Council News, September 1985

As is its custom, the governing Council of the Association met May 17-18 in Washington to establish the AHA budget for the next fiscal year, review past accomplishments, and set out policy for the future on a number of important subjects. Many of its policy deci­sions result from initiatives of the three divi­sional committees—professional, research, and teaching—recommended to the Council for its approval. In general, the divisions take final action on matters that fall within the scope of previous programs and policies ap­proved earlier by the twelve elected members of the Council.

Before recounting the details of the Coun­cil’s meeting, we would like to take note of the generosity of the Albert J. Beveridge family, longtime supporters of the AHA. Mr. Albert J. Beveridge III has donated to the Association the personal library and portrait of the late Senator Albert J. Beveridge. The portrait is on display in a special room in the Association’s headquarters, which Mr. Bever­idge helped the Council dedicate on May 17 as the Albert J. Beveridge Room. Mr. Bever­idge also obtained for the AHA a generous gift for the decoration and upkeep of the new Beveridge Room from Mrs. Frederic C. Bartlett, a close friend of the Senator and his wife, also one of our generous patrons. Council marked the occasion with a recep­tion in the headquarters during the meeting in Washington.

Last December the AHA Council asked incoming president William McNeill to draft a broad statement “in defense of history.” Council wished to have an official AHA state­ment that could be addressed to general audiences explaining the value of historical study, research, teaching, and knowledge. The Council reviewed a revised draft (an earlier draft had been circulated to the divi­sional committees), heartily endorsed the publication of the statement, and  thanked Mr. McNeill for his contribution. Expected to run about four printed pages, the statement will be the mainstay of our advocacy of the cause of history at all levels. We expect it to be available shortly in printed format.

Members will recall that at last December’s meeting Council approved a proposal for a distinguished scholar’s award to be presented at the Association’s annual meeting. Charg­ing the Nominating Committee with devel­oping a list of nominees at its February meeting, Council formally named the prize “The AHA Award for Scholarly Distinction.” The award is intended to recognize histori­ans whose careers exemplify the very highest standards of our profession. Nominating Committee chair Pauline Maier further reported on a plan to regularize the election cycle of two committees and the Council (approved), discussed some of the complex­ities of ballot counting and what can be done to improve the process, and reviewed the slate of candidates for 1985.

Council applauded the work of the joint Indiana University AHA search committee for a new editor of the Review, and approved the appointment of David L. Ransel as new editor (see p. 3). Council also approved the Committee on Committees nominations of Stanley N. Katz (Princeton University) and Paul L. Murphy (University of Minnesota) as AHA members of the History Teaching Alli­ance Oversight Committee, and of Herman J. Belz (University of Maryland, College Park) as a member of the Project ’87 Joint Committee.

Inaugurating a new policy that had been discontinued years earlier, the editor of the Review attended the Council meeting as an ex officio member. Review editor Otto Pflanze discussed the reduction in cost to the Associa­tion as a result of the purchase of new equipment at the Review and at Byrd Press. Council recognized Mr. Pflanze’s devoted service to the Association as editor with a round of applause and presentation of a plaque. Council asked him to convey their appreciation to the members of his staff.

Research Division chair Mary Beth Norton reviewed the division’s activities in the spring and brought to Council’s attention a proposal for restructuring the Marraro Prize Commit­tee. Council agreed that an adjustment should be made in the course of the next year to allow for a representative from each orga­nization (AHA, American Catholic Historical Association, Society for Italian Historical Studies) to serve on the committee which awards three prizes, one in the name of each organization.

Vice-president Richard Kirkendall of the Professional Division briefed the Council on the division’s plan for revising and amending the AHA Statement of Professional Stan­dards. Mr. Kirkendall noted that public his­tory as well as part-time employment would receive attention. At the request of the Com­mittee on Women Historians, Mr. Kirkendall placed before the Council a resolution of support of the Civil Rights Act of 1985 (S.431) that is intended to rectify the Grove City decision of the Supreme Court legisla­tively, which the Council approved. Council also approved a revision in the AHA guide­lines concerning the rights of foreign histori­ans, which now permits the Association to take action any time the human rights of historians are violated. The earlier declara­tion stipulated that the violation of a right must be related to the historian’s practice of his or her craft. The Council further directed that letters be written in behalf of two Polish historians, Adam Michnik (currently on trial) and Bronislaw Geremek (dismissed from his directorship of the Institute of Historical Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences).

John Garraty, vice-president of the Teach­ing Division, reviewed his negotiations with a commercial press that has expressed serious interest in publishing the division’s new pam­phlet series. Plans are for a two-volume se­ries, one on US and one on non-US his­tory. Council endorsed the division’s initia­tives.

It also approved a joint proposal from the Society for History Education and the divi­sion. Under the agreement, AHA will jointly sponsor SHE’s journal, The History Teacher, and will place two representatives on the editorial board. SHE will establish liaison with the AHR’s editor, and to provide for coordination between the two organizations a SHE representative will attend the Teaching Division’s meetings as a nonvoting observer.

In other actions, Council approved the proposed FY 1985-86 balanced budget as presented, received an oral report on pro­grams and plans for Project ’87 by deputy director Cynthia Harrison, approved appointment of Paul Conkin as Parliamentari­an for the 1985 annual business meeting, and received a committee proposal from the 1986 Program Committee chair, Margaret Jacob. Council gratefully accepted two gifts to the Association, one to endow a permanent book prize and another  to endow a research grant. Both gifts will be discussed more fully and announced when all details have been com­pleted.

Upon the initiative of the  Professional Di­vision, the Council considered divesting the Association’s all-too-modest portfolio of se­curities of the American corporations en­gaged in business in the Republic of South Africa. Discussion with our trustees over dis­posing of the small number of such compa­nies stocks and bonds is now in train. For some years past our trustees have used obser­vance by companies of the Sullivan Principles as a criterion in investment decisions. This further action will maintain the Association’s conformity with a growing number of institu­tions and universities.

Arthur Link reported on his discussion with the National Council for the Social Stud­ies executive secretary Frances Haley on plans for a National Commission on the Social Studies. Council authorized Mr. Link to negotiate on behalf of the AHA in articu­lating a role for historians in the planning and implementation of the Commission, and expressed their appreciation to him for his many and constant efforts to improve the studying of history in the schools.

Revised Policy Statement Concerning Alleged Violations of the Rights of Foreign Historians

Adopted by Council, May 17, 1985

We now believe that a scholarly association must defend human rights as ends worthy in themselves, and not only when they are essential to the pursuit of purely scientific enterprises. The American Historical Association thinks of itself as part of an international community of scholars, and regularly participates in congresses that include professional colleagues from all parts of the world. While it might be without much effect if a scholarly society made apparently irrelevant political pronouncements, the Association ought to respond immediately and forcefully to human rights violations involving historians whether in their private lives (as men and women, and as citizens), or in their professional capacities. Action must not be tainted by the kind of selectivity that discerns violations of the rights of historians in some parts of the world but ignores similar violations elsewhere.

This is a collegial obligation that other scholarly and scientific societies have already assumed.