MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DELTA PHI ALPHA
NATIONAL COUNCIL AND FACULTY ADVISORS
The annual meeting of the National Council, open to all faculty advisors, was held on Wednesday, December 29, 1999, in the lounge of the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago. The meeting was called to order at 11:45.
1. In the absence of the out-going president and the vice presidents, the meeting was called to order by the secretary-treasurer.
2. The minutes of the meeting, held the previous year in San Francisco, were approved as distributed in the Spring Mailing, 1999. They will appear in the next regular issue of the Bulletin.
3. The National Secretary-Treasurer made the following information available.
In 1999, 109 chapters held at least one initiation (97 in 1998). A total of 780
new members were initiated (763 last year). The Society has a total of 234
chapters. Of these, 139 are active, 95 are inactive. No new chapters were
founded in 1999.
The issue of reactivation remains a constant concern to the National Council.
4. The Secretary-Treasurer gave the Treasurer's Report for information.
5. The Secretary-Treasurer reported on the Invested Funds which are administered by Professor Maurice Conner (Theta Beta chapter).
6. The members of the Scholarship Committee this past year were Maurice Conner (University of Nebraska, Omaha), Chair, and Geoffrey Orth (Longwood College). The total number of application completed was 9 (same as last year): 5 were in the Graduating Senior group, 3 were in the Sophomore/Junior group. The winner and runner-up in the first category made application to DAAD. The winner and runner-up in the Senior category were: Rachel Bachmann (Washington University) and Peter Magyar (Drew University). The winner and runner-up in the Sophomore/Junior category were: Laura Woodworth (Drew University) and Sarah Huxford (Wofford College).
7. Professor John Reynolds, National Secretary-Treasurer, reported on the
Incentive Awards. Winners of this year's awards, which amounted to a total of
$1,032, were as follows:
1. Delta Lambda (Washington and Jefferson College) …. $300
2. Epsilon Kappa (University of Delaware)…………….. $150
3. Iota Phi (Drew University)………………………....... $282
4. Kappa Phi (St. Louis University)…………………….. $300
Chapters receiving Incentive Awards must wait one year before being eligible to apply again.
Old Business:
1. In 1998, the MLA decided to drop Delta Phi Alpha from the list of Allied
Organizations based on the perception of the Program Committee that the
Society's members are elected and therefore the organization is not open to all
members of the MLA. The Society appealed the MLA's decision. Although students
are elected into Delta Phi Alpha, anyone, including MLA members, with an
interest in things German can become an honorary member of the Society. The
Program Committee, although sympathetic to the argument put forth by the
Society, rejected the appeal, concluding that an honor society really has no
place in the Modern Language Association.
The National Secretary-Treasurer was charged with the task of contacting the
AATG and ACTFL to see if one of these organizations would grant
allied/affiliated status to the Society.
2. The suggestion by Professor Lamb-Faffelberger ( Kappa Nu, Lafayette College) to create an award for Delta Phi Alpha faculty advisors, based on the activities of the chapters, was discussed. Awards could be given to the chapters with the highest number of initiates, but broken down by total enrollments at a given institution. Another suggestion was to base the award on student essays. A special committee would decide the winners. Advisors were asked to bring suggestions to the next meeting. (More under new Business)
3. The Delta Phi Alpha journal, the Delta Phi Alphan, proposed in 1996 is evidently dormant. No reports from the editor have reached the Society for over a year. The Delta Phi Alpha Newsletter, sent out by the National Secretary-Treasurer, will therefore start up again this spring. It will contain reports sent in from chapters over the past year. A Chapter Report Form will go out in the Second Fall Mailing in October.
New Business:
1. Since the Society has no venue for the next annual meeting, there will be no Call for Papers this year.
2. The National Secretary-Treasurer contacted ACTFL with a request to become either an affiliated, or allied member of that organization. The ACTFL Headquarters suggested contacting AATG which has status with ACTFL. The AATG already has an honor society and had asked Delta Phi Alpha to join some years ago. Because the AATG Honor Society is open to high school students, whereas Delta Phi Alpha initiates only college or university students, and because the standards for membership and organizational administration would be quite different in both societies, the Executive Council declined the AATG's request at that time. The National Secretary-Treasurer was charged with the task of contacting both the AATG and ACTFL once more to attempt to obtain affiliation with one of these organizations and report back to the new Delta Phi Alpha president.
3. This year was an election year for the Society. New officers for the term
Jan. 2000 - Dec. 2002 are:
President: Wolff von Schmidt, University of Utah
Vice-President: Frank R. Hugus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Second Vice-President: John M. Jeep, Miami University
Secretary-Treasurer: John F. Reynolds, Longwood College
4. The Secretary-Treasurer reported that membership fees for the Society may have to be raised due to increasing costs. Membership dues have not risen in over 45 years, while the costs of such items as postage, telephone, printing of three mailings, the Bulletin, and the Newsletter, etc., have gone up over 100%, and in some cases over 200%. Added to these costs are the expenditures for incentive grants which amounted to more than $5,000 over the past three years. The National Secretary-Treasurer suggested that the one-time membership fee be increased to $20 per member effective July 1, and that other rates, e.g. replacement certificate fees, also be increased appropriately. The increases would be in line with fees charged by Spanish and French national honor societies. The Secretary-Treasurer will request action on this proposal from the full Executive Council.
5. The new Delta Phi Alpha Bulletin for the years 2000-2001 will be printed this spring and distributed to all active chapters. Chapter advisors should look over the old Bulletin and report any omissions and/or mistakes to the Secretary-Treasurer.
6. The Secretary-Treasurer reported that the Legacy Fine Jewelry Company,
which supplies Delta Phi Alpha pins, etc., has changed its name to Master Design
and is located at the following address:
81 John Dietsch Blvd. (or P.O. Box 2719)
Attleboro Falls, MA 02763
The phone number is still 1-800-542-3728, but orders can be faxed to the new fax
number: 508-695-2509.
7. Professor Maurice Conner, University of Nebraska at Omaha, requested that a replacement be found for him as manager of Invested Funds. The Secretary-Treasurer will look for a replacement and thanked Professor Conner for his outstanding work in managing these invested funds for the past several years.
8. Adjournment. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:30pm.
Respectfully submitted,
John F. Reynolds, National Secretary-Treasurer