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Constitutional Ammendments
OAH Executive Council Minutes, October 4, 2002
Report from the Secretary-Treasurer, Thomas T. Taylor, Ph.D.

Constitutional Ammendments

At the Spring Meeting in April 2003, the membership will consider four amendments to the Constitution. The Executive Council reviewed and endorsed each of the four amendments at its recent Fall Meeting. The first two amendments concern the election and composition of the at-large members of the Executive Council. The first amendment calls for a rotation among the elected members, so that each year there will be representatives from two state universities, two private colleges or universities, one organization associated with public history, and one two-year institution or regional campus. The purpose of the provision is to assure broad representation from a variety of constituencies within the Academy. As outlined in the Academy Handbook, this has been the practice for a number of years and thus should be stated as such in the Constitution.

The second amendment would add one elected, at-large member to the Executive Council, raising the total to seven. The new member would be a social studies teacher from the 7–12 level. In recent years the Standards Committee of the Academy has taken a role in examining state standards regarding the social studies curriculum and the training of social studies teachers. There is a link, the Academy thinks, between the training that occurs at Ohio’s colleges and universities for social studies teachers and the state standards. Thus, the Academy has a part to play in examining the development of those standards. Because most of its members are associated with colleges and universities, or institutions of public history, Academy Presidents over the years have appointed several social studies teachers (Academy members) to the Standards Committee to represent the thoughts of that constituency. Given the actions of the Executive Council and the Ohio Academy in recent years, it is now considered appropriate that there be the addition of an elected member to the Executive Council from the ranks of social studies teachers.

The third amendment concerns the officers of the Executive Council. It removes the Editor of the Newsletter from the Executive Council and clarifies the constitutional role of several other officers. In recognition of the burdens facing a single editor in putting out two newsletters each year, the Executive Council adopted a resolution at the Spring Meeting in 2002 to divide the responsibilities of the Newsletter between a Content Editor and a Production Editor. This division of responsibilities was made possible when Patricia Walsh of the Ohio Historical Society agreed to serve as Production Editor. Her skills in copyediting and layout have already enhanced the appearance of the Newsletter.

The creation of the dual editorship raised Constitutional issues concerning the election and voting power of the new positions. Given that the original Newsletter Editor had been elected by the Academy and, as an Executive Officer, had voting power, the question was whether the Production Editor should be elected and have voting power as well. Discussion of the dual editorship, in turn, opened the broader issue of the Constitutional role of several other positions created in recent years by the Executive Council, including the Archivist, the Webmaster, the Editor of the Proceedings, and the Coordinator of the Book Exhibit. Appointed by the President, these officials had been serving as voting members on the Executive Council. The question was raised as to whether, as voting members, they should be elected by the Academy or, as appointees of the President, serve as non-voting, ex-officio officers.

After much discussion, the Executive Council endorsed the principle that Executive Officers elected by the members of the Academy should have legislative responsibilities and the vote, while officials appointed by the President to fulfill primarily administrative responsibilities, should serve as non-voting, ex-officio members. With that principle in mind, the Executive Committee resolved that all administrative officials, including the Content Editor and Production Editor of the Newsletter, as well as the Archivist, Editor of the Proceedings, Webmaster, and Coordinator of the Book Exhibit, would be appointed by the President and serve as non-voting, ex-officio members. This decision resolved several problems. Had all these officials been elected by the members of the Academy, the Nominating Committee would have been overburdened in its responsibilities. By making all of them presidential appointments, on the other hand, the President was given the flexibility needed to work with each of these administrative areas. As non-voting members, finally, these Presidential appointments would not create an imbalance of Presidential power affecting the representative nature of the Executive Council.

The fourth amendment concerns the creation of a new committee, the Conference Committee. Designed to coordinate plans for the annual Spring Meeting, the committee has been functioning effectively for several years and has demonstrated its value to the Academy. Similar to other committees, the Vice-President will appoint the chairman and members of the Conference Committee. n

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OAH Executive Council Minutes
October 4, 2002
Butler Institute of American History

Call to order: 3:00 p.m. Present: Donna DeBlasio (YSU), Diane Britton (Toledo), James Cebula (Raymond Walters College), John Douglass (Raymond Walters College), Steven Gordon (Ohio Historical Society), Mary Ann Heiss (KSU), Stuart Hobbs (Ohio Historical Society), David Hogan (Heidelberg College), K. Austin Kerr (OSU), Elizabeth Maclean (Otterbein), Vivien Sandlund (Hiram College), Lowell Satre (YSU), Vladimir Steffel (OSU—Marion), A. Martin Wainwright (Akron), Patricia Walsh (Ohio Historical Society). Because of the limitation of time, and the press of business items, Jenkins asked to forego the standard agenda to examine the secretary-treasurer’s reports first and then proceed to the Handbook, and Constitutional issues raised under Old Business and New Business. A consensus was reached to proceed as recommended.

Secretary-Treasurer’s Report. Austin Kerr made a motion to approve the minutes from last spring and the budget report submitted by Tom Taylor. Wainwright seconded the motion, which was approved.

Constitutional Issues. Rotation of six elected members of Executive Council. The recommendation was to place in the Constitution under Article IV, Section 4, a provision that “Rotation of the elected members of the executive Council shall ensure that there are two members from private colleges and universities, two members from state universities, one member from public history, and one member from two-year institutions and regional campuses.” This provision had been part of the Handbook, but should appear also in the Constitution. Wainwright moved and John Douglass seconded a motion to approve the proposal and to have it presented at the Spring Meeting to the membership for approval.

There was also discussion of whether to have an elected representative from among high school teachers. Consideration of such a possibility arose because of the concern of the Academy about the K-12 teaching of social studies, the new content standards, and the licensure of teachers based on collegiate curriculums. The Standards Committee, under Lowell Satre, had played a part in the drafting of such standards, and several Academy members had served on the ODE Content Committee. John Douglass moved and Donna DeBlasio seconded a motion to develop a constitutional amendment to add this appointment to the elected members of the Executive Committee, giving a total of seven at-large representatives. Motion passed. The Nominating Committee was to proceed with providing nominees for selection at the Spring Meeting after the adoption of the constitutional amendment.

Replacement of Editor of the Newsletter with a Content Editor and a Production Editor. This recommendation was to place in the Constitution, where appropriate, language recognizing this change recommended by the Executive Council last spring. Betsy MacLean moved and Austin Kerr seconded a motion to approve the preparation of appropriate Constitutional language to reflect the change. Motion passed.

Appointment of committee chairs to the Executive Council as voting members. Much discussion took place regarding such an appointment. Jenkins commented that it would give the President excessive power on the Executive Council since he or she would appoint 7 additional members to an 11 member council. No motion to change was forthcoming. Committee chairs will continue to serve as the non-voting members.

Appointment of the Archivist (already voted on last spring), the Content Editor, the Publication Editor, and the Webmaster to the Executive Council. Since each of these positions was appointed by the President, it was felt that such a large number of appointments could affect the representative nature of an elected Executive Council. In regard to the editors of the Newsletter, the discussion revolved around the fact that the previous single position of Editor had held an elected seat on the Executive Council. It was decided that both editorial positions were similar to other presidential appointments, and that presidential appointment power would give flexibility to the publication of a Newsletter. Hence, it was moved by Vladimir Steffel and seconded by Austin Kerr to remove both the Archivist, the two Editors, and the Webmaster from the Executive Council. They will serve as non-voting, ex-officio members, along with the Coordinator of the Book Exhibit. Jenkins was to prepare language for a constitutional amendment to reflect these changes.

Addition under Article VI of the Presidential appointment of the Conference Committee. Betsy MacLean talked about the need to formalize within the Constitution the creation of a Conference Committee to oversee the annual Spring Meeting. Several years ago, the Executive Committee had approved its formation and membership, and it was recognized in the Handbook. John Douglass moved and Donna DeBlasio seconded a motion to place the creation of a Conference Committee, with Presidential appointment, in the Constitution under Article VI. Motion passed. Jenkins will draft the language and report back to the Executive Committee.

Handbook. The Council spent much time discussing various changes in the Handbook. The highlight of changes made included the following:

• Removal of the responsibility of the Secretary-Treasurer to take the minutes of the Fall and Spring Executive Council and Business meetings. The elected members in their third year of service were to undertake this responsibility.

• Revision of the original position of Editor of the Newsletter into two positions: Content Editor and the Publications Editor of the Newsletter and their responsibilities.

• Addition of the Archivist and the Webmaster and their duties.

• Addition of the Conference Committee and its responsibilities.

• Reaffirmation of the policy of not allowing more than two dissertations to be submitted from any college or university.

• Changes of the charge of the Nominating Committee based on constitutional changes made above.

• Numerous other changes reflecting time considerations, recommended procedures for particular committees, and other minor matters.

Austin Kerr moved and John Douglass seconded a motion to approve the amended Handbook, subject to possible constitutional changes at the Spring Meeting. Motion passed. The Handbook will be made available as amended on the Website with language that indicates the possibility of constitutional change.

Committee Reports. Jenkins pointed out that there was not much time remaining, so he urged all present to read the reports handed out at the meeting from individual committee chairs. Then he asked if there were any issues that needed to be raised by a committee chair for consideration by the Executive Council. Lowell Satre, chair of the Standards Committee, discussed his report on the State K-12 Content Standards. He commented on the work of the Standards Committee in making recommendations regarding the Standards, and the fact that the Standards would be coming before the State Board of Education for approval sometime in the fall. Austin Kerr, who had been contacted by several teachers at Worthington High School, provided letters from those teachers making recommendations for changes in the proposed Standards. The teachers had two possible amendments with the first preferred: 1) Move History Benchmarks B, C, and D from Grades 6-8 to Grades 9-10 and move History Benchmarks D, E, and F from Grades 9-10 to Grades 11-12; and 2) Move History Benchmarks B, C, and D from Grades 6-8 to Grades 9-10. After extensive discussion, including Satre’s comment that the Standards Committee had recommended the beefing up of history on the high school level, Steffel made a motion that Dianne Britton seconded to support the teachers. Jenkins was to prepare a letter to be sent to the Ohio State Board of Education indicating the recommendation of the Executive Council. Wainwright moved and Elizabeth MacLean seconded a motion to approve. Motion passed.

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Report from the Secretary-Treasurer
Thomas T. Taylor, Wittenberg University

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