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April 1976 Council Minutes

MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING DATED APRIL ll, 1976

	The Council met on Sunday, April ll, l976, at 5:00 PM in Suites L
and M of the Biltmore Hotel in New York.  Members present were H. Bass, L.
Bers, R.H. Bing, C. Davis, S. Eilenberg, J. Green, M. Gray, O.G. Harrold, 
L. Lorch, J. Milnor, K. Norton, B. Osofsky, E. Pitcher, L. Rubel, J. Scanlon,
J. Schwartz, S. Shatz, B. Simon, D. Waterman, and J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. Also
present were L. Durst, R. Hahn, H. MacDonald, and G.L. Walker.  The privilege
of the floor at various times was given to Wendell Fleming, Murray
Gerstenhaber, Edwin Moise, Paul Mostert and John J. Sopka.

	The minutes of January 2l, 1976 had been distributed by mail.  Prof.
Lee Lorch had offered two additions, as follows:  First, insert a new second
paragraph on P. 6:

	President Bers reported the release of L. Plyusch (concerning
	whom the Council had addressed inquiries to Soviet authorities)
	and his subsequent emigration, together with his family, from the
	USSR.  President Bers informed the Council of reports he had
	received of the arrest and torture by Uruguayan military
	authorities of Professor J.L. Massera, and that he (President Bers)
	had promptly intervened in aid of Professor Massera with various
	authorities.  On motion by Lee Lorch, the Council endorsed all
	the actions taken by President Bers in behalf of Professor Massera.

Second, expand the third paragraph on P. 9 to read as follows:
		
	Professor Lorch introduced the attached motion headed 3. On
	motion by Professor F. Peterson, Council decided not to permit
	any discussion of the motion on Vietnam and proceed immediately
	to the vote.  The original motion was defeated.

With these additions, the minutes were approved.

The Committee on Committees offered the following recommendation:

	The Committee on Committees recommends that the trial of
	election of members of the Nominating Committee by the
	method of the single transferrable ballot be continued
	for one more year on the terms already defined.

The Council approved.

	The attached report of the Committee on Employment and Educational
Policy was received.

	The Committee on the Emergency Employment Situation in Mathematics
offered the attached report, dated March l8, l976 and labeled Final Report.
Prof. Judy Green, a member of the Committee, stated her intention possibly 
of offering a minority report.  She then moved the recommendations of the
report, namely that:

	a)  The charge of CEESIM be added to the charge of CEEP (where it
	does not overlap the existing charge to CEEP);

	b) The membership of CEEP be adjusted to include persons interested
	in and involved with parts of the charge originally assigned to
	CEESIM;

	c)  A Subcommittee of CEEP be appointed specifically to deal with
	these problems.

	In support of the motion was a memorandum from Wendell Fleming,
Chairman of CEEP in which he stated:

	[The recommendation from CEESIM] was discussed by CEEP at the San
	Antonion meeting in January.  Regarding the three stipulations a),
	b), c) of this recommendation from CEESIM;

	1.  CEEP is willing to accept the additional responsibility implied
	by a), should the Council decide to terminate CEESIM.

	2. Regarding b) CEEP has presently 5 members.  It would be desirable
	to add one or more additional members.

	3.  In response to c) CEEP is willing to designate a subcommittee of
	its members to consider problems arising from the original charge to
	CEESIM.

	The Council passed the motion of Professor Green and discharged the
Committee on the Emergency Employment Situation in Mathematics with thanks.

	The suggestion was noted that a new member might be selected from the
unemployed or untenured.

	The Committee on Graduate Education presented the attached report,
concerned with a resolution of the Council of April ll, l975 that the Society
"serve as the institutional affiliate for mathematicians in need of such
affiliation who want to apply for research grants."  The report identified
three groups of individuals who might be served.  The Committee made a
recommendation in two parts, consisting of the last two paragraphs of the
report, as follows:

	The Committee recommends that the AMS headquarters prepare a detailed
	brochure which describes the steps an individual should take so that
	his proposal will be processed by the Society.  This service should be
	open to all AMS members.  In addition, there should be a detailed
	announcement, perhaps in the NOTICES,  which describes the limitations
	the Society will impose on its own activity.  For example, the Society
	will not referee proposals for their scientific merit (this, of course,
	is done by the NSF), the Society will disburse funds only at the
	request of the Principal Investigator, the Society will not supply
	technical typing or other such services under any circumstances, etc..

	The Committee further propses that this initial action be limited to a
	three year period at the end of which time a review committee appointed
	by the President of the AMS will recommend to the Council whether or
	not the sponsorship of grants by the Society should be continued.

	The President noted that the Society planned to charge overhead,
although more modest than that charged by universities, so that the proposal
should not cost the Society money.  Moreover, it was intended that the Society
would provide less service than is frequently provided by a University,
limiting itself to disbursing funds on the order of the chief investigator,
including possibly payment for supporting services.  It was understood that the
Secretary would screen proposals and sign those offered as an indication that
the proposer is a professional mathematician, but not as a judgment of the
scientific merit of the proposal.

	The Council approved the recommendations of the Committee with the
understanding that the issue be brought back to the Council for review in three
years, possibly sooner.

	The Committee on Science Policy offered the attached report on
postdoctoral support of research.  The recommendation begins at the bottom of
p. 8 and extends through the end of the report on p. l0.

	A motion to approve the recommendations of the report was passed.  The
council then passed a motion by Judy Green that the Science Policy Committee be
expanded to include persons not employed at a research institution at the time
of appointment.

	President Bers reported on several matters.  One concerned the physical
condition of Jose' Luis Massera, now stated to have become worse.  Reference
may be made to the minutes of January 2l, 1976.  A second, concerned the
ambitious plan for a joint meeting by satellite with the London Mathematical
Society as a bicentennial event.  It did not materialize because of lack of
funds.  Instead, an exchange of speakers with LMS was proposed.  This was
authorized by the Council.

	The Council of January 2l, 1976 authorized a new class of foreign
members.  The resolution was as follows:

	The AMS establishes as of January l, 1978 a new membership category,
	"foreign member".

	ELIGIBILITY:  Any mathematician with a permanent appointment, or
	permanently residing, outside the US and Canada may elect to be
	a foreign member, rather than an ordinary member.

	Ordinary AMS members who are temporarily visiting abroad are
	specifically excluded from foreign membership status. "Temporarily"
	means up to three years.

	RIGHTS:  Foreign members have all privileges of ordinary AMS
	membership (including journal subscriptions and the right to
	present papers at meetings), with the exception of voting rights,
	not by mail and at business meetings, which are reserved for 
	ordinary members.

	DUES:  FOREIGN MEMBERS NOT RESIDENT IN THE US OR CANADA DURING
	MOST OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR IN WHICH DUES ARE PAID:  dues to be
	fixed by the Trustees, but not to exceed 2/3 of the minimum
	membership rate for ordinary members.  ALL OTHER FOREIGN 
	MEMBERS:  dues same as those for ordinary members.

	Existing reciprocity agreements are to be abolished when the new
membership category is available.

	The Secretary was authorized to draft the amendments to the bylaws to
accomplish the required changes.  In the text, deleted words are in brackets
and added words are in italics.

	Article IV, Section 8, last paragraph:

	The Council may also refer the matter to a referendum by mail of the
	[entire membership] ORDINARY MEMBERS of the Society, and shall make
	such reference if a referendum is requested, prior to final action
	by the Council, by 200 or more ORDINARY members.  The taking of a
	referendum shall act as a stay upon Council action until the votes
	have been canvassed and thereafter no action may be taken by the
        Council except in accordance with a plurality of the votes cast
	in the referendum.

	Article VII, Section 2, second sentence:

	An official ballot shall be sent to each ORDINARY member of the
	Society by the secretary on or before October 10, and such ballots,
	if returned to the secretary in envelopes bearing the name of the
        voter and received within 30 days, shall be counted.

	Article VIII

	Section 2.
	
	There shall be [four] FIVE classes of members, namely ordinary,
	FOREIGN, contributing, corporate, and institutional.

	Section 3, first sentence:

	Application for admission to ordinary OR FOREIGN membership shall
	be made by the applicant on a blank provided by the secretary.
	
	Renumber Section 5 as Section 6.

	New Section 5.

	A FOREIGN MEMBER MAY BECOME AN ORDINARY MEMBER BY PAYING THE DUES
	FOR SUCH MEMBERSHIP.  (See Article IX, Section l.)

	Article IX

	Section l, first sentence:

	Any applicant shall be admitted to ordinary OR FOREIGN membership
	immediately upon election by the Council (Article VIII) and the
	discharge within 60 days of election of his first annual dues.

	Section 2.

	The Annual dues of an ordinary OR FOREIGN member of the Society 
	shall be established by the Council with the approval of the
	Trustees.  The Council, with the approval of the Trustees, may
	establish special rates in exceptional cases [and for members 
	of an organization with which the Society has a reciprocity
	agreement].

	SECTION 3.

	THE DUES OF A FOREIGN MEMBER SHALL NOT EXCEED TWO THIRDS OF THE
	DUES OF AN ORDINARY MEMBER.

	Old Sections 3, 4, 5 become 4, 5, 6 respectively.

	SECTION 7.

	THE CRITERIA OF ELIGIBILITY FOR FOREIGN MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE SET BY THE
	COUNCIL.  A FOREIGN MEMBER HAS ALL PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERSHIP EXCEPT THE
	RIGHT VOTE AT BUSINESS MEETINGS OR ON BALLOTS BY MAIL.

	Old Sections 6,7, become 8, 9 respectively.

	Section 8 becomes
	
	SECTION l0.

	After retirement from active service on account of age, any ordinary OR
FOREIGN or contributing member who is not in arrears of dues and with
membership extending over at least 20 years may, by giving proper notification
too the secretary, have his dues remitted on the understanding that he will
thereafter receive the NOTICES but not the BULLETIN.

	Section 9 becomes

	SECTION ll.  An ordinary OR FOREIGN or contributing member shall
receive the NOTICES and BULLETIN as privileges of membership during each
year for which his dues have been discharged.

	Section l0 becomes

	SECTION 12.

	The annual dues or ordinary, FOREIGN, contributing, and corporate
members shall be due by January l of the year to which they apply...

	Section ll becomes

	SECTION l3.

	Article X, Section l:

	Insert a sentence following the third sentence:

	ONLY ORDINARY MEMBERS PRESENT SHALL BE ENTITLED TO VOTE.

	Article XIII

	These bylaws may be amended or suspended at any meeting of the Society
on recommendation of the Council and by a 2/3's vote of the ORDINARY members
present, provided notice of such proposed action and of its general nature
shall have been given in the call for such meeting.

	The Council agreed to recommend the changes in bylaws to the Business
Meeting, to be effective on January l, 1978.

	The Secretary moved that the interpretation of the criteria for foreign
membership in the motion of January 2l, l976 be delegated to the EC.

	An amendment was proposed by Lee Lorch to add the words "except that a
person employed and resident in a foreign country shall be eligible for foreign
membership".  The possibility that the question of Canadian members, to which
the amendment seemed to be directed, be referred to an ad hoc committee was
mentioned by the President.  The amendment was withdrawn.  Then an amendment
was accepted, adding the words "except that the problem of Canadian membership
shall be considered by the Council after a report from an ad hoc Committee." 
The amended motion was passed.  It was noted that the problem involved not
only individual membership, but related questions of institutional membership
and page charges.

	A motion that the new class of membership, if approved by the Business
Meeting, be promulgated with the billings of l977 was passed.

	The EC was authorized to make editorial changes in the amendment prior
to the Business Meeting, reporting them to the Council in August of l976.
Suggestions which might improve the wording were noted.

	The Exe. Dir. asked for guidance concerning the accumulation of
requests by societies to institute membership by reciprocity.  His letter is
attached.  It was suggested that he explain the current situation to the five
societies on his first list, with emphasis on the fact that membership by
reciprocity will vanish after l977.

	The Council was in recess for dinner from 6:30 PM until 8:l0 PM.

	Lee Lorch offered the following resolution:

	The Council adopts the following paragraph as its policy in respect to
the publication EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION FOR MATHEMATICIANS.

	'Employers refusing to sign, or failing to submit, a nondiscrimination
form will not be listed in EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION FOR MATHEMATICIANS. 
Furthermore, employers signing nondiscrimination forms discovered to be false
will also not be listed in that publication.'

The resolution was submitted in advance to the members of the Joint Committee
on Employment Opportunities, which monitors the service of EIM.  Comments of
two individual members are attached.  Professor Lorch called attention to an
earlier file of correspondence, initially between Professor James A. Donaldson
and the Exe. Dir. and subsequently referred to the Secretary, that the 
Secretary should have circulated with the agenda.  It is attached.

	The motion was discussed at two different times during the meeting, but
the account is consolidated here.

	An additional difficulty with respect to Howard University was noted,
namely, that the University was listed in EIM as not responding to the question
about open positions, whereas there had been a positive response declining to
list.  A question about the legal point raised in Donaldson's letter revealed
the opinion of the Society's attorney that it did not apply.

	The phrase "discovered to be false" was the subject of extended
comment.
	
	The motion was divided into two parts, namely the two sentences.  The
first part was amended to read "...will be listed in a separately headed
section of the journal EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION FOR MATHEMATICIANS."  Lorch did
not accept the amendment but the Council voted the amendment and then approved
the amended motion.  The second part was defeated by a vote of 9 to 6.

	It was noted that the publication EIM is a joint venture with the
Mathematical Association of America , whose approval is necessary in order to
make the change.

	Professor Lee Rubel had asked that the following resolution be placed
before the Council:

	It is moved that CAFTES (the Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure
	and Employment Security) be dissolved.

However, he did move

	That CAFTES shall not concern itself in the future and shall
	immediately discontinue all present concern with individual
	cases of alleged violation of academic freedom, or of tenure
	rights, or of violation of correct procedure in employment
	security matters in all cases where other avenue of approach
	like the American Association of University Professors,
	American Civil Liberties Union, United States Department of
	Health, Education and Welfare, or the courts of the law have
	not been fully utilized.

	The Council then recessed and considered the motion in committee of the
whole, which returned to the Council a subsidiary motion that the motion of
Professor Rubel be referred to the Committee to Write Rules for CAFTES.  The
subsidiary motion was passed.

	Professor Edwin E. Moise, Chairman of the Comm. on Principles and
Procedures presented the attached report of the Committee and answered
questions as the discussion progressed.

	The report contained several recommendations.  First, was the
recommendation in section 2, titled "Who Speaks for Whom?"  to the effect that
Article IV, Section 8, be deleted from the bylaws.  In the discussion, it was
recognized that this would have at least two results.  One is to deny the
Council the "power to speak in the name of the Society" and to erase the
conditions and rules governing such an act.  The other is to suppress reference
to the possibility of a referendum, without denying the possibility, and to
remove the requirement for a referendum under certain conditions which would be
vacuous without the power of the Council to speak for the Society.  There was
sentiment expressed for preserving reference to a referendum and for stating
conditions under which one might be appropriate or required.  There was an
amendment proposed that the question of when and how to hold a referendum
should be referred back to the Committee on Principles and Procedures.  It was
separated to become a main motion and was passed.  The motion to recommend to
the business meeting that Article IV, Section 8, be deleted was passed.  It was
noted that the combined effect is that there will be no requirement for a
referendum in the interval between the repeal of Article IV, Section 8, and the
adoption, if it is accomplished, of a new bylaw on referenda.

	The Council turned to the recommendation of Section 4, entitled "A
Problem in Parliamentary Law".  The proposed new bylaw, in quotation marks on
P. 5 of the report, was put before the Council as a motion.  There was
discussion of the desirability of incorporating procedural rules in the bylaws
versus adopting them by the Council, the former being rigid detail in a general
governing document and the latter not being binding on a Business Meeting.
Professor Milnor proposed a substitute that the Council recommend that the
presiding officers at meetings of the Council and at Business Meetings follow
Sturgis' Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, revised.  The substitution
took place and the substituted motion was passed.

	The Committee recommended in section 5 that there be created a standing
Committee on the Agenda for Business Meetings.  The Council approved. Section 5
provides the material of a charge.

	The final recommendation of the Committee, contained in section 7, is
that a Committee on Human Rights of Mathematicians be established.  The issue
under discussion was the charge and scope of the proposed committee.  Some
participants maintained that the report did not make these matters clear while
Professor Moise stated that his Committee would have nothing to add on further
consideration.  President Bers proposed that if the motion passed, he would
undertake to write a charge for consideration and approval by the Council and
not to activate the committee until that had been done.  Then the
recommendation to establish the Committee was approved.

	It was observed that the delay in activating the above committee should
not be allowed to affect actions already in progress concerning abrogation of
rights of Jose' Luis Massera or Alicia Alcayaga.  It was noted that no response
had been received to an inquiry concerning the latter addressed by President 
Bers to the Ambassador from Chile.

	There was a resolution by Prof. Chandler Davis as follows:
	
	Since a considerable number of members of the Society have religious
	beliefs prohibiting attendance at meetings on Saturdays, the Society
	should schedule an appreciable fraction of its one-day meetings on
	other days of the week.

Consideration was postponed until the meeting of August l976.

	There was a resolution by Prof. Lee Lorch as follows:

	Local arrangements committees for Annual Meetings (i.e.., January)
	and Summer Meetings (i.e., August) shall be appointed approximately
	eleven months prior to the respective dates of the Meetings.

Consideration was postponed until the meeting of August l976.

	At l0:00 PM the Council went into executive session.  The first portion
of the session was devoted to the report of the Nominating Committee.  The
Council followed the suggestions of the Committee in nominating:
	
		John T. Tate
		John Wermer

for one position of vice-president and:
	
		Theodore W. Gamelin
		Richard J. Griego
		Karl H. Hofmann
		Robert P. Langlands
		Henry P. McKean, Jr.
		Martha Kathleen Smith
		W.T. Tutte

for five places as member-at-large.  To that list they added the name of
	
		Raymond L. Johnson

	The Council approved a slate for the Editorial Policy Comm. of the
Notices consisting of:

		Robion C. Kirby
		Arthur P. Mattuck
		George Piranian

	The Council nominated Louis N. Howard to represent the Society on the 
U.S. National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

	The remainder of the actions in executive session are separately 
reported.
					Everett Pitcher, Secretary
					April 11, 1976