Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

Business Meeting Minutes

1991

November 8, 1991     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Agenda


1. Call to Order 12:30pm
2. Approval of Agenda Capps
3. Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting Capps
4. President's Report on Council Actions Capps
5. Executive Secretary's Report Davidson
6. 1991 Program Hertel
7. 1992 Program Nason-Clark
8. JSSR Mauss, Baer
9. Monograph Series Meyer
10. Research Awards Barker
11. Treasurer's Report Schoenherr
12. New Business Capps
13. President's Remarks Capps
14. Adjourn 1:30pm


1991 BUSINESS MEETING -- MINUTES -- SSSR
Vista International Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


The meeting was called to order by President Donald Capps at 12:40 p.m. on Friday, November 8, 1991. The agenda of the meeting was approved as circulated. The minutes of the November 10, 1990 business meeting were approved as circulated.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT ON COUNCIL ACTIONS:

President Capps thanked several Council members whose terms will soon end: Thomas Robbins and Ellen Umansky, Council members; Meredith McGuire, past president; and Donald Capps, president. Eileen Barker is the new president; Ruth Wallace the new president-elect; and Margaret Poloma and Donald Miller are incoming Council members. David Bromley is the newly appointed editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and will start work in June 1992.

James Davidson's term as executive secretary will end in one year, at the end of the Washington, D.C. annual meeting in 1992. A committee has been set up by the Council to seek his replacement. All members are invited to suggest nominees to the search committee.

The Council passed the following motion of advice to future program chairs about the sorts of papers which are appropriate for presentation at annual meetings: Papers submitted to the SSSR for presentation at its annual meeting should be of a scholarly nature and concerned with the systematic study of religion and religious behavior. Papers that present merely ideological apologetics are inappropriate.

The Council passed the following motion on the use of inclusive language in annual meeting presentations: The following statement will be put on the first page of the preliminary program and at the beginning of the final program: "SSSR and RRA expect all participants to use inclusive, rather than exclusive, language in their presentations. All presenters are urged to avoid language reflecting racial, sexual, ethnic, or religious bias."

The Council authorized the beginning of exploratory work to collect information on the history of the Society in preparation for the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Society in 1999. Interviews with senior members of the Society will be conducted. Materials located in the files of SSSR members will be assembled and deposited in the archives. A history of the Society may eventually be commissioned. Armand Mauss, who is working on this project, invites all members of the Society to let him know about the location of source materials concerning the history of the Society.

In order to encourage international scholars to attend the annual meeting a fund of $ 1,500 has been established to assist international scholars with transportation costs and/or finding accommodations. The experience with this effort will be evaluated next year.

The research awards committee (Eileen Barker, chair; Bryan Wilson and James Beckford, members) made $ 8,000 in research awards this year. Awards were made to Alan Black, David Hackett, Mary Johnson, Phillip Lucas, Beverly McCallister, Nancy Nason-Clark, Raymond Paloutzian, James Spickard, and William Swatos.

A proposal for a joint membership directory in cooperation with the Religious Research Association, Association for the Sociology of Religion, and some international societies will be explored this year.

Thirty people became "Fellows" of the Society this year. Certificates will be mailed to the following people who have been members for 25 years: Jackson W. Carroll, Gordon Clanton, Elizabeth Colson, William V. D'Antonio, Richard D. Dobbins, Leland E. Elhard, Leila M. Foster, Samuel Gandy, Vivian E. Garrison, Horst J. Helle, Richard E. Hilbert, Roger D. Irle, Jan Kerkhofs, Hugh A. Koops, James M. Lee, Donald L. Metz, Christopher F. Mooney, Sam Mueller, Philip J. Murnion, W. Dain Oliver, Thomas M. Ostrum, Owen D. Owens, Keith J. Parry, Donald R. Ploch, Ross P. Scherer, Alvin J. Schmidt, Jack Shand, Clyde J. Steckel, Gerald B. Strickler, and Andrew J. Weigert.

Hart Nelsen invites proposals from members for sessions and/or papers to be presented at the next American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S REPORT:

James Davidson reported that membership in the Society declined slightly, between August 1990 and August l991, from 1610 to 1570 members. Library subscriptions to the Journal increased slightly in the same period, from 1236 to 1247. The Society is in good financial condition. The surplus of income over expenditure was larger than expected this year because we did not spend as much on monographs as was expected. 350 people are now registered at the annual meeting. Final registration will be larger as late registrants arrive.

The program for the annual meeting was produced this year in a new format. The SSSR and RRA program chairs communicated with each other and with the executive office via e-mail. The process of assembling the program was computerized. The Society for the Sociological Study of Mormon Life is meeting jointly with us this year. An evaluation form is included in the convention packet this year. Davidson invites all members to fill out the form and let him know their views on recent innovations in the annual meeting.

The transition from the former business office in Washington, D.C. to the new business office in West Lafayette, Indiana is now almost entirely complete.

It was necessary to change the site of the 1991 meeting in Washington, D.C. The rooms in the Mayflower Hotel which we intended to use are being gutted and remodeled. When the renovation work is complete room prices will go up beyond what we intended to pay. The annual meeting will be at the Stouffer's Concourse Hotel in Crystal City, November 6 - 8, 1992. Room rates will be $ 75 for singles and $ 79 for doubles.

The 1993 annual meeting will be in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Radisson Plaza Downtown Hotel. The 1994 annual meeting will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A search for locations in the Great Lakes Region will be made for the 1995 meeting.

In order to assist members in making nominations for possible executive secretaries, Davidson described the work done by the executive secretary and commented on the administrative skills needed by candidates. The executive secretary organizes and administers the life of the Society. This includes planning the annual meeting, producing newsletters, conducting the annual membership drive, and reviewing sites for annual meetings. It is a four year term which may be renewed. Executive secretaries must be able to adopt an 'obsessive compulsive style of life'-- being concerned with details and anticipating negative events. When negative events occur, the executive secretary must be able to cope with them. It is desirable for the institution at which the executive secretary is working to grant him or her some support. Such as: time off from teaching, postal and printing services, and clerical assistance.

Davidson concluded his report by thanking Donald Capps, the outgoing president, for being such a pleasure to work with and for his initiative in getting Princeton Theological Seminary to promote the SSSR monograph series through additional mailings this year.

1991 PROGRAM:

Bradley Hertel, program chair, thanked the people who proposed sessions and all other presenters. This year the SSSR and RRA program chairs did not enforce a separation between sessions produced by the two organizations. Hertel invited comments on two matters: Do members prefer that sessions be longer than 75 or 90 minutes? Would it be helpful for the Society to extend its meeting by another day? Peter Beyer commented that he favors fewer papers for 75 minute sessions in order to provide time for discussion.

1992 PROGRAM:

Nancy Nason-Clark announced the theme of the meeting ("Religion and power") and invited members to send her ideas for sessions. If the Canadian post office goes on strike this year she suggests that people should use her fax number or her bitnet number. She plans to involve more students in the 1992 program. One way in which this will be done is to organize round table discussions for graduate students. She invites graduate students to write to her.

REPORT OF THE JSSR EDITOR:

Armand Mauss announced that a full written report is available. Turn around time for first submissions averages 7 weeks. Turn around time for revisions averages 3 weeks. The acceptance rate has held fairly constant at 25 percent. The December 1991 issue will be larger than usual. It will contain a supplement which is supported by a special grant from the Lilly Endowment.

After June 30, 1992 paper submissions should be sent to the new editor, David Bromley.

Mauss thanks Hans Baer and Gordon Shepherd for their work as book review editors.

MONOGRAPH SERIES:

Katherine Meyer reported that a contract has been signed with Yale University Press for joint publication of a translation of the writings of Georg Simmel about the sociology of religion. Publication is expected after June 1992. Meyer invited people to communicate with her about potential monographs.

TREASURER'S REPORT:

Richard Schoenherr reported that income in the current fiscal year was up 2.4 percent and expenditures were below the amounted budgeted, resulting in a surplus of $ 11,794. The budget for next year projects income at $ 130,178; expenditures at $ 122,850; and a surplus of $ 7,328. At present the invested reserves of the Society are about $ 125,000.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

William Silverman, Secretary