Business Meeting Minutes Spring 2004

MRDS Business

Minutes from the Annual Business Meeting of the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society
Kalamazoo, MI

Friday, 9 May 2003
5:00 p.m.
1035 Fetzer Hall
Western Michigan University
Max Harris, Presiding

1) Welcome and passing of wine (Max Harris)

2) Presentation of minutes from last meeting (Gloria Betcher)

3) MRDS awards announcement and toast to winners:

a) David Bevington Award presented to Glenn Ehrstine (Pam Sheingorn,
David Bevington)
b) Martin Stevens Award presented to Carol Symes (Robert Clarke, Max
Harris)

4) Announcements and reports:

a) Upcoming SITM meeting, Elx, Aug 10-16, 2004 - proposals due Oct. 31, 2003 (Pam King, Alan Knight)
b) University of Toronto - upcoming saint's play festival May 23-5, 2003 (David Klausner, Alexandra Johnston)
c) Journal subscription and organization dues announcements (Medieval English Theatre: Gordon Kipling,  Early Theatre: Gloria Betcher,  SITM: Jesse Hurlbut)
d) EDAM report (Cliff Davidson)
e) Comparative Drama report (Eve Salisbury)

5) Treasurer's report (Gloria Betcher)

a) Discussion of the number of members paid for several years in advance and how such advance payments will affect our future income.
b) Announcement that the newsletter will become an online publication to save money. It will still be available in hardcopy for members who ask to receive it.

Old Business

6) Online credit card dues payment through PayPal is now available via a link provided on the MRDS homepage at <http://www.byu.edu/~hurlbut/mrds/>.

New Business

7) Report on the MRDS Council meeting (Max Harris)

8) Presentation and discussion of proposed Constitutional Amendments. Vote to take place at the 2004 MRDS Business Meeting. Proposed changes to individual sections of the MRDS Constitution appear below. It is proposed that [text in bold and bracketed be deleted] and text underlined, italicized, and in bold be added.

1. There shall be a non-profit educational society called the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society. Its purposes shall be to effect annual meetings of scholars and other persons interested in medieval and Renaissance drama, to sponsor long-range projects of interest to such persons, [and] to publish material of interest to the Society including Research Opportunities in Renaissance Drama and its Medieval Supplement, and to issue awards for publications in early drama studies.

3. The executive powers of the Society shall be vested in a Council consisting of a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary-Treasurer, and six other officers [members] elected by the paid-up members of the Society. The [President and] Vice-President shall be elected every three years for a single three-year term
[every two years for two-year terms], after which (s)he will ordinarily succeed the President without further election; the President shall serve a single three-year term; the Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected for an initial five-year term and, thereafter, shall stand for election every three [two] years for three- [two-] year terms; the other officers [members] of the Council shall be elected two each year in rotation for no more than two successive three-year terms. [All officers shall be eligible for re-election, except that the President should serve not more than two two-year terms in succession.]An Editor of the MRDS Newsletter shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Council. (S)he shall be a non-voting member of the Council.

4.Should the Vice-President not wish to succeed the President or should at least twenty members of the Society petition the Secretary-Treasurer at least one month before the appropriate annual meeting to hold an open election for President, the Nominating Committee shall ensure that at least two candidates for President be presented to the Society. Those petitioning for an open election may, but are not obliged to, nominate a candidate.

5. Should the President resign or be otherwise incapacitated before her/his term is completed, the Vice-President shall succeed the President and (unless at least twenty members of the Society petition the Secretary-Treasurer at least one month before the appropriate annual meeting to hold an open election for President) serve a full three-year term. Should the Vice-President resign or be otherwise incapacitated before his/her term is completed, the Council shall appoint an interim Vice-President, who shall serve until an election can be held. Should an at-large officer of the Council resign or be otherwise incapacitated before his/her term is completed, the seat shall remain vacant pending an election. [A vacancy on the Council, whether for one of the three executive offices or for the Council at large, shall be filled by the remaining members of the Council. The officer thus appointed to a vacancy shall serve for the remainder of the term of office being filled. In the event that a Council member at large is elected or appointed to one of the three executive offices, the vacancy on the Council shall be filled in the manner already described.] Term of office shall normally be from the conclusion of the annual meeting following the election until the conclusion of the annual meeting three years following, or as appropriate to the length of term to which the officer has been elected [or appointed].

6. Annual business meetings of the Society shall normally be held during the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo) [meetings of the Modern Language Association of America]. Notice of meetings shall be mailed to members by the Secretary-Treasurer at least 30 days prior to the time of meeting, unless members are duly notified by an announcement in the official program of the International Congress on Medieval Studies [Modern Language Association]. Sponsored sessions will ordinarily be organized by the Society for the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo), the Annual Meeting of the Modern Language Association, the International Medieval Congress (Leeds), and any other venues approved by the Society.

7. Nominations for election to Council office [the three executive offices and to the Council at large] shall be made by a Nominating Committee. Nominations may[shall] also be made by petition of twenty members of the Society in writing to the Secretary-Treasurer. Such petitions must be received at least one month [3 months] prior to the annual meeting preceding the election. The Nominating Committee shall consist of a chair [man], who may but need not be an officer [a member] of the Council, and one or more members of the Society. The Nominating Committee shall be appointed by the President of the Society prior to each annual meeting, to serve from the conclusion of that annual meeting until the conclusion of the following annual meeting. Such appointment shall be announced at each annual meeting. The Nominating Committee shall make at least two nominations for each vacancy on the Council, taking carefully into account the various constituencies making up the Society. [Election shall be by signed ballot.] The candidate receiving the largest number of votes will be appointed to the vacant position.

9. The Council will normally meet each year in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society [and of the Modern Language Association. Special meetings of the Council may be called by the President or by any two Council members, after no less than ten days' notice to each Council member. A majority of the number of Council members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Every action or decision taken by a majority of the council members present at a duly held meeting or, in lieu of a majority, by an arbitrary quorum of five, shall be regarded as the action of the entire Council]. The Council shall have the right to take any action in the absence of a meeting of the Council which they could take at a meeting of the Council by obtaining the written approval of a majority of the total number of Council members. Any action so approved shall have the same effect as though taken at a meeting of the Council. The Council shall, at its discretion, poll the membership of the Society as a whole to assist it in making various decisions, either by mail or at the Society's annual [MLA] meeting.

11. The President or a duly elected representative shall preside at all meetings of the Council and of the Society. The President shall appoint the Nominating Committee and other pertinent committees, and shall supervise the affairs of the Society during the year.

The Vice-President shall serve as presiding officer in the absence of the President, shall manage the Society's annual Publication Awards, and shall assist in the affairs of the Society.

9) Topics selected for MRDS sessions at 2004 conferences:

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University,
May 2004

• Itinerant playing in 16th-century Europe (David Klausner)
• 
  
• Manuscripts and Performance (Pam Sheingorn)
• 
  
• Early Revivals of Medieval Drama (Robert Clark)
• 
  
• Never Appear with One: Dogs and Children on the Early Stage (Victor Scherb)

International Medieval Congress, Leeds University, July 2004

• Confraternities, Processions, and Performance (Pam King)
• 
  
• Uses of Music in Early Drama (David Klausner)

Modern Language Association Convention, Philadelphia, December 2004

• Teaching Early Drama in the Undergraduate Classroom (Paula von Loewenfeldt)
• 
  
• Domestic Violence in the Drama (Gerard NeCastro)

CFPs for these sessions will go to PERFORM, REED-L, and the MRDS list.

10)  Introduction of new Council members (Max Harris)

a) Council Members: Richard Rastall and Victor Scherb

Respectfully submitted,
Gloria Betcher
Secretary/Treasurer