Int'l Congress of Slavists

[Michael Flier]

Dear Prof. Launer:

Your letter makes it sound as though you are unaware of the complexities
of selecting an American delegation for the International Congress of
Slavists, beginning with the call for papers and ending with the
publication of *American Contributions.*

The call for papers was the most widely advertised in the history of the
American Committee of Slavists. If you are referring to your own desire to
participate, you would have had to send in an application form by May 1,
1995 (a front-page announcement was printed in the AATSEEL newsletter
together with an application form; an announcement was printed in the
AAASS newsletter). Inasmuch as you neglected to apply, you cannot now be
considered for a place in the American delegation.

As for the selection process itself, the requirement that the papers must
be *published* as well as presented raises problems of timing, stylistic
uniformity, and editing that do not arise for presentation alone. The
editors and their committees must work with the authors several *years* in
advance to insure that the volumes will be published on time, before the
Congress actually takes place. The ultimate decision on who participates
is not a single step, but rather the result of several steps:
determination of eligibility, assessment of abstract (due January 1,
1996), assessment of written papers (July-October 1996), and approval of
final edited and corrected versions (December 1966-January 1997). The
editors are responsible for the publication of *American Contributions*
and therefore the American Committee of Slavists has delegated to them the
authority to reject an abstract or any version of a manuscript that does
not satisfy their standards of form and content.

In closing, I can assure you that every precaution is taken to give all
applicants a complete and fair evaluation. Although you state that
your remarks are not intended to be personal, I think you do the field a
disservice by discrediting the integrity of the editors and the other
members of the American Committee of Slavists, who have contributed a
considerable amount of time and energy to insure the highest quality
American delegation we can muster for 1998. I can think of hundreds of
ways to see friends in Europe that involve far less effort
than organizing the 1998 American delegation.


Sincerely,


Michael S. Flier, Chairman
American Committee of Slavists


On Sat, 16 Dec 1995, Michael K. Launer wrote:

> Regarding Intl Cong of Slavists.... It would be nice, for a change, if
> participants were selected in some sort of blind refereeing process, as
> opposed to the traditional practice of making sure friends of the
> organizing committee members all managed to have an excuse for a get
> together somewhere in Europe. Nothing personal, of course. It's just about
> time we became more professional about all of this.
>