Here are the minutes of the February 2010 meeting of the JACC Board of Directors held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles Feb. 21.
Members Present:
Faculty President Jay Seidel (Fullerton), Student President Michelle Olson (Chabot), Faculty Vice President Dympna Ugwa-Oju (Fresno), Student Vice President Anttwan Stanberry (Skyline), Faculty Vice President Danny Edwards (Bakersfield), Student Vice President Brandon Hensley (Glendale).
Staff Members Present:
Events Director Timi Poeppelman and Communications Director/Secretary Rich Cameron.
MINUTES
Minutes from the last meeting were approved and Michelle was thanked for keeping them in absence of the secretary.
REPORTS
FACULTY PRESIDENT REPORT
Jay reported on schools that are having problems and how he is working with them. He particularly mentioned San Mateo, Southwestern and LA City colleges.
Retirements can also create opportunities for schools to cut programs or push for them to go online only and we’re keeping a watch out for those situations.
Rich suggested that the organization form an official policy about online only as an option for programs. His point was that we can give our members guidance and ammunition for fighting premature efforts to move publications to online only.
STUDENT PRESIDENT REPORT
Michelle reserved her report for talking about the convention.
NORCAL FACULTY REPORT
Dympna talked about the NorCal Conference and expressed concerned about budgets and potential participation in this year’s convention. Timi said this remains a concern, but we’ve faced this problem for years and our numbers keep going up. And this year members are reporting larger enrollments than ever. Whether this will translate to increased registrations is unknown.
The 2010 NorCal Conference will once again be held at San Jose State University.
NORCAL STUDENT REPORT
Anttwan reported that the NorCal Conference was a success from a student point of view. He expressed a desire for a student listserve to improve student communication.
Michelle and Anttwan are planning an editor roundtable at Chabot College on March 19.
SOCAL FACULTY REPORT
Danny said that he has not heard much from SoCal members on issues, but that he is staying on top of programs with problems caused by budget, retirement and other factors. He seconded the idea that JACC should adopt an official policy regarding online only publications.
SOCAL STUDENT REPORT
Brandon had no report.
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR REPORT
Rich reported on listserve problems where some faculty are receiving messages as attachments rather than as e-mail messages. He is working with the Internet service provider to determine what is causing this and how to resolve it.
CAL-JEC REPORT
Rich reported that he gave a speech on the state of journalism education in California for the California Press Association in December. CNPA has published a written version of the report on its web site and will distribute a printed version shortly.
Cal-JEC will meet next in March to select this year’s Outstanding Teacher Awards and a chair for the next two years.
TREASURER REPORT
Timi reported for Jaquie and distributed a budget report (see attachments: spreadsheet and written report) outlining income and expenses associated with conferences and the convention. All accounts have been consolidated into one, but separate accounting is taking place for each conference. The report does not have complete accounting for the just-completed Morro Bay Conference, which saw smaller participation and less income this year.
The board also discussed issues, both short-term and long-term with credit cards for the organization.
M/S/C/ (Anttwan/Michelle) to authorize Dympna to open a credit card account or take responsibility for the existing American Express account in the name of JACC to be used for JACC business and that JACC will accept financial responsibility for one year, at which time we will revisit who should be responsible for the account.
M/S/C (Danny/Brandon) to authorize the Communications Director, the Events Director and the Treasurer to carry JACC credit cards.
M/S/C (Danny/Michelle) to add the Communications Director and Events Director as signators on JACC checking accounts.
EVENT DIRECTOR REPORT
Timi deferred her report to later in the agenda when discussing the conferences and convention.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
2010 MID-WINTER CONFERENCE REPORT
The board discussed the lower participation in this year’s conference and whether changing dates would have an impact. Timi reported the problems in trying to switch dates and it looks like we need to stay about where we are now in the calendar.
The Blue Heron workshop was run by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and was well received. The conference also began partnerships with California Watch and the Wall Street Journal.
2010 STATE CONVENTION REPORT
Timi thanked the student officers for their work at the NorCal and SoCal conferences and looks forward to working with them for the State Convention.
Apple will be sponsoring the faculty reception Thursday night and will loan us some computers for the conference. There will also be interactive activities for the faculty.
In addition to the reception, other key items scheduled for Thursday night will be Critical Review, a keynote speech, workshops and a student luau reception. Students are encouraged to wear Hawaiian gear for the student reception.
This year’s news contest may be an off-site event, which is change from previous years. Plans for other workshops are coming together and Timi feels she is ahead of schedule on confirming workshop speakers. Team feature will once again involve putting together a multimedia project and include an all-night open lab for participant use.
Delegations should be aware that there has been a turnover of staff at the Wilshire Grand, which increases the chances of issues arising with check-in and turnover of meeting rooms throughout the conference.
JACC OFFICER TERMS
The faculty officer terms all expire this year, as do the annual terms of the student officers. The board supports an extension of the faculty president term for one year to create a staggered expiration of terms and prevent the board from having a complete turnover in one year. This will have to be approved by the general assembly.
OLD BUSINESS
STUDENT PROJECTS
The student officers are planning a Speed and Greet activity for Friday evening before the mail-in awards presentation at the convention. This is an activity to encourage communication among students from other schools. The activity is modeled after speed dating activities, but will include small groups rather than couples and most likely will include required participation by those running for student officer positions.
The other student projects are to run the student election and the Friday night student luau reception.
MEDIA LAW/OVERBECK SCHOLARSHIP
Jay resurrected the idea of establishing a reoccurring JACC scholarship contest that would include making a multimedia project based on free speech issues. The contest will be announced in coming weeks. It will follow general bring-in contest guidelines and be judged at the convention. A cash scholarship award will be awarded to the one winner, much like the Dr. Tom Pasqua Memorial Essay Award.
RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS
The board continued its discussion on the need to provide a mechanism for quick response when schools report problems. It seems necessary to approach each case on a case-by-case basis, but the organization is committed to helping programs when it is possible.
However, it would be wise to identify a step process so individuals know how to request help. It also might be good to identify responsible individuals by region so that we can call on regional helpers ahead of time with short notice.
M/S/C (Danny/Anttwan) to identify eight regions and designate go-to leaders that can lead local quick response teams. The eight areas would include far northern California, Sacramento area, Bay Area, Coastal area, San Central Valley area, northern Southern California, southern Southern California, and San Diego.
Quick response teams will be discussed at the convention.
JACC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION REPORT
Timi outlined plans for a campaign to build the alumni association by redefining it as JACC Legacy, rather than as pure alumni. The defined levels would be the same and we will initiate a sign-up contest starting soon. We’ll also feature legacy stories on the web site.
NEW BUSINESS
FIRST AMENDMENT CANDIDATES
The board reviewed five nominations for First Amendment Administrator awards to be awarded at this year’s convention. The board expressed concern that some faculty nominating administrators did not follow guidelines for summing up qualifications succinctly.
M/S/C (Danny/Dympna) to honor Carmen Carillo of LA Harbor College as this year’s First Amendment Award winner.
M/S/C (Anttwan/Danny) to allow up to 250 words for the qualifications summary of the First Amendment Award and to authorize the contest chair to return nominations that exceed that limit to be rewritten/resubmitted within a reasonable period of time.
M/S/C (Anttwan/Michelle) to clarify that nominations for this award may come only for administrators from member schools in good standing.
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD
M/S/C (Anttwan/Michelle) to honor two individuals (withheld from the minutes by board request) as winners of this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO JOURNALISM EDUCATION AWARD
M/S/C (Danny/Brandon) to honor Kim Komenich of San Jose State University as winner of this year’s Distinguished Service to Journalism Education Award. Scholarships will be awarded in Kim’s name.
TWO-YEAR RULE
The board reviewed the two-year rule at a member’s request.
The rule states that if a student wins any first-through-fourth place award at either a state or regional contest, mail-in or on-the-spot, the student may compete in that class of contest – writing/editing, graphics/design, photo, and broadcast/new media—for only the next two years.
The web site used to contain a list of names of students who had used their eligibility in various classes. Maintaining that list became too cumbersome and it is left to schools as the first line of defense. There are archives on the web site if advisers need help and will be checked when a challenge is presented.
The eligibility is by student whether the student stays at one school or attends multiple schools.
CONTEST CLARIFICATIONS
The board discussed the rules for the Magazine Photo mail-in contest that require that cutlines be included with entries. Schools sometimes choose not to include cutlines in print magazines. Judges, however, will be asked to follow existing rules on magazine photo entries.
M/S/C/ (Danny/Dympna) to amend wording on all JACC awards and scholarship criteria to clarify that nominations are for member schools in good standing.
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