American Literature Section
Operating Papers
|
|
*Updated 2008-09
This document was originally adopted on December 31, 1947 and has been revised and amended several times over the years. This version, which incorporates amendments approved in the fall of 2005, becomes the current "Articles of Organization" for distribution to members of the Section and of the American Literature Divisions.
Any member of the Modern Language Association who pays the American Literature Section yearly dues to the Journals Department of Duke University Press will be a voting member in good standing in the Section.
The officers of the Section will be a Chair, a Chair-elect, and the Executive Coordinator.
Offices of the organization will consist of an Advisory Council, an Executive Committee of three members, the Chairs of Standing Committees, the Secretaries of the five American Literature Divisions, and the Editor and the fifteen other members of the Board of Editors of American Literature.
The Chair of the Section will hold office for one year and will not be eligible for successive re-election. The Executive Coordinator will serve a four-year term on initial appointment and may be appointed to a second term.
Chair. In consultation with the Advisory Council, the Chair will plan and preside over the program and the open meeting of the Section. He or she will appoint one member of the Hubbell Award Committee, three members of the Foerster Award Committee, and the members of other committees recommended by the Advisory Council. He or she will observe the regulations established by the Modern Language Association for guidance of its organization.
Chair-elect. The Chair-elect will attend the Council meeting immediately following his or her election to office as an ex-officio member. He or she may assume other duties as sitting Council and Chair determine.
Executive Coordinator. The Executive Coordinator will maintain the files of the Section, handle daily correspondence, monitor the collection of dues by Duke University Press, pay the bills of the Section, organize the annual Section functions at MLA, order the Hubbell Medallion, conduct the annual election, work with the chair to plan and conduct the annual business meeting, work with the Chair and other members of the Advisory Council to run the Section, and compile, and publish the annual report.
The Advisory Council will consist of the Chair of the Section and the Executive Coordinator, six members to be elected two each per year for terms of three years each, and the Chairs of each of the five American Literature Divisions. The six elected members will not be eligible for successive re-election. If any member of the Council expects to be absent from its annual business meeting, that member can give a proxy to vote to a person from the following group: the Chairs of the Standing Committees, the Editor and the Members of the Board of Editors of American Literature, and the Secretaries of the Division. The Council will hold at least one session at each business meeting of the Section.
The Council will make nominations to the standing committees, to the Board of American Literature, and to the Council and certify all nominations submitted by members of the Section; after the balloting is completed, it will certify the election of candidates duly chosen according to the provisions of these articles; and it will consider such matters of policy as may be brought before it and make appropriate recommendations to the Section and the Divisions.
Members of these committees will be appointed by the Chair of the Section upon the recommendations of the Advisory Council or as specified herein.
1. Executive Committee. It will consist of the Chair of the Section, the Executive Coordinator, and one other member of the Section selected by the Chair. The immediate past Chair of the Section will serve as an ex officio advisory member of the Executive Committee. The Committee will have power in all urgent matters that require action between meetings of the Section.
2. Hubbell Award Committee. It will consist of five members, oriented to four regions and serving five-year terms. The Chair of the Award Committee will be the member serving his or her fifth and last term. The Committee will be responsible for nominating candidates for the Hubbell Medal according to provisions adopted by the Advisory Council. The Executive Committee will appoint the Executive Coordinator of the Section with the advice and consent of the Advisory Council.
3. Foerster Award Committee. It will consist of three voting members of the Section appointed annually by the Chair of the Section. It will be responsible for selecting the best essay in American Literature during the calendar year.
The annual general election will include the officers of the Section and two members of the Advisory Council. The two members of the Advisory Council in the second of their three-year terms will constitute the annual slate for the election of the Chair of the Section. The winner of this election will serve as Chair in the following year. Nominations for the annual general election of the Section will come from a Nominations Committee of three members of the Advisory council chosen annually by the Chair of the Section.
Whenever vacancies occur in any elective offices, the Executive Committee will appoint a member of the section to serve out the unexpired terms in all cases except those of Chair and of Executive Coordinator. The Executive Coordinator will serve out the unexpired term of the Chair. The Advisory Council will appoint someone for the unexpired term of the Executive Coordinator. Should neither of the two eligible Advisory Council members be able to run for election as Chair, the Executive Committee will appoint a member of the Council to serve as Chair.
In order to preserve the advantages of a unified American literature organization within the Modern Language Association, an organization that can effectively plan and sponsor projects research and publication, the divisions will be represented by voting members on the Advisory Council.
The Section and the Divisions will work intensively and conscientiously to preserve and strengthen the unity of the American literature establishment as a whole. If the officers and Executive Committee members are not already members in good standing of the Section, they should become members.
Proposed amendments to these Articles of organization originate with the Advisory Council. Copies of the amendments approved by the Council will be mailed to all members of the Section with the final ballots or published in the Executive Coordinator's Report or in American Literature. Proposed amendments submitted to the Council too late to receive circulation before the annual meeting will not be voted on until the following year.
All ballots will be submitted in writing and signed. A proposed amendment will be adopted if approved by a majority of the total number of votes cast.
1. The American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association of America (hereinafter designated as "the Section") will continue to cooperate with the Duke University Press (hereinafter designated as "the Press") in the management and production of the journal entitled American Literature (hereinafter designated as "the Journal"). The cooperation between the Press and the Section will continue in force without specific terms of renewal, but either party may, of course, review the relationship from time to time. Duke University Press reserves the right to sever the association between the Section and American Literature, and the Section reserves the right to dissociate itself and remove its name from American Literature. One year's prior declaration of intent by either party will constitute reasonable advance notice of dissociation.
2. Each issue of the journal will carry on its inside front cover the words "Published with the co-operation of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association of America and will be called American Literature.
3. All fiscal matters and allied functions such as rates, the handling of subscriptions, advertisements, rights to reprint, copyright, etc., will be the responsibility of the Press, which will continue to hold legal ownership of the journal.
4. Responsibility for American Literature will reside with the American Literature Section, with Duke University Press, and with the Editor, who will be ex officio a member of the Council and will be appointed by the appropriate authorities of Duke University after consulting with the Advisory Council of the Section and securing its approval.
5. The Editor will be appointed for a five-year term, with the approval of the Advisory Council of the Section, renewable, with the further approval of the Council, for one more five-year term only. Duke University will release him or her from part of his or her regular university duties and provide secretarial assistance sufficient to allow proper performance of editorial duties in connection with editing the journal. The Chair of the Duke University Department of English, the Director of the Duke University Press, and the Editor will consult regularly with the chair of the Advisory Council on their mutual interest in the journal.
Upon accession to the position of Chair of the American Literature Section, the Chair of the Section will write to the Chair of the Duke University English Department to ascertain any probable changes in personnel pertinent to the Editorship of American Literature. In the third year of the tenure of the Editor, the Chair of the Section will ask the Chair of the Duke University English Department to propose a nominee or nominees for the next five-year term.
Should an emergency require the temporary appointment of an Acting Editor, the Chair of the Duke University Department of English will propose a nominee or nominees through the Section's Chair to the Section's Advisory Council for approval.
6. The Board of Editors will consist of fifteen members of the Section, who will be selected by the Advisory Council of the Section and the Editor working together and approved by the vote of the Section. Members of the board of Editors will serve for terms of three years each. The members of the Board elected by the Section will be drawn from the ranks of established scholars and critics and will be distributed with a view to representing the various fields of American literature and, so far as possible, the various geographical sections of the United States. The contents of the journal will finally be the responsibility of the Editor, except that no article will be published that has not been approved by the Board of Editors, with the exception that the Editor may publish one article in each issue that has not been approved by the Board of Editors; the primary purpose of this provision is to allow the Editor to continue the present practice of including "Extra" essays that address issues of immediate importance to readers and the Section.
The Editor and the Board of Editors may appoint an Associate Editor. The Associate Editor is not automatically to be the successor to the Editor. The Associate Editor will be appointed by the Editor with the approval of a majority of the Board of Editors.
The Editor may appoint an acting Associate Editor should an
emergency require such an appointment. The Editor's appointee must be
approved by a majority of the Board of Editors.
The Advisory Council of the Section and the Press will approve any
other editor whom the Editor may call upon to help carry on the
editorial functions of the journal, should some need arise.
When the Associate Editor or any additional editors are appointed, the Editor will request that their academic institutions grant them release from a part of their regular university duties and secretarial assistance sufficient to allow them properly to perform their duties in connection with editing the journal. Such appointments will be for five years.
