CAMP giving rooms to the foreign centers. The CAMP Committee agreed that this process should be changed. Rachel suggested that there be a scholarship fund available for foreign scholars, so that they will not have to pay for membership fee and preregistration fee both. There was a CAMP proposal for a discount for undergraduates who wish to attend.
f. CAP Report—Burt Macdonald. CAP will meet this afternoon, deciding on projects including including eight new projects in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Cypress.
g. COP Report—Andy Vaughn distributed beforehand. Some discussion of interim editing of NEA.
Move to Adjourn at 11:00 am. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.