organizing

[Trechter, Sara]

> About a week ago, there was a proposal on the list that we move toward
> having a smaller group (termed an 'executive committee' at the time) get
> together in e-space and begin to write up a proposed structure for gala-l.
> This was suggestion was put forth because of the perception of apathy in
> the group as a whole.  Since then, many folks have encouraged us to keep
> the process
> democratic and keep the discussion list open.  This response has given us
> new energy.
>
> In response to the question whether we are under time constraints with
> regard to getting this organization going, the answer is "Yes, we are."
> It
> is unlikely that the Berkeley Women and Language Group will receive
> adequate
> support next year to continue to do that conference on their own.  This
> would therefore be a good time to offer support and learn from the
> Berkeley
> folks as we move toward our own conference and journal (?). In order to do
> this, we would need to have at least part of our group's goals up and
> running by early Autumn and infrastructure in place.
>
> Therefore,  we propose the following:
>
> 1)  Let's keep the democratic discussion going.  We still haven't
> addressed
> a lot of issues, and people's suggestions for how to better state the
> philosophy are extremely helpful in clarifying the different views of the
> group as a whole.
>
> 2)  Let's form a smaller committee to work intensively on writing up what
> we
> have done and then submit that to the group as a whole for approval. (See
> end of message for what we have covered from the original agenda.) The
> subcommittee would formalize/write:
>
> a.  the statement of purpose and philosophy of the organization, including
> goals, nonprofit status.
> b.  a comprehensive report of the outcome of all of this process.
>
> This group would be elected from those folks on gala-l who feel like they
> have some time to spend this summer in hashing out acceptable language and
> would continue to formalize our output.  As a sub-committee, the group
> could submit something to the list when they need feedback and when they
> think they have something that the list could approve of as a whole. The
> facilitators (if elected) could participate in this group, but would
> continue to facilitate discussion on gala-l.
>
> Note that such an 'executive committee,' was proposed in the original
> draft
> calling for online discussion of a gender and language organization.  This
> committee would *not* be equivalent to the ultimate organization that the
> members decide to elect.  However,  it should probably be diverse in terms
> of gender, sexual orientation, geographic location as possible.
>
> Please continue to post on *any* issue of interest to you that is included
> in the agenda.
>
>
> Agenda we have so-far covered.
>
>
> 1. Philosophy/Nature/Principles of GALA
>
> a. What will happen when the six months are over? How (generally speaking)
> will the issues proposed in this discussion be implemented?
>
> b. Purpose of professionalization and of GALA
> i. What are the organization's general goals?
> ii. Will the organization be mostly virtual or a nonprofit entity with
> funded activities?
>
> c. Philosophy
> i. Relation to feminism
> ii. Informed by interdisciplinary studies or specific language and gender
> methodologies?
>
>
> Mary, Megan, Kira, Sara
>
>