implementation

[Alice Freed]

Hi everyone,

     I would like to respond to the proposals that Mary posted
the other day plus add a few thoughts of my own.

     I have been thinking about what I would like to see GALA
become. (This falls under "purpose of GALA" in agenda item #1.)
More and more as I read others' comments I realize that I would
like GALA to be *the* professional organization for issues,
questions, and research  related to language and gender as a
field of study and as a topic of public importance. (This could
be for whatever geographic entity we agree on.) I would like to
see GALA (or whatever our future name is) have the sort of status
that the Linguistics Society of America (the LSA) has within the
United States. It would be a central clearing house, think-tank
and business office for "language and gender research" however
broadly or narrowly we define (or choose not to define) language
and gender research.

     I endorse the four items that Mary listed as being a useful
first set of principles for GALA though I agree that we don't
need to call the first executive committee a "temporary
committee." The people elected can have a one-year term (with
re-election a possibility) but they should be, by definition,
"The Executive Committee."

     I am repeating Mary's list below.

     1. When the discussion ends in six months, we call for
nominations for a temporary executive committee with a one-year
term of office
2. We hold an online election.
3. The committee takes the principles that emerged during the
discussion and drafts by-laws for the organization, sets up an
institutional structure (non-profit status and the like), and
otherwise gets things rolling.
4. As its last duty, the committee organizes an executive
committee or whatever form of officers we (the list) decide we
want.

     To these I would like to add the following:

     1. At the end of the six-months, GALA should be set-up as a
non-profit (or not-for-profit) organization. (The difference
between these is not something I am clear on.)  For this we will
need legal assistance and I don't know if there are lawyers among
you who can guide us.  To this end I think we would be more than
a virtual organization but rather one with  funded activities.

     2. We will need some initial capital/ financial support.
Should some of us think about going to a foundation now for seed
money?

     3. I would like to see us plan to issue a newsletter (or
bulletin) at least once a year to begin with and perhaps two
issues a year after that. This could certainly be an on-line
newsletter except if we fail to reach a significant number of
people who do not have access to the internet.

     4. I would like to see us work towards the establishment of
a referred journal. Although there are *many* language and gender
conferences held (I know of quite a few have been held or are
scheduled within a period of two years: Berkeley Women and
Language Conference, April 1998, International Linguistics
Association meeting in New York in April 1999 (Language and
Gender is the major theme), Feminism and Rhetoric Conference in
Minnesota in the fall, Language and Gender Conference in October
in New Zealand, and I believe there is/was some other conference
in Europe this year.) Could we find a publisher who would like to
start this? Would Oxford University Press in New York, which has
recently committed to a new Language and Gender Series (of which
Mary is the editor), be interested?

     What do you all think?


     Alice
________________________

     Alice F. Freed
     Linguistics Department
     Montclair State University
     Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 (USA)
     freeda at alpha.montclair.edu
     (973) 655-7505