Council Approves FY17 Budget, Reviews Feedback on Affinity Groups

At its very efficient May 11-12 meeting in Chicago (that ended a half day early), the SAA Council took the following actions:

• Approved the FY 2017 Proposed Budget as submitted by the Finance Committee and staff, with revenues of $2,804,810, expenses of $2,781,610, and a projected net gain of $23,200.

• Approved formation of SAA’s 41^st student chapter at Rutgers University.

• Approved several revisions in the Governance Manual appendixes to bring them up to date with current procedures.

• Approved a change in the name of the Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy to Committee on Public Policy.

• Elected Rachel Vagts to serve on the 2016-2017 Executive Committee and Pam Hackbart-Dean and Michelle Light to serve on the 2016-2017 Nominating Committee.

In addition, the Council:

• Reviewed the status of activities within the Strategic Plan 2014-2018.

• Reviewed member and staff suggestions regarding modifications in the current structure of component groups, and agreed to field a proposal for member comment between May and July and to reach a decision about modifications at the Council’s August 1 meeting in Atlanta.

• Agreed to propose amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws to 1) allow a more flexible schedule for member referenda on issues not related to dues increases and 2) address the process for filling Council vacancies. A briefing paper on the proposed amendments will be distributed beginning in late May and discussed at the August 6 Annual Membership Meeting in Atlanta.

• Discussed an interesting and innovative approach to the 2017 Annual Meeting program as proposed by Program Committee Chair Terry Baxter. The Council agreed that the Program Committee should proceed with selecting approximately 50 education sessions for presentation on Thursday and Friday of the conference and to present sessions on Saturday as a symposium that addresses the ideas of diversifying, decolonizing, and liberating the archives.