Call to Order

President Rodney Hero called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

Awards

Daniel Smith, for committee members Caroline Tolbert, and Diane Schmidt, presented the Dissertation Award to Rosa Gomez Dierks of Adams State College, for AThe Political Economy of Institutional Choice: Policy Commitments and Global Finance,@ completed at Northern Arizona University.

Michael Alvarez, for committee members Pierre Englebert and Veronica Ward, presented the Pi Sigma Alpha award to Helena Silverstein of Lafayette College for ARoad Closed: Evaluating the Judicial Bypass Provision of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act.@

Sue Davis and Susan Burgess, for committee member Beverly Cook, presented the Betty Nesvold Women and Politics Award to Helena Silverstein of Lafayette College for ARoad Closed: Evaluating the Judicial Bypass Provision of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act.@

Carole Uhlaner, for committee members Tony Affigne and Valerie Martinez, presented the Chicanas/Chinanos and Politics award to Caroline Tolbert of Kent State and Rodney Hero of University of Colorado, Boulder for their paper, ADealing with Diversity: Racial/Ethnic Context and Policy Change.@

Rodney Hero, on behalf of Nicholas Alozie, presented the Blacks and Politics award to Jonathan P. West, George Wilson and Ian Sakura-Lemessy of University of Miami for their paper, AReaching the Top: Racial Differences in Mobility Paths to Upper-Tier Occupations.@

No Charles Redd Award for the Best Paper on the Politics of the American West was given this year.

Reports

San Jose Convention

Ann Crigler, Program Chair, reported that for the 2000 meeting that there are 159 panels and 733 participants representing 46 states, Washington, D.C., and three foreign countries.
Betsy Carroll, Local Arrangement Chair, reported for the 2000 meeting 612 pre-registrations and 120 on-site registrations through Saturday. By the end of the conference she expected 750 total registrants.

Political Research Quarterly

Bill Dixon, co-editor, reported on the operations of the Political Research Quarterly. Following the report, President Rodney Hero presented Dixon and co-editor Lyn Ragsdale with commemorative plaques and clocks as thanks for their service.

Executive Director

Betty Moulds, Executive Director, reported that membership has declined over the last year. Some of this decline is due to differences in membership when meetings are held in the Los Angeles area versus other regions of the association. A larger one-year membership occurs with a California conference. Non-registration by participants at the conference also was noted as a problem that may be addressed in the future. Moulds reported that the association this year followed the APSA=s lead and moved to electronic pre-registration.

Treasurer

Gil St. Clair gave the Treasurer=s report indicating an $11,540.32 gain in net assets over last year.

Nominating Committee

Jane Bayes, chair, gave the Nominating Committee=s (Christine DiStefano, Mike Haas, Lonna Atkeson, Patrick Kenney) recommendations of Timothy Kaufman-Osborn of Whitman College for Vice President and Program Chair for 2001; for Region C, Stephanie Witt of Boise State University; for Region B, Manuel Avalos of Arizona State University West; for Region A, two-year term, Barbara Morris of the University of Redlands; for Region A, two-year term, Victor James of Peralta Community College; and for Region A, one-year term, Fernando Guerra of Loyola Marymount University.

New Business

Election of Officers

The Nominating Committee=s slate of new officer holders was approved unanimously

Addition of Texas

The addition of Texas to the WPSA region was approved as a Bylaws change as follows:

"Article III: Membership.
Section 4. Regional Groupings of Members. The members of the Association shall be divided

Section 4. Regional Groupings of Members. The members of the Association shall be divided into three Regions, namely Region "A" which shall be the Sate of California; Region "B" which shall include the States of Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah; and Region "C" which shall include the States of Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the Canadian Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Any reference in these Bylaws to the Regions shall mean and refer to these three Regions, collectively."

Thus, Texas will become part of Region B. In addition, Colorado and Wyoming will be moved from Region B into Region C. Hawaii will be moved from Region C into Region B.

Other New Business

Nine motions were made from the floor. With friendly amendments they read as follows.

Motion 1: Re GRE Scores

Whereas there is no evidence that GRE scores predict the performance of graduate students in political science;
Whereas one study (at MIT) showed an inverse correlation between GRE scores and performance in graduate school;
Whereas the skills associated with doing well on the GRE bear no relation to those required for teaching, researching, and writing in the field of political science; and
Whereas GRE scores exhibit gross disparities that correlate with ethnic, racial, and gender differences;
Be it resolved that the Western Political Science Association
1) urge its members not to privilege GRE scores for purposes of graduate school admissions;
2) publicize its recommendation in PS and in the Chronicle of Higher Education; and
3) have its President present a motion to the Executive Council of the American Political Science Association

1. to urge Chairs and Deans of graduate programs not to privilege GRE scores as for graduate school admissions; and
2. to require the American Political Science Association to publicize these recommendations in PS and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Motion passed.

Motion 2: Open Meeting Rules for APSA

Whereas the American Political Science Association is founded in a democratic society, and
Whereas the American Political Science Association, in principle, should be accountable to its members and follow basic principles for transparency and openness:

Be it resolved that all meetings of the APSA, especially those of the Executive Council,

1) be open to all paid members of the Association
2) have the agenda and motions being considered, location, and time of the meetings announced in PS and on the APSA website three months in advance of the meeting with last minute updates also being placed on the web for all members to see.

Motion passed.

Motion 3: Re APSR Substantive and Editorial Representativeness

Whereas substantial and wide-based discontent exists among the APSA membership about the quality, accessibility, and substantive representativeness of the articles published in the American Political Science Review; and
Whereas the substantive and methodological diversity of the discipline is more adequately reflected in its sections and among it various caucuses;

Be it resolved that the editorial board of the APSR have its membership totally drawn from members nominated by each of the sections and caucuses.

Motion passed.

Motion 4: Re APSR Reviewer Accountability

Whereas most scholarly journals publish annually a list of their manuscript reviewers;
Be it resolved that the editor of [the] APSR publish the names and institutional affiliations of journal reviewers in the last issue of each volume.

Motion passed.

Motion 5. Re Timetable for Progress on APSR

Whereas it is not yet certain that the discontent with the APSR will be properly and effectively addressed by [the] APSA Executive Council,
Be it resolved that

1) the membership of the WPSA will review progress annually on these matters until its membership agrees at its annual meeting that the issues of substantive representativeness, quality, openness, accountability, and diversity have been adequately addressed; and
2) if by 2003, the APSA Executive Council and officers have not made significant progress in improving the journal on the dimensions noted above, that the WPSA will consider a resolution proposing that a subscription to the APSR no longer be a part of the APSA membership dues.
3) The WPSA President will appoint an ad hoc committee to oversee this review.

Motion passed.

Motion 6: Open Meeting Rule for WPSA

Whereas the Western Political Science Association is founded in a democratic society; and Whereas the Western Political Science Association, in principle, should be accountable to its members and follow basic principles for transparency and openness;

Be it resolved that all meetings of the WPSA, especially those of the Executive Council,

1) be open to all paid members of the Association
2) have the agenda and motions being considered, location, and time of the meetings announced in PRQ and on the WPSA website three months in advance of the meeting with last minute updates also being placed on the web for all members to see.

Motion passed.

Motion 7: Circulation of Prior Motions

Be it resolved that these motions will be sent to the other regional associations, including the Southern, Midwest, Northeastern, and Pacific Northwest Political Science Associations.

Motion passed.

Motion 8: GRE Communication

Be it resolved that the WPSA president will write a letter to ETS encouraging their efforts in improving [the] GRE and include [the recommendations] of the prior motion.

Motion passed.

Motion 9: Political Research Quarterly

Whereas the WPSA has a history of diversity in political science, we encourage the incoming editors of the Political Research Quarterly to actively foster and maintain substantive and methodological diversity in its editorial board and in the pages of the journal.

Motion passed.

Introductions

Outgoing president Rodney Hero presented the gavel to incoming president Ann Crigler.

Meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

Minutes respectfully submitted,

Barbara Norrander, University of Arizona

[NOTE: Subsequent to the meeting, WPSA Counsel has deemed Motions 1 to 9 to be without effect. For an explanation, see the subsequent Executive Council Minutes of September 2000.]