Alpha of Florida
Phi Beta Kappa

Executive Meeting

Minutes

10:30 AM,  June 8th, 2009

Weichelt Lounge, Rovetta Business Building, Room 220

Attendees

Joyce Simmons, Chapter President
Jerry Fisher, Chapter Treasurer
Elaine Hull, Chapter Secretary
Bob Spivey, Encouragement of Scholarship Chair
Bruce Bickley, Chapter Historian
George Weaver, Membership Chair
Annelise Leysieffer

Absent: Mark Winegardner, Chapter Vice President

1. Greetings and Introductions

         Joyce Simmons called the meeting to order at 10:40 pm.  

2. Minutes of the April 1, 2009 Meeting

         The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.         

3. Treasurer’s Report

         Jerry Fisher reported that we have $4,619.43 in the checking account and $1,020.82 in the savings account. We are still receiving checks from the national office from students’ on-line dues.

4. New Business

         Joyce Simmons noted that our Yahoo e-mail list does not include all of our active members.  Elaine Hull said that she would forward the complete list of active members.

         George Weaver reported that he had found the Constitution of the Alpha Chapter.  He also recalled that it was Nancy Marcus who made the most recent revision of the Bylaws when she was President.

5. Request to Honor Edward Hardee’s 1973 Invitation to Join Alpha Chapter of PBK

         Elaine Hull had previously distributed a request from Judge Celeste Muir, of Miami, that we honor Edward Hardee’s invitation to join our chapter when he graduated, in 1973.  Judge Muir enclosed the invitation that her son had received from the Beta Chapter at the University of Florida the previous year, stating that there was no time limit to accept.  Initially, six people were favorable to the request, if we could validate the invitation.  Several suggested that we should change the bylaw that restricts the time to accept invitations to one year.  However, after several rounds of e-mails, in which there were questions about whether we could verify his eligibility, several people expressed negative opinions about his acceptance.  Hull had e-mailed the Registrar’s office and received confirmation that Mr. Hardee had, indeed, graduated with a BA, magna cum laude, in Communications, which was then in the College of Arts and Sciences.  However, concern was expressed that Hardee had not, himself, requested that his invitation be honored.  Hull said that she was reluctant to request a letter from Hardee, if it was unlikely that it would be honored. She also observed that there is no statement of a time limit in our letters of invitation or on our website; so electees do not know about the one-year limit.  Concern was expressed that Hardee may be requesting membership as purely a political ploy, to burnish his image.  As evidence, it was noted that the letter from Judge Muir was addressed to Honorable William Andrew Haggard, who is on the FSU Board of Trustees and who has a box in the stadium.  However, Hull suggested that it seemed equally likely that Hardee did not know to whom to address a request, and that the request might have been sparked by a conversation about Muir’s son’s invitation to the Beta Chapter.  She also noted that we have tried very hard to increase our acceptance rate, and that a refusal would likely trigger negative feelings among various people who might know and/or advise potential future electees.  In addition, she had sent a previous e-mail detailing eight bylaws that we are currently ignoring and asking how we can justify selectively enforcing one bylaw, while ignoring eight others. It was suggested that we send a letter to Judge Muir, with copies to T. K. Wetherell, Anne Rowe, and Carol DeLoach (who had all requested to be informed of our decision), stating that we would abide by our current one-year time limit, but were considering revising the bylaw.  Therefore, Mr. Hardee would not be admitted at this time, but that we would re-consider his case if we should revise the bylaw.  Bruce Bickley volunteered to craft such a letter, to be signed by Joyce Simmons.  Those present voted 5 to 2 to deny Hardee admission, but to consider revising the bylaw at a later time.

6. Bylaws Revision Project

         The eight bylaws that Hull had noted were being ignored are the following:

“Article III, (d) (iv) Method of election 1) New members in course shall be elected twice each year, at a fall meeting and at a spring meeting.”  We are planning a third election, in the summer.

“Article V. Section 5.01. …No officer shall be eligible to serve more than three consecutive terms.”

“Section 5.02. The officers shall appoint four standing committees as follows: …. (b) A membership Committee, which shall be composed of eight resident members chosen for overlapping terms of two years….”

“Section 5.02. (c) A committee on the Encouragement of Scholarship which … shall consist of three members….”

“Section 5.02. (d) A Committee on Endowment which shall consist of three members. ….”

“Section 5.03. The retiring president shall appoint annually a Nominating Committee, consisting of at least four members, to nominate officers for the ensuing year. This committee shall be appointed at least two months before the annual meeting, and shall present nominations to the resident members at least one week before the annual meeting.”

“Section 5.04. The president shall appoint annually an Auditing Committee of three members. This committee shall review the accounts of the Treasurer and report the results to the membership at least once a year.”

“Article VI. Section 6.04. The presence of twelve resident members of the chapter shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.”

Jerry Fisher and Bruce Bickley volunteered to draft revised bylaws before the next meeting. 

7. Summer Initiation

         George Weaver said that he could get data regarding potential electees by the last week of June. We will meet at 4 pm Thursday, July 2. In addition to the election, we will discuss student involvement, including answers to questions that Simmons e-mailed to the President of Alpha of North Carolina. The induction ceremony will be July 30. 

8. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 p.m.