Actions by the AHA Council

Through email communications from July 1 through December 20, 2024; at a teleconference held on October 2, 2024; at meetings on January 3 and 6, 2025; and at a teleconference on January 17, 2025, the Council of the American Historical Association took the following actions:

• Approved a statement condemning the order from Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters requiring “all Oklahoma schools . . . to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum.” To date, 18 organizations have signed on to the statement.
• Appointed Christine Varga-Harris (Illinois State Univ.) as an American Historical Review associate review editor for a three-year term ending in June 2027.
• Approved a change to AHA Bylaw 12, pursuant to Article VII, Section 2, to indicate that business meeting resolutions will be published in the November issue of Perspectives on History, as there is no longer a December issue.
• Reappointed Noel Salinger to a three-year term on the AHA Finance Committee, beginning July 1, 2024.
• Approved Suzanne Marchand, incoming AHA president-elect, to chair the fall 2024 Committee on Committees meetings in president-elect Ben Vinson’s absence.
• Signed on to an amicus curiae brief for the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti regarding the court’s recent decisions on the diagnosis and treatment of gender dysphoria.
• Approved the fiscal year 2025 budget.
• Approved establishing an AHA Communities online forum to facilitate discussion of the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza” in advance of the 2025 business meeting.
• Determined that the general procedures for the 2025 business meeting should include slots for preselected speakers chosen by Council to reflect a variety of perspectives, and slots selected by a randomized process for those who sign up to speak at the annual meeting.
• Sent a letter to the leadership of Tarleton State University regarding the nonrenewal of historian Ted Roberts’s contract.
• Signed on to a letter from the Coalition for International Education that recommended strong funding for HEA–Title VI programs in FY 2025.
• Sent a letter to Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt and members of the Oklahoma Board of Education urging the state to retain its current social studies standards.
• Sent a letter to the president of the Republic of Sierra Leone on behalf of Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, who faced threats and harassment for his work on government corruption.
• Appointed the following additional members of the 2026 Annual Meeting Program Committee: Carrie Beneš (New Coll. of Florida), Martin Bunton (Univ. of Victoria), Tabetha Ewing (Bard Coll.), Aston Gonzalez (Salisbury Univ.), Crystal Moten (Obama Presidential Center), M. Raisur Rahman (Wake Forest Univ.), Stacey Randall (Waubonsee Comm. Coll.), Yamali Rodriguez-Gruger (Chicago Public Schools), Brett Rushforth (Huntington Library Quarterly), and Marlous van Waijenburg (Harvard Business School).
• Sent a letter to National Institutes of Health director Monica Bertagnolli and National Library of Medicine acting director Steve Sherry expressing “concern regarding the recent reorganization of the National Library of Medicine, which has resulted in the elimination of the History of Medicine Division.”
• Approved the rules and procedures for debate at the 2025 AHA business meeting.
• Approved changes to the Criteria for Standards in History/Social Studies/Social Sciences.
• Sent a letter to the president of Azerbaijan on behalf of Igbal Abilov, who has been “charged and remanded to pretrial detention in Baku for his peaceful exercise of the right to academic freedom.”
• Designated three speakers against the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza” at the 2025 AHA business meeting. The speakers in favor of the resolution were designated by the resolution’s proposers. Two additional speaker slots for each side of the resolution were chosen at random from a sign-up lottery held during the annual meeting.
• Approved the minutes of the June 4 and 5, 2024, Council meetings; the October 2, 2024, Council meeting; and the interim minutes of the Council from June through December 2024.
• Approved the 2025 committee appointments.
• Appointed Alexander Mikaberidze (Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport) as chair and Melissa Stuckey (Univ. of South Carolina) as co-chair of the 2027 Annual Meeting Program Committee.
• Appointed Mimi Cowan (Field Museum) and Amy Powers (Waubonsee Comm. Coll.) as co-chairs of the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2026 annual meeting in Chicago.
• Appointed a slate of candidates to the Small Liberal Arts College Working Group.
• Thanked Leland J. White for his 20 years of service to the National Coalition for History upon his retirement as executive director on December 31, 2024.
• Accepted a proposal from the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest at Villanova University to establish two internships at the AHA and to fully fund and rename the Herbert Feis Award in Public History. The award will recognize both public history and historical work performed in the public interest.
• Approved the transition of the AHA’s 403(b) retirement plan from a legacy plan to one that offers a target-date model with additional Vanguard index funds.
• Approved updates to the charge of the Digital History Working Group.
• Selected the 2025 Honorary Foreign Member (to be announced in fall 2025).
• Postponed a decision on the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza” to a date determined by the Council.
• Appointed Sarah Weicksel the next AHA executive director, to begin a five-year term on July 1, 2025, upon the retirement of James Grossman.
• Approved the dissolution of the National History Center.
• Approved updates to the Guidelines for Racial and Ethnic Equity for Historians in the Academic Workplace.
• Approved changes to the charge of the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Equity to reflect the updated name of the committee, incorporate the Equity Award, and reflect the committee’s recent practice of meeting more than twice a year.
• Vetoed the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” which was passed at the 2025 AHA business meeting (with Council voting 11 in favor, 4 opposed, and 1 abstention) and issued the following explanation for the veto (with 10 in favor and 3 abstentions):

The AHA Council deplores any intentional destruction of Palestinian educational institutions, libraries, universities, and archives in Gaza. The Council considers the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” however, to contravene the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws, because it lies outside the scope of the Association’s mission and purpose, defined in its Constitution as “the promotion of historical studies through the encouragement of research, teaching, and publication; the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts; the dissemination of historical records and information; the broadening of historical knowledge among the general public; and the pursuit of kindred activities in the interest of history.” After careful deliberation and consideration, the AHA Council vetoes the resolution. The AHA Council appreciates the work of Historians for Peace and Democracy and recognizes the diversity of perspectives, concerns, and commitments among AHA members.