NE / EC Regional Business Meeting MinutesApril 20, 2018

Presiding: Jennifer Wright Knust, 2018 Regional President; Amelia Devin Freedman, Regional Coordinator

Full Members Present: Giovanni Bazzana (Harvard Div); John J. Collins (Yale Div); Andrew Davis (BC); Nate DesRosiers (Stonehill); Matthew Larsen (Yale U); Anna Rozonoer (Hellenic College); John Thames (U Conn); Matthew Walsh (Acadia Div College); Larry Wills (Brown).Guest: Robert Kashow (Brown)

1. Introductions

2. AY 2018-2019 Regional Presidential NominationA. Yonder M. Gillihan (Boston College) was elected president unanimously. Yonder

plans to make academic labor and work the focus of his special sessions, due to his interest in solidarity and labor in antiquity.  

3. AY 2018-2019 Changes to Regional Executive CommitteeA. We need to identify a replacement for Amelia, who’ll begin in AY 2020-2021. Ideally,

we should have done so by our meeting next year, so s/he can shadow Amelia in AY 2019-2020. Anyone interested should contact Amelia for more information.

B. Jennifer Eyl (Tufts), and Giovanni Bazzana (HDS) are cycling off the REC, and Yonder is moving into the President position. Replacements suggested by attendees are as follows: Jae Hee Han (soon to be at Brown); Angela Harkins (BC); Mahri Leonard-Fleckman (Providence College); Shively Smith (soon to be at BU). Amelia will follow up.

4. Tentative Upcoming Regional Meeting LocationsA. We will meet at Tufts in March 2019, date TBD.B. BC STM in 2020: There is a new Dean at STM, who’s eager to reestablish ties with

us after the misunderstanding over academic freedom that occurred in 2016. Amelia summarized this misunderstanding and the resulting MOU. Yonder questioned whether the MOU goes far enough. Specifically, he observed that SBL members who are guilty of discrimination are subject to the Professional Conduct Policy, but institutions who host Regional meetings are not held to the same standard except for the duration of the SBL meeting they host.

5. The Regional Student Committee is currently surveying student members. The survey will be open online until April 27.

6. Amelia reported about the Regional Coordinators’ Committee at the Annual Meeting in November.

A. According to John Kutsko, SBL and AAR are forming a task force to work together on the Regional level

B. Goals:i. To mentor students, women scholars, and scholars of color

ii. To establish the Regional Meetings as employment clearing houses for contingent and community college faculty positions (as the Annual Meeting functions for TT and visiting faculty positions)

7. Other BusinessA. Amelia proposes adding a registration category (at reduced cost) for NTT,

contingent, and emeritus/a faculty. Proposal accepted.