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2014‐2015 ASA CouncilSecond MeetingFinal MinutesSaturday, February 7, 2015Embassy Suites Washington DC Convention Center, Capital B RoomWashington, DCOfficers Present: Paula England (President), Cecilia Menjivar (Vice President), Ruth Milkman(President‐Elect), Brian Powell (Past Vice President), Barbara Risman (Vice President‐Elect),Mary Romero (Secretary)Officers Absent: Annette Lareau (Past President)Members‐at‐Large Present: Stephanie Bohon, Tina Fetner, Tanya Golash‐Boza, Adia M. HarveyWingfield, Margaret Hunter, Kelly Joyce, Peter Kivisto, Karyn Lacy, Leslie McCall, Dina Okamoto,Jane Sell, Patricia E. WhiteStaff Present: Janet L. Astner, John Curtis, Karen Gray Edwards, Sally T. Hillsman, Kareem D.Jenkins, Michael Murphy, Jean Shin, Margaret Weigers Vitullo1. Introductions and Orienting DocumentsPresident Paula England opened the second meeting of the 2014‐15 Council at 8:32am onSaturday, February 7, 2015.A. Conflict of Interest (COI) StatementAll Council members were requested to sign the COI statement and give it to GovernanceDirector Michael Murphy.B. Council Policy on Social Media Use during Council MeetingsThe President reviewed the social media policy adopted last year by Council and remindedCouncil members that identifying individuals’ viewpoints and comments was not permitted;only general content may be mentioned when discussing non‐confidential items.C. Approval of the AgendaNo changes were proposed.MOTION: To approve the agenda. Carried (no opposed).D. Approval of the August 19, 2014 Council MinutesNo changes were proposed.2014‐15 ASA Council Meeting Minutes (final)DM #782761February 7, 2015

MOTION: To approve the minutes for the Council meeting on August 19,2014. Carried (no opposed).E. Approval of the August 20, 2014 Council MinutesNo changes were proposed.MOTION: To approve the minutes for the Council meeting on August 20,2014. Carried (no opposed).2. Financial Reports and BudgetsThe Secretary reordered agenda items so that Council could discuss the page increase forContemporary Sociology before reviewing the proposed 2015 budget. Before proceeding,Romero advised Council members to read the material covering frequently asked questionsabout the ASA budget.A. One Year Page Increase for Contemporary SociologyThe Secretary reported that the incoming editor of Contemporary Sociology, Michael Sauder,asked the Committee on Publications for an additional 50 pages for the 2015 volume year tohelp alleviate the backlog from the previous editor. The committee approved the request,which was then considered by the Committee on the Executive Office and Budget (EOB). TheEOB recommended that Council approve the page increase for 2015.MOTION: That Council approve a 50‐page increase for ContemporarySociology in 2015 at a cost of 90 per page ( 4,500) to alleviate the excessbacklog from the previous editor. Carried (no opposed).B. Current (2014) Financials and Proposed 2015 Operating BudgetThe Secretary reported that projections for 2014 were that revenues would be below budget by 118,000 and expenses would be above budget by 55,000, yielding a year‐end deficitprojection of ( 144,000). Membership continues to decline, as do most revenue categories tiedto membership levels. Rental income dropped because the tenant space was empty for sixmonths. Annual Meeting expenses were higher, and some personnel costs rose due toemployee transitions.The proposed 2015 budget anticipated higher revenues from the SAGE contract as well as anincrease in Annual Meeting revenues. On the expense side, Annual Meeting expenses wereraised to support an expanded program and the ongoing higher costs of audio visual support.Proposed revenues for 2015 were 6,756,742 and expenses were 6,725,870, resulting in a netbudget that is positive by 30,872.MOTION: To approve 2015 budget proposal. Carried (no opposed).2014‐15 ASA Council Meeting Minutes (final)DM #782762February 7, 2015

C. Proposed 2015 Spivack BudgetThe proposed 2015 budget for the Spivack Program was similar to its 2014 budget. TheSecretary presented EOB’s recommendation to approve the 2015 Spivack budget and notedthat the program of the 2015 Annual Meeting will include a session that highlights the workdone by some of the Community Action Research Initiative (CARI) grant recipients.MOTION: To approve the 2015 Spivack Budget. Carried (no opposed).D. MFP Budget 2015‐2016The MFP budget for 2015‐2016 proposed funding for 4 stipends and two non‐stipendiaryawards and requested that Council consider allocating support from the Spivack Fund toprovide two additional stipends, as was done for 2014‐2015. MFP Director Jean Shin reportedthat 108 applications were submitted for fellowships in the current round; the MFP AdvisoryPanel will make funding decisions in March. All MFP awards are given for one year; multipleyear awards ended in 2010 when the NIMH training grant support terminated.MOTION: To approve a 2015‐2016 MFP budget of 84,000 for four MFPFellowship awards (at 20,000 each) and up to two non‐stipendiary MFPawards (at 2,000 each) from General Fund #53, and authorize 40,000 fromthe Spivack Fund for two additional stipends (at 20,000 each), bringing thetotal budget to 124,000 to support 6 MFP Fellows. Carried (no opposed).E. Update on the Refinancing of the ASA HeadquartersASA successfully completed its headquarters refinancing on December 1, 2014. Thesearrangements are in place for the next 10 years. Finance Director Les Briggs noted that theterms of financing included a provision that ASA must meet a minimum Debt Service Coverage(DSC) ratio of 1.20. The DSC ratio measure the Association’s ability to pay its principal andinterest on the loan.The financial provisions also contain a Liquidity Covenant which requires the Association’sunrestricted cash and investments not to fall below 75 percent of the loan amount. Briggsindicated there should be no difficulties meeting both of these loan requirements, as long asthe Association keeps the operating budget stable and continues its long term investingapproach.3. ASA Investments and ReservesA. General Financial Picture of ASA InvestmentsBriggs reported that net gains for the ASA investments through December 31, 2014 were 344,571 which put the account at an approximate 4.5% total gain for the twelve monthperiod.2014‐15 ASA Council Meeting Minutes (final)DM #782763February 7, 2015

In early January, the Investment Subcommittee met and reviewed the long term investmentsand also discussed the balance of the short term investments. Having agreed that the long terminvestments have performed well and that it was prudent to restore the short terminvestments back to their recommended 500,000 level, the EOB Investment Subcommitteerecommended (and Secretary Romero authorized) a 200,000 transfer from the General Fundto the short term investments which took place on January 9, 2015.Briggs concluded the report by noting that, if Council approved any additional large capitalprojects, it might necessitate withdrawing additional funds from the long term investments.B. Bernhardt Year‐End Investment ReportThe report from Bernhard Wealth Management, ASA’s investment advisor, was summarized,with specific notes about how well the portfolio is doing against industry benchmarks. Thevalue of ASA’s portfolio at the end of the year was 7,703,000. The EOB Investment Committeeintends to continue ASA’s investment strategy which uses an allocation of 65 percent stocksand 35 percent bonds for the portfolio.C. ReservesASA defines “reserves” as the unrestricted long‐term investments of the Association, alsoreferred to as the “General Fund Investment Account.” As mentioned earlier, a 200,000transfer of funds to the short term investment holdings at Merrill Lynch was authorized by theSecretary in order to replenish them to their typical 500,000 level. After that transfer, thereserve amount came to 5,648,868, or 86.8% of the 2014 operating budget. It was noted thatthe increase in total expenses in the proposed 2015 operating budget will reduce thispercentage as would a pull‐back in the market.4. Audit CommitteeThere was no report.5. PublicationsA. Subscriptions ReportMember subscriptions for all nine journals decreased at a rate greater than the membershipdecrease from 2012 subscriptions as anticipated. Additional individual member subscriptionshave also declined because most members can get access to journal subscriptions via theirinstitutions. The Secretary also noted that, beginning with the 2015 membership year, allmembers receive online access to all journals, so continued decline is anticipated and there isno particular cause for concern.2014‐15 ASA Council Meeting Minutes (final)DM #782764February 7, 2015

Although traditional institutional subscriptions to individual journals continue to declines slowlySAGE has significantly increased the exposure of the nine ASA journals it publishes throughconsortia arrangements and free access to libraries in developing nations. To achieve this wayof expanding journal subscriptions was one of ASA’s reasons for moving from self‐publishing toSAGE.B. Actions from Committee on Publications Meeting(1). Selection of EditorsCouncil went into Executive Session to discuss the selection of new editors for the AmericanSociological Review, Sociological Methodology, and Sociological Theory, and to receive abriefing about the editorship of the section journal City & Community. Council members withpotential conflicts of interest excused themselves from the discussion and left the meetingroom.(2). Extension of Editorial TermsCouncil had previously requested that any pro forma extensions on editors’ terms that involveda change in the editorial structure be brought to Council. Two editorships are at the point ofconsidering extensions, but neither involves any structural change. As an informational reportonly, it was noted that extensions were offered to the editors of the Journal of Health andSocial Behavior and Sociology of Education. Responses are expected by May.(3). Anonymous Vision Statements by Editor CandidatesIn December 2011, the Committee on Publications voted to begin posting anonymous visionstatements from ASA editor candidates for member input. The concept was intended toincrease transparency in the editor selection process, and to provide ASA members with anopportunity to provide input to the Committee on editor candidates’ vision and plans for thejournal without the identity of the candidates being public. Council approved this plan by theCommittee on a three‐year trial basis.The Secretary reported that at the end of the three‐year trial period the conclusion by thePublications Committee was that effort to get member responses on vision statements was notuseful. For two of the three years of the experiment, the practice caused particularly delicatesituations when there were late editor applications and/or too few applications. Moreimportant, actual member input in response to the posted vision statements was extremely lowdespite ASA advertising the availability for sociologists to do so. Furthermore, when input wasreceived, it was not particularly meaningful or useful in the Publication Committee’sdeliberations.Because the three‐year trial created significant difficulty in the editor selection process withvirtually no net gain, the Committee voted unanimously at its December 2014 meeting not torecommend its continuation to Council.2014‐15 ASA Council Meeting Minutes (final)DM #782765February 7, 2015