Minutes of the ACLA Board Meeting
Cortes Island Room, Fairmont Hotel
Vancouver, BC
8-10 AM Friday 1 April 2011
Present: Beecroft, Bermann, Damrosch, Eckhardt, Francois, Hayot, Lewis, Lionnet, Patel, Richmond-Garza, Slaughter, Saussy, Seigneurie
 

1. Approval of 4/2/2010 minutes (Richmond-Garza) and of final agreement with the University of South Carolina hosting the Secretariat (Eckhradt/Slaughter/unanimous)

2. Financial, Fundraising and Membership Report (2010/2011 update, Richmond-Garza)

a. Discussion of ongoing challenges of reconciling the end-of-year budget report
b. Discussion of the presidential fund-raising initiative undertaken by Higonnet: whether it should be a separate endowment; how to make it most useful; how to raise funds in the current economy; etc. The ACLA officers will consult Higonnet about her ideas for the initiative.
c. Discussion of conference finances at hotel-hosted/campus-hosted conferences:

i. Problem of conference attendees not being able to afford to stay at the conference hotel
ii. Promise of room blocks/catering minima as necessary to secure complimentary meeting space and the related risk of sever attrition penalties.
iii. Given the size of the conference and the cost of hotel-hosted conferences, the need to develop a regular schedule of meeting on an academic campus with affordable meeting space and ideally a subvention
iv. Discussion of ideal proportion of graduate student participants
v. Charge to Secretary-Treasurer to work to reduce (and then pay with emailed board approval) any attrition penalties at the Vancouver Hyatt
vi. The ACLA’s goal should be for the conference at least to break even.
vii. Charge to Secretary to finalize the contracts with Brown University and the Providence, RI hotels
viii. Charge to conference committee to seek a business model that does not rely on an external subvention. (Items vi,vii,viii Slaughter/Patel/unanimous)

3. Report of the President (Saussy)

a. Introduction and thanks to the new Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Alexander Beecroft, and the new home of the ACLA Secretariat at the University of South Carolina at Columbia (full-time assistant paid by ACLA/total annual running cost: $40,000)
b. Report of the approval of bylaws changes by membership
c. Discussion of Brown conference in 2012 and of conference venues for 2013 on

4. Report of the Vice-President (Lionnet)

a. Thanks to outgoing president and to incoming Secretary Treasurer for their service
b. Discussion of possibility of holding the annual meeting in Paris in the next 3 years

5. Update on ACLA 2011 in Vancouver (Seigneurie)

a. Thanks to Secretariat for their support in overcoming challenges
b. Financial Report from Simon Fraser University: local support has exceeded $62,000, having earmarked $40,000 (full report to be provided after the conference)
c. Core issues:

i. Need for a good assistant dedicated to conference planning
ii. Need for a strong conference committee to ensure shared standards, clear communication and efficiency. Ideally the committee would be based locally.

6. Report of the Journals Committee (Lionnet for Walkowitz)

a. Short report prepared by Walkowitz with two recommendations:

i. The first special forum to be proposed to Comparative Literature should be about the relationship between original languages and translation
ii. The second should be either about periodization or ACL(x)

(committee moved/unanimous on both)

7. Update on ACL(x) (Hayot)

a. Jeffrey Schnapp (Harvard) assisted in the planning and will participate
b. The format will be varied and innovative
c. Discussion of how/whether to make ACL(x) permanent and of its oversight

8. ADPCL Update (Eckhardt)

a. The MLA session has been finalized
b. There will be a chairs’ breakfast meeting on 4/2

9. Student Representatives Update (Patel)

a. The round table on 3/30 had 30 participants and the content will be circulated
b. Expression of thanks to board for the experience of serving

10. Additional business

a. Expression of thanks to all who have helped with the recent transitions
b. Expression of optimism for the next stage of the ACLA

Meeting adjourned at 9:52

Respectfully submitted by Elizabeth Richmond-Garza
Secretary-Treasurer ACLA
15 June 2011