Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on
Wednesday, 9 June, 2010, 4.30 pm, at
IES, 5 Bloomsbury Place, London WC1
Present: Elaine Breckenridge, Lars Franke, Christine Harris, Nick Hugh, Laurie Koehler, Anna
Maguire, Bill Sheasgreen, Liz Simpson, Donna Vinter, Ian Welsh
Apologies: Corinne Cohen, Julia Lazarus
1. Approval of Minutes from 21 April 2010 Executive Committee meeting. The minutes were
approved.
2. Matters Arising
LK said that she had still heard nothing from the relevant official at BIS about the question of
the National Minimum Wage and work placements. While publically funded UK institutions
have exemption from NMW legislation with regard to students undertaking work
placements, it remains a grey area whether non-publically funded institutions such as
American ‘island’ study abroad programs may operate under a similar exemption. The
executive agreed that it was important to persist in trying to settle the question of the
legality of work placement programs as they are currently operated by AASAP members.
Therefore, LK will write to the BIS official once again.
AM reported that she has had no reply from the immigration adviser to the question of
whether the new insurance policy is still adequate. She will pursue this matter.
CC reported via email that she has updated the AASAP website to include a full list of
Executive Committee members along with their contact details. However, members noted
that contact details for BS appear to be missing and that IW has been left out. LK will ask
her to repair these omissions.
LK noted that at her request Darren Williams has amended the AASAP website to reflect the
new fee structure agreed by the Executive Committee in April.
3. Reports of Officers
a. Treasurer’s Report. The May 2010 Treasurer’s Report showed a current account balance
of £2,314.09 and a savings account balance of £15,783.31, giving an overall balance
£18,800.70. AM will transfer funds into the current account to bring it to the approximately
£4,000 level at which the executive has agreed it should be maintained.
b. Memberships. LK reported that the association currently has 130 members, comprising
95 full members, 19 associate members and 16 affiliate members. BS offered to contact
associate members to solicit their permission for the AASAP website to state how many US
colleges and universities they each serve. He will furthermore explore whether associate
members would be willing to have listed the names of these institutions and the types of
programs they are. If associate members gave permission, the result – even of simply
indicating numbers – would be a website listing that reflected more accurately the full
strength of AASAP’s representation of the US study abroad sector.
4. Reports of Committees
a. April 28 meeting on mental health issues. The executive agreed this very well attended
meeting had been a striking success. A follow-up meeting by the subcommittee has
considered how best to compile the note takers’ reports on the various group discussions
and the concluding comments by the mental health professionals in attendance. EB has
agreed to draft this final record of the meeting to be posted on the AASAP website. This
document will include contact details for the mental health professionals. BS noted that he
hopes to be able to organise a day-long workshop on mental health themes, to be led by
Adrian Sherman of Ithaca College; this could take place in the spring of 2011. Dr Sherman,
formerly Director of International Programs for Ithaca College, is now a full-time consultant
on mental health issues in international education.
b. May 12 cultural visit to the British Music Experience at O2. NH reported that, while the
group attending was comparatively small, the visit was a highly successful one. He has
posted an account on the AASAP website highlighting how the BME can be a resource for
students. He noted in particular that the Education Manager at the BME, whose contact
details are included in his posting, can assist with organising group visits and providing free
workshops. There are ticket reductions for students, and generous ticket reductions for
groups.
c. June 10 social. LS reported that arrangements are in place for this event at Truckles. In
case of poor weather, an area will be set aside for AASAP in the basement of the bar.
d. 2010 AGM. Syracuse University is set as the venue and Brian Whalen confirmed as
afternoon guest speaker. LS will contact him to ask for a title of his talk. CC will accept
RSVPs and returned forms and payments, as well as provide sticky-label name tags. LK and
CC will put together materials for elections to the Executive Committee. EB will ask JL to
help her arrange catering once again. [AMENDMENT: Catering will now be organised by
CC.] NH & LS will consult over gifts for the guest speaker. AM & LS will handle staffing of
the arrivals desk.
The committee agreed that the agenda of the day will consist of: 10 am arrival and coffee;
10.30-11.30 session led by a representative from the BAC about sponsors’ record-keeping
responsibilities under Tier 4 (EB will approach the BAC to organise this); 11.45-12.45
business meeting; 12.45-2.00 lunch; 2-4 guest speaker session; 4.00 closing wine and
cheese.
LS suggested that the chair or a representative from each of the various European studyabroad organisations could be invited to attend the AGM as observers. LK will issue these
invitations. After discussion it was decided that it would not be a good idea to try to tag a
formal meeting with European colleagues onto the AGM. However, informal discussion
could take place during the day about setting up a stand-alone meeting in London at some
point in the future.
e. November 17 meeting on facilities and risk management. All arrangements for this
meeting are in place and notice of it has been placed on the Events page of the website.
f. AASAP anniversary celebration. LK reported that Mrs Susman, wife of the US
Ambassador, has said she will be pleased to host AASAP’s 20th anniversary celebrations at
Winfield House on Monday, 9 May 2011, from 6 to 7.30 pm. The house can accommodate a
maximum of 200 guests. LK will announce the good news at the AGM.
g. Cooperation with European study abroad associations. This subcommittee is engaging in
dialogue on this subject but has nothing new to report at this stage.
5. Unfinished Business
a. Charitable status for AASAP. AM said that in response to her question about possible
corporation tax liability – which will affect any decision about whether or not to seek
charitable status – the current independent examiner of AASAP’s accounts has referred her
to the previous independent examiner. The latter has not yet replied, however. IW said
that his program is about to be visited by their auditors and that he would pose the question
about corporation tax liability to them. To assist, AM will send IW the latest version of
AASAP’s final accounts prepared by the independent examiner.
6. Any Other Business
DV suggested that we might write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is soliciting the
suggestions for how public expenditure can be significantly cut, to suggest that the UKBA
could give a much lighter touch to inspecting the Tier4-registered US study abroad sector. It
is arguably a poor use of public funds to apply a one-size-fits-all inspection regime to a
sector which has been acknowledged to be extremely low risk.
LS noted that all would have heard of the recent very sad death of Jaki Leverson, long-term
director of the Tufts University program in London. She announced that a memorial event
for Jaki is being planned for early September, to take place in the Haldane Room at
University College London, where the Tufts program is based. Once details are in place, she
will announce the event to the wider membership, via the website bulletin board
BS said that he is still pursuing Queen’s University about whether they would welcome
AASAP membership. If Queens does decide to join, the association’s by-laws may need to
be amended to allow for membership of Canadian institutions.
BS further noted that it is not certain that the Simon Bill is still alive in any form. However,
he is still pursuing the matter and will report if he succeeds in learning anything more about
it.
7. Date, time and location of next meeting. The next meeting will take place at Florida State
University on Wednesday, 1 September at 4.30 pm.
The meeting ended at 5.55 pm.