reposting

[Trechter, Sara]

The following message doesn't seem to have reached everyone, so we're
reposting it.

sara trechter

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