September 22-23, 2006
| Fall Retreat Minutes Hotel at Oldtown, Wichita |
Attendance: Kevin Page, Benedictine College; Janet Hallford, Hutchinson Community College; Dave Bostwick, Cowley College; Malcolm Gibson, The University of Kansas; Stacy Sparks, Southwestern College; Kara Cunningham, Ottawa University; Antonia Ryan, Benedictine College; Ronda Voorhis, Wichita State University; Lionel Tipton, Dodge City Community College; Laura York, Garden City Community College; Allan Montgomery, Hutchinson Community College; Gerard Attoun, Pittsburg State University.
KACP President Stacy Sparks welcomed the members in attendance. Members then introduced themselves. Sparks had members separate into committees as follows: membership led by Sparks, conference led by Kevin Page, contest led by Gerard Attoun. The student editors met separately and were led by Laura York and Dave Bostwick.
After the committees met for approximately 1 ½ hours, Sparks called the meeting to order. Kara Cunningham, secretary, passed out copies of the spring meeting’s minutes. Attoun made a motion to accept the minutes. Malcolm Gibson seconded the motion. The minutes were approved. Dave Bostwick, treasurer, passed out a copy of the treasurer’s report. He reported the balance was down from last year at this time due to the increased donations KACP gave to the Student Press Law Center. He said if KACP continued giving at this increased rate, KACP would have to find a way to make more revenue. Gibson suggested raising the KACP annual dues to get additional revenue. Janet Hallford and Sparks gave a brief history of the dues and said that it had been raised only slightly in the past few years. Alan Montgomery questioned how KACP currently gets revenue. Bostwick explained all the current revenue makers (see attached treasurer’s report). Gibson suggested asking individuals, companies and organizations for donations. Sparks said the Kansas Press Association, The Wichita Eagle, Herff Jones and Jostens contribute to the Journalist of the Year awards. Gibson mentioned that many additional people/companies might also contribute to the organization. He suggested increasing dues to $50 annually for one publication and $75 for two publications. Gibson also mentioned that dues could be based on the size of the institution. Attoun endorsed the increase of dues but was hesitant about creating a foundation. Hallford thought the increase of dues per publication was fine, but did not like staggering the dues based on enrollment. She made a motion to increase dues for fall 2007 to $50 for one publication and $75 for two or more publications. Montgomery questioned whether this increase would significantly help increase KACP’s finances. Gibson seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Bostwick initiated discussion regarding the amount of the donation to give to SPLC. Montgomery questioned KACP’s increased donation in recent years since it has been higher than many other state organizations. Bostwick said the increase was due to the K-State and Barton County Community College legal situations that occurred recently. Hallford also questioned the increased donation. Bostwick confirmed that the KACP donation in recent years has been on high end of the contributions given to SPLC. Gibson mentioned that numerous KACP member schools use SPLC a lot. Sparks pointed out the need for the increased donation to SPLC because its services are for every member’s use. Hallford and Page suggested the donation be on a year to year basis based on KACP’s finances. Bostwick suggested donating $1,500 to SPLC and $750 to College Media Advisers legal defense fund this year. Montgomery questioned whether SPLC needed the donation since it didn’t cash the check two year’s ago. Gibson endorsed SPLC and described how it can help member schools. Ronda Voorhis asked for explanation about the CMA legal defense fund. Sparks explained. Attoun made motion that KACP contribute $2,000 to SPLC and $500 to CMA legal defense fund. Page seconded the motion. Montgomery again asked about KACP’s revenue sources. Bostwick said KACP tries to keep $10,000 in reserve. Gibson suggested trying to get ½ in reserves. The motion passed.
Bostwick reported for the membership committee. He summarized what schools had joined for the current school year based on the recent dues paid as listed on the treasurer’s report. Bostwick said he and other members of the committee would start calling schools in October that hadn’t yet joined.
Page, 1st vice president, gave a convention report. He said the committee was going to try to find speakers for breakout sessions in the following areas: design, ethics, photography, column writing, etc., as well as coordinate media tours to local companies (see attached committee report). Gibson is going to secure a keynote speaker. Page told members to review the committee report for the dates and fees for the spring contest. In 2007 the committee decided to not offer a meal on Sunday, have the keynote speaker and critiques on Sunday, present half of awards during the Sunday awards’ ceremony, and have the evening’s agenda complete by 7 p.m. to allow attendees to eat dinner at a local restaurant. The committee plans to offer breakfast to all attendees the next morning instead of the Sunday meal. Page will send a conference schedule at a later date. Page said that is anyone had concerns about the breakout sessions to talk to him. Page gave a summary of locations and fees for the 2008 conference. He reported that rates at all proposed locations will increase. Page said an average 200 people attend the spring conference and he questioned whether the Hotel at Oldtown could accommodate this many attendees. He said if media tours were scheduled for the breakout session right before lunch it would allow time to set up for the awards ceremony. He thinks this facility will work with this proposed schedule. Gibson endorsed the Oldtown location. Sparks suggested waiting until April to secure a hotel for 2008. Page said the Airport Hilton responded slowly to the bid. He said April 6 is the proposed date for 2008. Gibson made motion to secure Oldtown for 2008. Bostwick seconded the motion. Lionel Tipton questioned if rate would go down if KACP commits to additional years at Oldtown. The motion passed.
Attoun, 2nd vice president, presented a report from the contest. He said the copy editing contest had 30 students, went very smooth, that Lillian Martell was a good coordinator, and that limiting number of students that could compete to five per school helped. Martell will again coordinate the copy editing contest for 2007. Gibson questioned limiting the number that could compete per school if there were more students that wanted to participate. Attoun didn’t think it was a problem but said if it becomes a problem it can be readdressed in future. Gibson offered to help with the copy editing contest if it gets bigger. Attoun reported that the conference committee felt the magazine competition had many categories that were no longer relevant. The committee suggests eliminating the portrait pages and replacing it with criteria for a people category. The new category with emphasize integrating people on campus and in the community into magazine coverage. Hallford and Laura York will prepare the wording for this category. In addition, the committee proposed other changes and suggested only magazine advisers will help with criteria/changes for the new/changed categories. Changes to the magazine contest include the following: event writing and event photography changed to personality feature writing and personality feature photography; adding a category for sports writing and general feature writing; make similar additions to the photography categories. Hallford and York will prepare the category descriptions. Sparks didn’t think the changes required a vote. The changes will be sent to magazine advisers for feedback then sent to Attoun for implementation.
Sparks thanked Gerard and Page for their work with the conference and contest. For old business, Sparks reported that Anne Christensan-Bullers would again coordinate the Jackie Engle Award.
Sparks asked if anyone had new business. Page suggested the online newspaper contest categories be expanded. He volunteered to write a proposal to expand the contest for next year and volunteered to coordinate the online contest for following year. Attoun supported Page’s suggestion and reiterated this need. Montgomery pointed out that increased online categories require less coordinator effort due to reduced mail, etc. Gibson offered to assist if needed; he also informed members of the benefits Google offers companies that link to its site and advertisements. Many members had questions about Google’s services that Gibson and Page answered. Attoun passed out a sign up sheet for the Oklahoma Associated Collegiate Press contest. Cunningham mentioned the upcoming KACP nominations and encouraged people to volunteer to have their name added to the ballot.
Gibson made a motion for the meeting to be adjourned. Montgomery seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned.
Kara Cunningham
KACP Secretary
[ Back to top ]