Call to Order
Chair Danny Hamon called the meeting to order on November 15 at 5 p.m. Those in attendance included: Charles Burks, Peter Follett, Paul Guillebeau, Danny Hamon, Arnold Hara, Robert Hollingsworth, Lisa Nevens, Douglas Sutherland, and Victoria Yokoyama.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes were read and approved, except that it was noted that some names were misspelled (those of Lisa Neven and Chuck Burks).
Old Business
There was no old business.
New Business
After a call for new business, Victoria Yokoyama proposed that Subsection Eb be dissolved, and that its members become members at large of Section E at large. She explained that reasons for this included:
1) The Eb business meetings have typically had very low attendance and there has been a lack of consistent attendance by the same individuals from year to year. She said that, in particular, the loss of Bill Gimpel created a serious problem with lack of continuity and institutional memory.
2) One of the important roles of Eb has been involvement with the Regulatory Entomology Award, which is sponsored by the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA). In order for that sponsorship to continue it is important that awardees of that prize be people who have contributed, not just to regulatory entomology, but rather to aspects of American horticulture important to ANLA. Bill Gimpel has been the liaison between Subsection Eb and the ANLA, so his departure further complicates continuing functioning of Subsection Eb.
3) Many of those who have been active in Subsection Eb business meetings are employees of USDA-ARS or -APHIS PPQ, and are subject to ethics rules involving the governance of scientific societies.
A number of questions and concerns were voiced. Danny Hamon asked if Subsection Eb had the authority to unilaterally disband. Victoria Yokoyama said that this had been discussed with ESA President Kevin Steffey, and that he believed that Subsection Eb did have that authority. Various individuals questioned if ARS was really taking such a strict interpretation concerning the involvement of its scientists in scientific societies. Lisa Neven, an ARS scientist, said that strict interpretation was very real.
It was asked if there was a motion on the floor. Victoria Yokoyama restated her proposal as a motion, and Arnold Hara seconded it. Doug Sutherland commented perhaps the subsection could take another year before making a final determination, but since there was little time before the general Section E business meeting, Rob Hollingworth moved to close discussion and Doug Sutherland called for the question. A hand vote resulted in 11 votes in favor of dissolution, none opposed, and 1 abstention.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
Chuck Burks, Secretary, Subsection Eb