January 1981 Council Minutes

JANUARY 1981 COUNCIL MINUTES

The Council met on 6 January 1981, at 2:05 PM in Continental Parlors 1 and 2
of the San Francisco  Hilton Hotel in San Francisco.  Members present were
Donald W. Anderson, Steve Armentrout, Raymond G. Ayoub, Paul T. Bateman, 
Elwyn R. Berlekamp, Frank T. Birtel, Felix E. Browder, Donald L. Burkholder,
Chandler Davis, Carl-Wilhelm R. de Boor, David Eisenbud, Frederick W. Gehring,
Robert P. Gilbert, Andrew M. Gleason, Alan J. Hoffman, Meyer Jerison, Linda
Keen, Johan H.B. Kemperman, William E. Kirwan II, Peter D. Lax, Lee Lorch,
David J. Lutzer, W.A. J. Luxemberg, O. Carruth McGehee, R. James Milgram,
Richard S. Millman, Jan Mycielski, Morris Newman, Franklin Peterson, Robert
R. Phelps, Everett Pitcher, Marian B. Pour-El, Paul H. Rabinowitz, Kenneth
A. Ross, Mary E. Rudin, Paul J. Sally, Jr., David A. Sanchez, Jane C. Scanlon,
Reinhard E. Schultz, Stephen Smale, Daniel H. Wagner, and Raymond O.Wells, Jr.,
Also present were Lincoln K. Durst, R. Hahn, E. Heiser, William J. LeVeque,
and John L. Selfridge.

MINUTES

1.1 MINUTES OF 19 AUGUST 1980:  The minutes of the meeting of 19 August 1980,
had been distributed by mail.  The following corrections were proposed:

p. 5 1. -14 The correct wording is "In the event that the BUSINESS MEETING
of 2l August 1980..."

p. 5 1. -4 The revision of the substitute motion was prepared by Mssrs.
Browder and Gleason.

p. 6 1. ll.  The wording should be revised to read "..to be held AT THE
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY IN JANUARY 1981 PRIOR TO THE BUSINESS MEETING."

With these changes the minutes were approved.

MEETINGS

3.1 SPRING MEETING OF COUNCIL:  The Secretary announced that the spring meeting
of the Council would be held in Pittsburgh on 15 May 1981.

3.2 MEETING IN THE SOUTHEAST:  Associate Secretary Frank Birtel commented on
difficulties engendered by the request of the Business Meeting of January 1978
that "the AMS try to hold all future meetings in  which have ratified the Equal
Rights Amendments," inasmuch as the only state in the Southeast which meets the
condition is Tennessee, where several recent meetings have been held.  There
was a motion by Professor Raymond Ayoub that the intent of the motion of the
Business Meeting be adhered to, but that the EC be authorized in exceptional
circumstances to waive the adherence to the resolution.  After discussion of 
alternatives, President Gleason asked that all avenues for compliance with the
intent of the resolution of the Business Meeting be explored and reiterated
that the resolution of the Business Meeting was not "final action" in the sense
of Article X, Section 1 of the bylaws.  With this point of view before the
Council, he asked for the vote on the resolution, which passed.  It was noted
that the members of the EC were present and would be guided by the discussion
as well as the resolution.

COMMITTEES AND BOARDS

4.1 CLOSING GRADUATE PROGRAMS: The Committee on Employment Educational Policy
submitted the attached CEEP resolution on Closing Graduate Programs to the
Council of 10 April 1980.  The report was referred back to he Committee
"with the suggestion that it incorporate a more positive assertion protective
of graduate programs which are threatened with being closed and perhaps should
not be closed."  The resolution as initially prepared was moved by Professor
Lee Lorch without change.

The original resolution is attached.  Changes in wording were made as follows:

In the third line of the first paragraph, replace "doctoral" by "graduate".

Revise the third paragraph to read:

	If it seems desirable to close a doctoral program, it may
	nonetheless be possible to maintain a master's program
	because there are good opportunites for employment at the
	master's level.

With these changes, the resolution was approved by the Council.

4.2 COMMITTEE ON OPPORTUNITIES IN MATHEMATICS FOR DISADVANTAGED GROUPS: The
Committee reported to the Council of 19 August 1980.  The report is reproduced
from the minutes of that meeting as an attachment.

Action on the report, which had been scheduled for this meeting, was
rescheduled for the meeting of May 1981, with the understanding that Professor
James Donaldson be invited to attend for discussion of the recommendation in
the report.  [This item was actually considered later in the meeting, but is
reported at the place where it appeared in the agenda. E.P.]

4.3 CENTENNIAL: The EC, after consultation with the BT, recommended to the
Council that a committee be formed to determine a fitting observance of the
Centennial of the Society in 1988.  The EC further recommended the referral to
that committee of a proposal that the Society sponsor a history of mathematics
from 1930 based in part on interviews with mathematicians who are still
available.

The Council established the Committee, charging it to consider (rather than
determine) a fitting observance of the Centennial and the proposal to sponsor
a history.

4.4 COMMITTEE TO REVIEW SOCIETY ACTIVITES:  This was an ad hoc Committee set
up by the EC and charged to report to the Council.  It did complete its work,
which consisted of planning a task for the EC and did report its plan to the
Council.  The Committee was discharged.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

7.1 MAT. SBORNIK: Attention was directed to an article in the NOTICES of
January 1981 (p. 8), entitled JEWISH AUTHORS IN MAT. SBORNIK.  It is followed
by a statement from the Trustees made on 22 November 1980, which constitutes an
interim report to the Council concerning the request of the Council quoted in
the statement.  The page from the NOTICES is attached.

Professor Lorch requested that an amplification be published in the NOTICES.
The first line of the fourth paragraph should read:

	The Council of 22 August 1979 further passed the following resolution:
The Secretary agreed to the change.  No further action was requested.

NEW BUSINESS:

8.2 MAT. SBORNIK [BIS.]  Professors Chandler Davis, Lee Lorch and Jane Cronin
Scanlon proposed the following resolution:

That the Council withdraw the request it made at its August 1979 meeting that
the Trustees consider suspending translation of Mathematiceskii Sbornik.

Discussion centered on the fact that the resolution preceded the scheduled 
panel discussion (see item 7.1), which might be informative to persons voting
on the resolution.  Accordingly, the resolution was placed on the agenda of the
Council meeting of 15 May 1981.  The EC/BT were requested to defer action on
the Council request of 22 August 1978 relative to  MAT. SBORNIK until after
the Council meeting of 15 May 1981.

8.1 TIME AND EFFORT REPORTING:  Professor Serge Lang addressed the attached
letter to the Council.  An article in SCIENCE  of 3 October 1980, by Sanders
MacLane, on top of earlier protests, produced a response from the Office of
Management and Budget.  A news item from SCIENCE of 7 November 1980, is 
attached.  The letter from Lang suggested that the Council might wish to 
react, but the Council took no action.

8.3 REPRINTING.  Six instances of proposed reprinting of current mathematics in
Society publications arose recently.  There is an attached letter from LeVeque
to F. Browder and J. Milgram and another from Ellen Swanson to the Secretary.
The issue was raised whether there was either a question of advice from the
Council to editors of Society publications or a question of policy to be
settled by the Council.

There was discussion of whether these matters should be considered by the
Council or left to journal editors.  Several resolutions were weighted
informally.  It was decided that for the time being the Editors of the BULLETIN
should have the authority to publish expository articles which have appeared
elsewhere.  It was further decided to refer the question of policy to the
Committee to Monitor Problems in Communication to examine at leisure for a
possible recommendation for modification.  It was agreed that the same
resolutions should apply to CONTEMPORARY MATHEMATICS.

8.4 TATYANA VELIKANOVA: The Association for Women in Mathematics noted the
harsh sentencing of Velikanova, a mathematician and computer scientist, for
"anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda."  An article from the SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE describing the trial and sentence is attached.  The AWM Human Rights
Committee requested the Council to pass a resolution expressing "its deep
concern over the plight and well being of Velikanova and calling for the unjust
sentence to be overturned and for her immediate release from prison," either as
a statement of support of the AWM position or as a direct statement.  A letter
of protest sent by AWM to Academician A.P. Alexandrov, president of the Academy
of the USSR and two letters of protest sent by John A. Nohel on behalf of the
Society's Committee on Human Rights of Mathematicians are attached.

The Council considered a related question of the charge to the Committee on
Human Rights, which crystalized in the following resolution offered by
Professor Lee Lorch:

	When official, semiofficial, or similar relevant material, on a human
rights case is available, and when supplying it to the Human Rights Committee
and Council would not delay unduly, or prejudically equitable consideration of
the case, such material shall be included in any packet presented for action or
information to the Committee or Council.

The resolution was passed.

The Council requested the President, in consultation with the Committee on 
Human Rights, to write a letter of protest concerning the treatment of 
Velikanova.

8.5 DISASSOCIATION FROM DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES:  The Secretary introduced a
document, supported by petitions with a number of signatures, requesting the
Society to disassociate itself from discriminatory practices in the USSR and to
appeal to mathematicans not to support such practices.  The document, bearing
the heading "DRAFT" is attached.  The document is to be considered at the
Council meeting of 15 May 1981.

8.6 ACTION SUPPORTING DISSIDENTS, JEWS, AND MINORITIES.  The attached letter
from Professor Raymond Ayoub was introduced for consideration on the agenda
of 15 May 1981.

INFORMATION AND RECORD

2.1 EC/BT MINUTES:  The minutes of the meeting of the EC/BT of 21-23 Nov. 1980
had been distributed under separate cover and are attached.

2.2 COLLOQUIUM LECTURES:  The Colloquium Lectures of August 1981 are to be 
delivered by Serge Lang.

2.3 REGISTRATION FEES:  It was noted that the Society entered into a contract
with the MAA covering financial arrangements for the conduct of joint meetings
(annual and summer).  It provides that the Society shall receive all funds in
certain categories (registration fees, exhibit space rentals, etc.), pay all
costs in certain categories (those attributable to the joint effort, to the
MAA according to a certain annual schedule.  It also provides a schedule of
registration fees.  The contracted arrangement is designed so that the AMS
will operate joint meetings on a basis of no loss or, more likely, small loss.
There is a formula for increasing both payments to MAA and registration fees
based on the Consumer Price Index.

An article informing the membership about registration fees is to appear in the
NOTICES for Feb. 1981.  There is an attached table of registration fees in 1980
for a set of comparable organizations.

2.4 WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS:  An interim report from the AMS-MAA-NCTM-SIAM
Committee on Women in Mathematics, with its own attachment titled "The NSF and
Women in Mathematics," is attached.

2.5 COUNCIL FOR 1981:  There is an attached sheet giving the membership of the
Council and Board of Trustees for 1981.

			EVERETT PTICHER, SECRETARY
			JANUARY 6, 1981