Present: Louise Antony, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Seyla Benhabib, Richard Bett, Bob Brandom, Daniel Garber, Jorge Garcia, Christine Korsgaard, David Rosenthal, Merold Westphal. Visitors: Stephanie Lewis, Ernest Sosa (items 1-8), David Schrader (items 1-9). Absent: Jerry Fodor.

The Executive Committee took the following actions at its meeting on December 27, 2006:

1. Approved the minutes of its previous meeting on December 27, 2005 (as published in Proceedings and Addresses volume 80, #1, September 2006, pp. 139-141).

2. Received a report on other actions of Eastern Division committees during the 2006 calendar year, including the results so far of the experiment to expand the invited portion of the Eastern Division program, as agreed at the 2004 meeting; recommended to the Program Committee that this expanded invited program be continued beyond its initial two-year experimental period; and decided to leave vacant (for the remaining year of her term) Christine Korsgaard’s at-large slot on the Executive Committee, should she win election to Vice President for 2007-8.

3. Set the agenda for the 2006 Business Meeting.

4. Heard reports from David Schrader, Executive Director of the Association, and Ernest Sosa, Chair of the Board of Officers, concerning actions at the 2006 Board meeting.

5. Discussed the proposed revised Bylaws of the Association in preparation for their presentation at the Business Meeting, and decided to recommend to the Business Meeting that they be sent to mail ballot without amendment and that members vote to approve them.

6. Received a report on the Division’s financial situation.

7. Reconsidered the question of providing travel funding and accommodation for a few foreign invited speakers. The following policy was decided on concerning the main program: Up to four distinguished overseas philosophers in the invited portion of the program may be offered funding for travel (using an economy round-trip ticket from a speaker’s home airport to the convention city) and accommodation (for a maximum of four nights in the convention hotel) on an ad hoc basis, provided that a) the speakers have less than full funding for these purposes from their institutions and b) the total amount expended in any given year does not exceed $10,000. This plan is to be adopted on a three-year experimental basis. The following policy was decided on concerning overseas participants in sessions sponsored by the APA Committee on International Cooperation: Up to two speakers per year may be offered funding for travel and accommodation, provided that the total amount expended in any given year does not exceed $5,000, and subject to the other conditions mentioned above.

8. Approved the 2006-2007 Divisional budget, including a contribution to the National Office of $7,000 towards the cost of the Philosophy in a New Key Summer Institute (PIKSI) for 2007. In addition, the following decisions were made: a) Beginning in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, $25,000 per year, for three years, is to be made available to the National Office to fund projects that are to the benefit of the profession, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect for proposals submitted to the APA Board of Officers. Each year the National Office shall submit a report on proposals funded that year; the Executive Committee shall review this report and shall have the option of extending funding for an additional year beyond the years for which a commitment has already been made. (The Eastern Division will thus be committed to this funding for a maximum of three years at any given time, and the National Office will have at least two years’ notice if it is decided not to continue such funding.) b) A one-time gift of $25,000 is to be made to the National Office in the 2006-2007 fiscal year to help with the funding of its database improvement project.

9. Authorized the Secretary-Treasurer to negotiate a contract with the Marriott Wardman Park hotel for the 2011 Eastern Division meeting.

10. Decided on a procedure for selecting future Dewey Lecturers, as follows: Nominations are to be solicited by means of a notice in the program, on the APA web site and in the materials sent with the annual Eastern Division ballots; this notice should include a statement of the purpose of the Dewey Lectures, and should specify a deadline that will allow the list of nominees to be circulated to the Executive Committee in advance of its annual meeting, at which a decision will be made on the Dewey Lecturer for the meeting two years forward. In addition, a ranked list of possible invitees was decided on for the 2008 Dewey Lecturer.

11. Recognized as affiliated groups the Society for the History of Political Philosophy and the Society for Arab, Persian and Islamic Philosophy, provided that membership in these groups is open to all APA members. In addition, it was decided that a) the Hermann Cohen Gesellschaft should be permitted to be listed as a co-sponsor of group sessions (where the other group in question is a regular Eastern Division affiliate group), and will be considered for recognition as a regular Eastern Division affiliate group upon submission of its bylaws and provided it meets the usual conditions for such recognition (including the one mentioned above); and b) The Viktor von Weizsäcker Gesellschaft should be permitted to be listed as a co-sponsor of group sessions (where the other group in question is a regular Eastern Division affiliate group), and be informed that regular Eastern Division affiliate group status is not required for such co-sponsorship.

12. Received a report on the winners of Divisional awards and prizes.

13. Nominated four candidates for two positions on the 2007 Nominating Committee. They are Michael Della Rocca, Gilbert Harman, Terry Pinkard, and Michael Williams.

14. After receiving suggestions from the Committee on Committees, established a list of candidates and alternates for membership on the 2008 Program Committee and instructed the Secretary-Treasurer to form a committee from that list plus the list of continuing members.

15. After receiving suggestions from the Committee on Committees, established a list of candidates and alternates for membership on the Advisory Committee to the Program Committee and instructed the Secretary-Treasurer to form a committee from that list plus the list of continuing members.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard Bett
Secretary-Treasurer
American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division