Proposed 20 September 2004 by Chapter President Scott Messing
Please read the following carefully. Unfortunately, the Chapter constitution requires that: “The Constitution of the Chapter may be amended at an annual meeting by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, provided the text of the amendment is circulated to the members at least one month before the annual meeting.” This comes to you less than one month before the Fall Meeting and so my proposed change cannot be acted upon.
There is a discrepancy between the Society’s bylaws, its Council guidelines, and the Chapter’s constitution regarding student representatives.
(1) Article IV.A.2 of the Society's bylaws:
“The student members of the Council shall be students who have embarked on doctoral programs in any field of musical scholarship.”
(2) The Council guidelines of 1998 governing student representatives:
“1. They are to be members in good standing of the Chapter and the national Society. They are to be graduate students in a doctoral program in musicology broadly defined.”
(3) Article IV.B of the Chapter's constitution:
“When requested to do so by the Society, the members of the Chapter shall elect a Student Member to the Council of the Society. The Student Member shall be a member of the Society and the Chapter who has embarked on a doctoral program in musicology at an institution within the geographical area of the Chapter and who has attended at least one meeting of the Chapter. The Student Member shall serve a term of one year. Reports on Council meetings to the Chapter may be made orally or in writing.”
This discrepancy has arisen because the Council guidelines, adopted by the Chapter in 1998, calls for a rotation of student representatives among universities, which, for the two-year term 2004-2006, designates Michigan State University as the appointing institution. Michigan State University, however, currently does not offer a doctoral degree in music history or musicology.
In consultation with current and former officers of the Chapter and the Society, a unanimous opinion agreed that the Chapter should adopt a “big tent” practice with regard to student representatives. Accordingly, I propose that the Chapter’s constitution be amended to reflect the Society’s bylaws and the Council guidelines.
Move that Article IV.B of the Chapter’s constitution be amended to read:
“When requested to do so by the Society, the members of the Chapter shall elect Student Members to the Council of the Society. The Student Members shall be members of the Society and the Chapter who have embarked on a doctoral program in any field of musical scholarship, broadly defined, at an institution within the geographical area of the Chapter. Two Student Members shall each serve overlapping terms of two years in accordance with Council guidelines adopted by the Chapter in 1998. Reports on Council meetings to the Chapter may be made orally or in writing.”
Note: I have asked Dr. Anna Celenza, chair of the musicology/ethnomusicology area at Michigan State University, to select a student based on the above criteria. She and her colleagues selected Benjamin Ayotte, a Ph.D. student in Music Theory, who is working on a dissertation concerning Schenker's work as a composer of Lieder. He is also the author of Heinrich Schenker: A Guide to Research (New York: Routledge, 2004).
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