February SACC News - Anthropology News

On Matters of Membership

I did not attend AAA in Montr?al, but I had planned to summarize Secretary Nikki Ives?s excellent minutes (For complete copies, contact Nikki at ikkinh@yahoo.com or me). Instead, I decided to review one very important issue that was discussed at length: SACC section membership.

AAA bylaws state that to be viable, a section must have at least 225 members. If fewer, it is changed to an interest group and no longer has a budget. Though SACC?s membership dropped to around 170, it has retained section status because, together with some other small sections, it was judged to contribute special value to AAA. This value is that since community colleges instruct about half of the nation?s undergraduates, and SACC alone represents them, SACC plays a unique role not duplicated by any other AAA section.

When we considered changing our name to reflect anthropology teaching at all undergraduate institutions in hopes of broadening and increasing our membership, we learned that if we dropped ?community colleges? from our name, we would lose our unique standing. And, if after two years, we failed to increase our section membership, we would lose our protected status and benefits as a section.

Factors relating to membership declines include the following: Many sections in AAA have been losing membership. Also, many AAA members do not belong to a lot of sections. In addition, AAA is facing increased competition from other non-AAA affiliated associations. Mel Johnson noted that more anthropologists are teaching multiple disciplines at the community college level and more students are going into sociology or psychology. Additionally, a lot of non-anthropologists are teaching anthropology and don?t want to join AAA, so they cannot officially join SACC.

Kathleen Terry-Sharp, AAA Academic Relations Director, explained that a study comparing what is happening in anthropology with other departments is currently being finalized, and the initial findings indicate that at four-year institutions, anthropology majors are actually increasing relative to sociology majors.

Increasing SACC?s membership will be a challenge. Thanks largely to Ann Kaupp?s efforts, we have an attractive and fully functional website that AAA now hosts at no extra cost to us and for which Ann serves as SACC?s web manager. Teaching Anthropology: SACC Notes is a fully digital publication and appears on the site along with all other information we wish to place there. The entire site is available to the public free of charge. The only pecuniary member benefit SACC offers is a $25 registration fee discount for our annual conferences, equal to an annual membership fee refund.

In fact, most SACC members probably didn?t join to receive either the conference discount or the publication when it was print-only. Anecdotal evidence (generally supported by a survey Laura Gonz?lez conducted last year) suggests that SACC members belong because SACC is their people. That?s who they are.

Promising suggestions for growth have included cooperating with other AAA sections on common projects like panels and workshops, and contacting movers and shakers in both government and private sectors who might influence matters of importance to community colleges, such as funding, anthropology in the curriculum, and increases in full-time anthropology faculty. Also, we might explore joint projects with other associations, such as geography and history, that have teaching-oriented sections.

Above all, I think we must hang together and be proud of our uniqueness: who we are, what we?ve accomplished, and the potential influence that we can have on the education of future students and of the public at large.

And the Food in Montr?al?

By Laura Gonz?lez

At the Pig?s Foot in Montr?al. Photo courtesy Laura Gonz?lez

In general, I found the food scene delightful in Montr?al, especially when accompanied by a Noire de St Ambroise stout beer. I tried the restaurant made famous by the Food Network and Chef Martin Picard, Au Pied de Cochon (Pig?s Foot). The menu is homage to pork and foix gras, although everything we tried was excellent. The folks at the table next to us ordered a very impressive roasted pig?s head with vegetables and steamed clams. The skin looked crispy and beautifully browned. I nearly asked for a bite!

Send communications and submissions to Lloyd Miller, lloyd.miller@mchsi.com.

Source: http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/02/10/february-sacc-news/

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