Section on Venezuelan Studies
Latin American Studies Association
Las Vegas, Nevada
Minutes from the Business Meeting
October 8, 2004
Prepared by Cathy Rakowski
Despite travel difficulties for some members and scheduling of competing events at the same time as our meeting, the business meeting was well attended. Approximately 37-40 people were present.
Since Leo Ledezma, outgoing President, was unable to attend, the first half of the meeting was chaired by Cathy Rakowski, Secretary-Treasurer.
Rakowski reported on the section’s activities for the preceding 18 months:
- attempts were made to organize a post-LASA2003 conference in Venezuela to be held in mid 2004; the increasingly difficult political and economic situation led the organizers (Mauricio Perez-Badell, Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadilla, Raquel Gamus, Thais Maingon) to cancel plans
- most of the section’s work focused on maintaining the website and the svs-pol discussion site and conducting business by e-mail; this included forwarding announcements and requests for information or assistance by students and researchers (all of which were answered by colleagues willing to assist)
- we helped organize and sponsored 2 panels at LASA2004: one chaired by Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadilla and the other chaired by Elizabeth Nichols.
Treasurer’s report:
- There is approximately $1752 in our account as of September 2004. We are spending $450 on refreshments for the business meeting. With conference registrants signing up as section members, we expect to have about $1350 in our account following LASA2004. Dan Hellinger suggested that we consider book or paper awards of $150 each. It was agreed that members of the Council/Executive Committee would consider the options and make recommendations at a later date.
- We had 102 members by September 2004, guaranteeing 2 section panels for LASA2006 (Puerto Rico).
- We should have about a dozen new members who enrolled when registering for the congress.
Margaret Martin’s report:
Margaret, our web manager and discussion site manager, was unable to attend the meeting. She sent the following information and questions/suggestions that we did discuss to limited extent.
- What features of the SVS website should be eliminated, expanded, revised? This was discussed very little and there was a request for specific suggestions to be made by Margaret and the new Council/Executive Committee.
- Should the web page continue to be on MM’s personal page at UMichigan or might we want to move it to a commercial site? Angelo Rivero-Santos and Dan Hellinger suggested exploring a move to Georgetown University (folks at the Venezuelan Program of the Latin American Studies Center there have expressed interest) and Angelo will find out what opportunities or restrictions this might imply such as “who would have access and could make changes to the page”? Angelo will work with Margaret to explore the implications of such a move and the sharing of responsibilities.
- Would people volunteer to help manage certain pages or tasks involved in updating the website? Angelo Rivero-Santos, Elizabeth Nichols and Kim Morse volunteered.
- There have been complaints about recent postings to the svs-pol discussion site. Margaret would like guidance in revising the rules of access and decorum. David Smilde and Dan Hellinger led a discussion. Lourdes Gouveia and others present participated. It was decided that the Council/Executive Committee would come up with a protocol and rules of expected conduct to govern participation. Those breaching protocol could be suspended for a period of time, but there was no support for any kind of direct censorship applied to discussions.
Election report:
The outgoing members of the Council/Executive Committee were thanked for their work: Emperatriz Arreaza, Mauricio Perez Badell, Raquel Gamus, Ana Emilia Leon, Dan Hellinger, Kim Morse, Cathy Rakowski.
Elizabeth Nichols, a continuing member, conducted the call for nominations, sent out the ballot, and counted the votes returned. Her report:
The following persons were nominated:
- Dan Hellinger for President for a term of 18 mos. (unopposed)
- Cathy Rakowski for Secretary-Treasurer for a term of 3 yrs. (unopposed)
- For Executive Committee (resident outside Venezuela) for terms of 3 yrs.: Kim Morse, Magaly Sanchez, David Smilde, Miguel Tinker Salas, Mary Almgren. Members could vote for 2 people.
- For Executive Committee (resident in Venezuela) for terms of 3 yrs.: Margarita Lopez-Maya, Valia Pereira. Members could vote for 2.
A total of 102 ballots were sent out and 32 persons voted. Dan Hellinger was elected by an overwhelming majority. Cathy Rakowski was elected by an overwhelming majority. Both Margarita Lopez-Maya and Valia Pereira were elected by an overwhelming majority of the votes. In the case of members resident outside of Venezuela, there was a virtual 4-way tie, with Kim Morse, David Smilde, Miguel Tinker Salas and Magaly Sanchez each receiving over 1/3 of the votes. Elizabeth proposed that we do as we have done in the past in such circumstances-that all four be included on the committee and that two of the four be asked to volunteer to serve an 18 month term and two to serve a 3 year term so that we can continue to have staggered terms for committee members.
All present ratified the results of the election and the proposal. Elizabeth was asked to send a message to the one person not elected, Mary Almgren, to encourage her to run in the next election and to send out her election report to everyone on the vennet e-mail list. Subsequently, Kim Morse agreed to serve an 18 mo. term; one more person will need to do so.
The newly elected members join continuing members Elizabeth Nichols and Carlos Blanco. Dan Hellinger called for a meeting of the Council/Executive Committee for Saturday morning.
At this point, the meeting was turned over to the new President, Dan Hellinger, assisted by Cathy Rakowski in the role of Secretary.
New business:
Dan led a discussion of ideas for paper or book prizes, the rationale, and eligibility (prizes for students, for young scholars, etc.). No decisions were made, but all ideas were gathered for consideration by the Council/Executive Committee at a later date, beginning with a breakfast meeting on Saturday.
Several persons present supported the idea for another post-LASA2004 conference in Venezuela. We discussed the feasibility and cost. Our first conference, held in Maracaibo at LUZ, cost us only $500. The university subsidized the meeting and participants included prospective new members, Venezuelan residents unable to attend LASA2004, and some presenters who had attended the congress in Dallas. Esther Gamus expressed interest in being involved in planning such a conference.
Dan led a discussion of the need for volunteers to assist with the web site. And we discussed the proposal to move the web page to Georgetown University. Angelo Rivero Santos agreed to discuss all issues and ideas with Margaret Martin before discussing the possibility with Georgetown. (They are now in contact with each other.)
Following the business meeting, most present stayed for a discussion of recent elections with Jennifer McCoy from the Carter Center. The discussion lasted approximately 40 minutes and many persons participated.
Everyone was reminded of the meeting with Bernardo Alvarez, ambassador to the U.S., to be held on Friday evening. This meeting was very well attended by approximately 55 people.
END OF MINUTES FROM BUSINESS MEETING
Notes on the meeting of LASA Section Chairs, Friday, Oct. 9
Attended by Dan Hellinger, Notes prepared by Dan Hellinger
Section chairs were reminded of LASA regulations requiring that a section have at least 50 members to maintain its status. The Paraguayan Studies Group has fallen below that number. Although it will lose its formal recognition, the LASA Executive Board will remain in contact with the current officers and assist in attempting to rebuild membership.
It was pointed out that some sections are losing members because of difficult economic conditions and restrictive exchange conditions. LASA officers expressed sympathy but said they were limited in what they could do. Sections may aid members in maintaining LASA membership. Some larger sections (Brazil) are using funds from others’ dues to subsidize members in Latin America who cannot pay their dues.
Chairs discussed moving the LASA conferences to Latin America permanently. LASA officers say that some Latin Americans, including Cubans, have expressed a preference that the conference remain in the U.S. because it is their only opportunity to travel to the U.S. However, most likely, conferences will be alternated in future years. The next conferences are in Puerto Rico, then Boston, then Buenos Aires.
END
Notes from Saturday Breakfast Meeting of SVS Council/Executive Committee
Oct. 10, 2004
Notes taken by Dan Hellinger
Present: Dan Hellinger, Cathy Rakowski, David Smilde, Elizabeth Nichols, Kim Morse, Margarita Maya-Lopez
The Council Meeting held Saturday, Oct. 10, was primarily a follow-up on discussions held at the members meeting and an opportunity to plan future work.
It was decided not to expel anyone from the SVS discussion group but to remind members on that group to maintain section membership and to be courteous to one another. We may change the rules to insist that articles not be posted in messages but in the files section, or that links be posted in the message instead of attaching the full article. David Smilde will take the lead on monitoring the board and will come up with ideas for more effective rules/guidelines for discussion and postings.
Cathy will put Margaret Martin and Angelo Rivero-Santos in touch with one another to discuss the possibility of locating the web site at Georgetown. We will want to ensure that Margaret will have direct access as continuing web manager (or co-manager). We also want to assure the stability of our page being hosted by any future server site.
It was proposed that we not have pre-set categories (1 social science, 1 humanities) for panels at the next LASA. We will ask the entire Council/Committee to discuss how to solicit panels for the next Congress and then will solicit feedback from Section members.
The Council discussed the idea of an award for the best LASA paper or publication. The only consensus at this point is that the goal should be to recognize and aid younger scholars. The entire Council/Committee will be asked to discuss the ideas further, including how to structure and judge papers, size of award, etc.
To facilitate communication and conduct Section business, a Yahoo group site will be created for Council members to carry out ongoing business. Dan Hellinger will establish the site.