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April 1985 Council Minutes

APRIL 1985 COUNCIL MINUTES

The CoUncil met in Room A of the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in Worcester, on
19 April 1985, at 1:00 PM.  Members present were W.W. Comfort, P.L. Duran,
S.J. Friedlander, I. Kaplansky, I. Kra, T.K. Milnor, D.S. Passman, F.P.
Peterson, E. Pitcher, M.B. Pour-El, H. Rossi, J.E. Taylor, A. Terras and
D.A. Vogan, Jr.  Also present were R. Hahn, W. J. LeVeque, J.W. Maxwell
and W.B. Woolf.  Present by invitation, and with the privilege of the floor
were K.M. Hoffman and H. M. Stark.  Present Kaplansky was in the chair.

Before the beginning of the agenda in the usual form, there were two items of
business.  First, President Kaplansky reported on the continued return to
health and vigor by ex-president Julia B. Robinson.

Second, he Secretary introduced the following Memorial Resolution.


	The Council of the American Mathematical Society at its
	meeting of 19 April 1985, records with sorrow the death
	of its recently elected member Albert T. Bharucha Reid 
	on 26 February 1985.  The wisdom that he was expected to
	contribute to Council deliberations will be sorley missed.

In passing the resolution, the Council instructed the Secretary to send a copy
to his family, and to include the attached vita in the minutes.

MINUTES

1.1  MINUTES OF 8 JANUARY 1985.  These minutes had been distributed by mail
and were approved.

1.2  MINUTE OF 4 FEBRUARY 1985.  This minute of business by mail is attached
and was approved.

COMMITTEES AND BOARDS

4.1  COMMITTEE ON WOMEN IN THE MATHEMATICS SCIENCES.  The Committee proposed
an elaboration of its charge in the attachment.  The first item of the proposed
charge is the entire charge from the Council minutes of 9 April 1971.  The
second and third items are the new material.  The expanded charge, with the
word "now" in line 3 of item 1 deleted as no longer relevant, was approved.

The minutes of the meeting of 11 January 1985 are attached for information.

4.2  COMMITTEE ON OPPORTUNITES IN MATHEMATICS FOR DISADVANTAGED GROUPS.
The minutes of the Committee of 11 January 1985, are attached.  Plans for
future operations of the Committee are included.  The Committee stated its
intention to proceed with these plans unless objection was raised in the
Council.  There was no objection.

There were several suggestions.  The President reminded Council members of
their opportunity to publicize the work of their committees by submitting
reports to the Secretary for inclusion in the minutes.  Following a disucssion
of reporting by committees, a motion was passed requesting the Committee on
Committees to make a recommendation about a system of written reports from
appropriate committees to the Council.

The issue of a "sunset" rule was raised.  The Council was informed that the
Committee on Committees already reviews the status of committees and makes 
recommendations for discharge, so the matter was not pursued.

4.3  NOMINATING COMMITTEE.   In executive session at a later time in the 
afternoon, the Committee proposed that the Council nominate the following
persons for various offices in the election of 1985.

President Elect (one):		George D. Mostow (YALE)
Vice-President (two):		Richard A. Askey (Wisc.)
				Daniel Gorenstein (Rutgers)
				Linda Keen (CUNY)
				Olga Taussky (Cal Tech)
Associate Secretary (two):      Robert M. Fossum (Ill.)
				Hugo Rossi (Utah)

Editorial Committees
  American Journal (one):	Spencer J. Bloch (Chi.)
  Bulletin (one):		Edgar Lee Stout (U. of Wash)
  Colloquium (one):		Charles L. Fefferman (Princ.)
  Mathematical Reviews (one):   Robert G. Bartle (Ill.)
  Mathematical Surveys
 and Monographs (one):		R. O. Wells, Jr. (Rice)
  Mathematics of Comp.    	Hugh C. Williams (Manitoba)
  Proceedings: (2)		Doug W. Curtis (LSU)
				Andrew M. Odlyzko (AT & T Bell)
  Transactions & Memoirs (2)	Robert D. Edwards (UCLA)
				Vaughn F.R. Jones (UCB)
Committee to Monitor Prob. in
 Communication (2):		Jozef Dodziuk (CUNY)
				Arthur M. Jaffe (Harvard)

Member-at-large:(5)		James G. Arthur (Toronto)
				Charles Herbert Clemens (Utah)
				Jane P. Gilman (Rutgers)
				Philip C. Kutzko (Iowa)
				Boris Mityagin (Ohio State)
				Chuu-Lian Terng (Northeastern)
				William A. Veech (Rice)

Trustee (1):			M. Susan Montgomery (USC)
				Ronald G. Douglas (Stony Brook)

The Council made these nominations.

The Secretary announced that petitions with at least 68 valid signatures had
been received proposing the name of Vadim Komkov (Winthrop) for candidate for
member-at-large.  The nomination was made by the Council.

The Secretary noted that petitions proposing candidates for vice-president, or 
member-at-large might yet be received and would be handled by mail ballot.


Professor Harold Stark, reporting for the Committee, discussed the proposals
in the attached report that the Committee hoped would make future operations
more effective.

In the course of the discussion, there was a request that the action in item
4.11 of the Council of 8 January 1985 be brought up for reconsideration at the
meeting of August 1985.

There was a request that the lead time prior to active commiteee service during
which a committee member knows of the appointment be increased.   The Committee
on Committees is to be made aware of the request.


OFFICERS

5.1 REPORT OF THE TREASURER.  The audited report for 1984, is attached. 
Although it was not available at the time of the Council meeting, the Treasurer
announced that it was anticipated that it would show a small positive balance
of income over expenditures.

NEW BUSINESS

8.1 DUES

Professor Susan Friedlander asked that the following item be placed on the
Council agenda.

	In light of the more healthy financial position of the AMS, the
	Council could reconsider the decision to increase the dues from
	$66 to $78 (following an 18% increase last year.)  The Council
	could consider abiding by the promise given to members in 1982,
	to increase the dues only by a percentage comparable to inflation.

The Secretary provided this bit of backgound.  For many years, the dues were
raised substantially every few years on an ad hoc basis.  Beginning with the
1982 dues as a base, it was agreed that dues could be increased annually by a 
whole dollar amount equivalent to the percentage increase in average salary for
institutions report data to the AAUP for the last decade.  The calculation is
made and preserved from year to year to the penny, but the answer for the dues
of a given year is rounded to the nearest even dollar.  This was done in
setting the dues for 1983, 1984, and as a preliminary for 1985.  However, in
1984, it was realized tha the base on which this progression had been started
was too low.  Rather than raise the base in a single step for  1985, it was
decided by the Council of April 1984, and the BT to raise it in two steps. 
Dues for 1985 were set at $66 (50) and for 1986 at $78 (59).  Dues for 1987,
and beyond, were then scheduled to be calculated by the formula.  Were a 
percent increase to be used between 1985, and  1986, it would be 6.6% to $70.

There was extended discussion, but no motion was introduced.

INFORMATION AND RECORD

2.1 RUBI RODRIGUEZ.  On the basis of information received from Lipman Bers, and
Herbert Clemens, President Kaplansky, on January 28, 1985, wrote several
letters to authorities in Chile asking for information concerning the dismissal
of Dr. Rubi Rodriguez from her post at the University of Santiago.  She is a
AMS member.  On February 5, 1985, it was learned that she had been allowed to
leave Chile for the U.S.  She believes that these letters (and others helped in
obtaining this permission.  Her firing stands, however.

Subsequently, Prfesident Kaplansky wrote Frank Press, President of the National
Academy of Sciences, strongly supporting the plans to send an Academy
committee of inquiry to Chile.

2.2 BORIS WEISFEILER.:  The attachment tells in summary what is known to the
Society about the disappearance of Boris Weisfeiler.  An extended report is
available on request to the Secretary.

2.3 A21;  Professor Serge Lang has asked that the attached letter be
circulated.

Following the executive session reported in item 4.3, the Council adjourned
at 3:00 PM April 19, 1985.

				EVERETT PITCHER, SECRETARY.