Meeting Dates and Location:
| October 27 - 28, 1966 | Chicago, Illinois |
The first of two meetings of the Council of the Society held during the 1966 annual meeting of the Society was called to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Lounge, Center for Continuing Education, the University of Chicago, Thursday, October 27, 1966, President Peter L. Berger in the chair. Present also were Ralph W. Burhoe, Walter H. Clark, James E. Dittes, Allan W. Eister, Joseph H. Fichter, James M. Gustafson, Robert J. Havighurst and Samuel Z. Klausner.
Minutes of the previous sessions of the Council held in New York City in 1965, having been distributed, were accepted as recorded with correction concerning the terms offered by the Kaplan Foundation for matching funds raised by the Society. The item should read that the Foundation had agreed to contribute the difference between the amount raised and a maximum of $6000 overall for the purpose of expanding publication. If the Society raises $4000, the Foundation will contribute $2000.
The Executive Secretary directed attention to his annual report, distributed in the dossiers placed before members of the Council and also previously mailed to them. He called particular attention to two developments in the approach to religion from scientific perspectives which he regards as significant in relation to the growth in size -- and the possible extension in functions--of SSSR-- namely, the continuing growth of instruction in sociology and psychology in theological schools and the recent rapid rise in the number of state universities and colleges which have introduced departments of religion but which cannot teach religion "theologically" and therefore teach about religion, not only in courses on psychology and sociology or religion but through the history and comparative study of religion and through other disciplines. He reported his opinion that SSSR should move to support these developments to the point, possibly, of providing, as a service of the Society, employment referrals both of openings and of qualified candidates. He noted continuing growth in the number of members of the Society and reported other developments, including the extension of exchange arrangements for some 34 journals in the area of our interest. It was moved and seconded to accept the executive secretary's report without, however, specifically endorsing the proposals for extension of services to include employment referrals and other activities at this time. Voted. (Full copy of the report of the Executive Secretary available from Society office).
Mr. Burhoe presented the Treasurer's Report (copies available from SSSR office) discussion of several items, but vote was deferred until the second meeting of the Council (scheduled for Friday evening, October 28) when it was directed to be placed as the first item on the agenda. Discussion centered around the advantages of rendering annual financial reports on an accrual rather than simply on a cash basis and on the desirability either of changing the fiscal year from October 1 through September 30 (as it is at present) to September 1 through August 31 or of moving the date of the annual meeting of the Society back into November in order to permit more time for preparation of the annual financial report, its auditing and distribution, and for distribution and opportunity for adequate discussion of the proposed budget for the year following.
Commenting briefly on the planning for the program of the annual meeting in progress, Mr. Burhoe, as annual meeting program chairman, expressed appreciation of the effective help with details given by the executive secretary and by Mrs. Delores Kidwell. Mr. Clark suggested that thanks of the Council be accorded Mr. Burhoe for an excellent program and this was endorsed by consensus.
Mr. Berger announced resignations of some and appointments of other members to several committees:
Terms of office of the president and vice-president and of Council members being fixed by the By-Laws of the Society, the Council reconfirmed the intention of the By-Laws which set no term for the secretary or treasurer as making possible their reelection at the pleasure of the Council. Nevertheless the Council, wishing to provide continuity of more than one year at a time for these offices, voted that it would normally elect these officers for three year periods, reserving the right of the Council to reelect the incumbents for subsequent three-year periods. (Moved by Fr. Fichter; seconded by Walter Clark, and passed.)
It was determined that the Executive Secretary holds office from year to year at the pleasure of the Council.
It was moved and seconded that Allan Eister be reelected to serve for an additional year. Passed. It was moved, seconded, and passed that Ralph Burhoe be reelected to serve an additional two years. These actions would have placed each of these officers in a three-year period of service in their respective offices.
Following discussion, Mr. Burhoe moved that the Budget and Finance Committee be empowered to select the auditors. Seconded by Mr. Gustafson and passed.
Discussion then turned to the question of whether or not a category of SSSR Fellows should be established. This was proposed by the executive secretary as one way of distinguishing between persons who, as trained scientists, should be expected to conduct "scientific studies of religion" and others who wish only to associate themselves with the Society as general supporters of the enterprise. (He mentioned the need for some formal guidelines also in helping direct the executive secretary's office as to who should or should not be encouraged to expect that his application for membership in the Society would be accepted by the Council through its membership committee.) Mr. Burhoe pointed out that the present Constitution and By-Laws of the Society permit only one class of membership. He moved that the problem of possible need for differentiating classes of members -- and also the larger problem of locating the distinctive focus, or the specific raison d'etre, of the Society (raised by Messrs. Gustafson and Havighurst) be referred to an ad hoc committee. Mr. Havighurst suggested that the committee should serve at least two years and asked whether questions of this sort ought not to be presented for discussion at a business meeting of the Society. In response to Mr. Berger's inquiry as to how such a committee might be constituted, Mr. Burhoe suggested that Council members who had expressed special concern for the matter be named. Mr. Berger agreed that such a committee should serve and suggested that it might consider not only the question of whether or not the Society ought to consider instituting placement and referral services of the sort proposed by the executive secretary. No action was taken, however, at this time.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Allan W. Eister
Second meeting of the Council held during the 1966 annual meeting of the Society convened at 6:00 P.M., Friday, October 28, in the Conference Lounge, Center for Continuing Education, University of Chicago, Peter L. Berger presiding. Also present were Ralph Burhoe, Walter Clark, James Dittes, Allan Eister, Joseph Fichter, James Gustafson, Samuel Klausner, Benjamin Nelson and, by invitation, Angelo D'Agostino and Jeffrey K. Hadden representing the committees on fund raising and on liaison with professional societies.
As agreed at the previous meeting, the budget and the question of fiscal reporting policy raised in the report of the treasurer were considered. After discussion it was moved (by Mr. Burhoe), seconded (by Mr. Nelson) and passed that the financial records of the Society be reported henceforth on an accrual basis, in order to give Council a more complete picture of the financial condition of the Society over-all at each time when the matter is considered.
It was then moved (by Mr. Burhoe) and seconded (by Mr. Nelson) and voted that the fiscal year be shifted to start from September 1 to end August 31, for reasons previously recorded. The problem of authorization of expenditures which would have to be made between the end of the fiscal year and the time when formal approval of the budget for the fiscal year into which the Society had already entered could be voted was noted, and it was agreed that it should be understood that expenditures of the same order or level as voted in the budget immediately preceding would be understood to be provisionally authorized. The time is not ripe for preparing or approving a budget a full year in advance of its taking effect.
It was also moved and seconded and passed that the opening and closing dates of the fiscal year and of the budget year be fixed coterminously. (Moved by Mr. Burhoe, seconded by Mr. Clark)
The Treasure than presented the proposed budget for September 1, 1966 through August 31, 1967. After discussion in which several changes in specific line items were considered and in which it was noted that a figure on the order of $10,000 would be needed to discharge outstanding obligations of the Society and to meet other impending fiscal needs, it was moved, seconded and voted that the budget be approved as presented by the treasurer. (Amended budget available at SSSR office).
Mr. D'Agostino, newly appointed chairman of the fund raising committee, reported for Mr. Kagan, former chairman of the committee, that $1,405.25 had been raised as a result of an appeal made to the members of the Society and to subscribers of the Journal. He urged members of the Council to send suggestions for sources to which to turn for additional contributions.
Mr. Klausner read a communication from Horace L. Friess who had been asked by Council at its previous meetings in New York to inquire into the procedure and prospects for effecting affiliation of the SSSR with the American Council of Learned Societies. Professor Friess considers the time to be ripe for inquiring into the condition under which ACLS would accept SSSR as an affiliate organization and suggested the appointment of three persons to approach ACLS informally. He, himself, would be willing to act in this capacity, and it was agreed that he and two others be selected to carry out this task. Peter Berger will name two persons to serve with Professor Friess.
Several committee reports followed:
For membership committee, Samuel Klausner reported the procedures followed by the committee under Mr. Bram's chairmanship and announced a growth in members form 1300 to over 1600 during the past year. He also reported that several applications for membership had been filed in response to the distribution of the announcements, particularly in the Mid-West of the 1966 meeting in Chicago; several have applied for membership at the time of registration at this meeting.
Reporting for the publications committee, in the absence of J. Paul Williams, Mr. Klausner announced an increase in subscription costs of the Journal for non-members to $10.00 per annum. He reported that in the mail ballot which had been sent to members of the committee and to the Council only one negative vote had been returned. He asked that Council formally confirm this decision.
The question was then raised whether Council wished to reaffirm its intention (as reported in the Minutes of its meeting in 1965) to expand the size-and possibly also the number of issues per year--of the Journal in 1967. It was determined that an increase to 400 pages over-all would cost minimally $2000 more than was budgeted for the year ended-- and that if the increase in pages is distributed in three or four issues rather than in tow issues, increases in costs of binding, packaging and mailing would run to an even higher rate. It was moved, seconded and passed that a journal of 400 pages be authorized for 1968. On the matter of frequency of issue, Mr. Dittes expressed his hope that the Journal remain at two issues in 1976 and in 1968 but that we plan for four issues a year beginning in 1969. Several advantages were seen in publishing on a quarterly rather than a half-yearly--or even a thrice-yearly pattern. After further discussion it was moved, seconded and voted that the decision on the number of issues to be printed in 1968 be left to the decision of the editor within the limits set by the budget. Since the number of issues as well as the total number of pages that can be printed in 1969 are a budgetary matter, the problem will come before Council again when the budget for 1969 is considered. (It was ascertained that for the same total number of pages per year but divided into three or into four issues per year the cost would be between $300 and $500 for each additional issue--viz., $300 to $500 more for 400 pages distributed in three rather than two issues only; $600 to $1000 more for 400 pages distributed in four rather than two issues per year, and so on).
For the committee on Federal Sponsorship of Research in Religion, Charles Glock chairman, Mr. Klausner read a letter in which Mr. Glock reported that several members of the committee met in New York in May and decided to try to determine what the policies of the major foundations and government agencies were regarding support of research in religion.
For the liaison committee, Jeffrey K. Hadden, representative of the SSSR to the American Sociological Association, suggested that the officers and Council might want to give thought to naming representatives of SSSR to other groups affiliated with the ASA, such as the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Rural Sociological Society and others. The question arose at the meeting in Miami of the ASA. There was discussion of the possibility and desirability of scheduling joint meetings or joint sessions with papers--with the American Catholic Sociological Society, the Religious Research Association, and others. One such meeting scheduled in connection with the RRA was reported as being planned through the effort of David O. Moberg. It will be held in Minnesota. A joint conference, on a regional basis, or RRA and SSSR was mentioned as held at Southern Methodist University, organized by Professor Marvin Judy. Walter Clark mentioned that the American Psychological Association is agreeable to co-sponsorship of sessions with the SSSR at the APA meetings; ASA does not co-sponsor meetings in this manner. Since AAAS, with which SSSR is associated, is a federation there is no problem of organizing regional meetings of SSSR in connection with AAAS conventions, providing only someone in SSSR is willing to undertake the task of planning the program and carrying it through. After further discussion, it was moved by Mr. Burhoe, seconded by Mr. Nelson, and passed to leave further development of liaison and joint or co-sponsored sessions, meetings or conference and arrangements for them in the hands of the liaison committee and the executive secretary.
For the bibliography committee, Mr. Clark reported that the committee rejected the idea of attempting to collate or prepare abstracts of studies in the scientific study of religion at this time. He said that sentiment seemed to favor the attempt to continue to compile something like the old bibliography of relevant books and articles which was once distributed annually and offered to continue to search for someone to undertake this chore. Mr. Strunk had resigned.
Peter Berger reported on plans for the next annual meeting. Daniel J. Callahan, an editor of Commonweal, and a scholar trained primarily in philosophy, has accepted the responsibility of organizing the 1967 program. The meeting could be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on the last Friday and Saturday of October, 1967. Assurance have been given that there will be no discrimination in hotel or other facilities toward Negro members of the Society. Mr. Burhoe moved and Mr. Nelson seconded, and it was voted that Atlanta be the 1967 meeting place.
Discussion then turned to possible meeting site for 1968, and it was agreed that this should be in the northeast--somewhere within an arc around Boston extending as far as Montreal. It was the sense of the meeting, regarding possible program chairman, that the president of the Society be urged to look for either a psychologist or an historian.
It was suggested that three rather than only two Council meeting times be planned for in connection with the annual meeting in 1967-two sessions to be scheduled for Thursday and one for Friday perhaps.
It was agreed that the question of the form for publication of proceedings of annual meetings be left in the hands of the officers.
Mr Klausner raised as an item of unfinished business the question of whether or not SSSR ought to provide placement and referral service for institutions and individuals interested in the scientific or objective study and teaching of religion. It was agreed by consensus that this and the larger range of problems having to do with the kind or amount of "professional" character, focus of the Society, and other questions regarding the organization should be reviewed or examined by an ad hoc committee consisting of James Gustafson, Benjamin Nelson, Allan Eister and Samuel Klausner. This committee is to report its deliberations and share its views with Council at its next annual meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 P.M.
Respectfully submitted
Allan W. Eister, Secretary