| Introduction
to Associate Administrative Council -- Meeting Minutes
This index represents 38 years of business (Fall 1963-June
2001) conducted by the Associate Administrative Council at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There are some gaps in
the record, particularly during the first 13 years when minutes
or notes of meetings could not always be located. Moreover,
in some of those early years, the Council did not meet every
month during the academic year. The entries shown in the index
are listed because they appear in the record. They do not
necessarily reflect settled policy or procedure. But they
do demonstrate the breadth of subject matter considered by
the Council. For some, confronted with the concerns of the
present day, the questions, "Is this a new issue?"
or "I wonder if the AAC ever considered this?" will
either be answered or the inquirer pointed in a useful direction.
In appendices which accompany the index there are included
examples of some of the debates and actions of the Council
during its early years. They were selected to illustrate some
of the issues that the Council dealt with in its formative
years, issues that could serve to stir passions pro and con.
One of the outcomes of this project is the realization that
the role of the secretary or recorder is vital in creating
a written record of deliberations of the Council. In the last
analysis, after the participants have long departed from the
arena, it is that record that is left for those who follow
to inspect, interpret, and draw their conclusions as to how
a particular matter was handled. If that record has been well
constructed and maintained, we can have some assurance that
the deliberations and actions of the Council will be better
understood and more adequately serve as a guide for our successors.
As with any subject index of this type, its value depends
on having access to the source documents, in this case the
minutes or notes of a meeting and the papers associated with
it.
This compiler used the files created and left by the first
chair of the Council, Dean F. Chandler Young, for the initial
ten years. Those files are located in the University Archives,
B134 Memorial Library, and are identified as Series 7/2/7,
Boxes 11 and 12. A set of minutes or notes and associated
papers which span the last 28 years are in the possession
of the compiler and will eventually be turned over to University
Archives.
To be of continuing value, it is important that this index
be kept up to date. To do that on an annual basis at the close
of the year would be relatively easy to do and should represent
a modest commitment of one's time.
I wish to thank Kari R. Smith of the Registrar's Office for
her invaluable assistance in presenting this material in a
format that is easy to read and use. I also wish to thank
Catherine Jacob at University Archives for her knowledge of
the Archives holdings and her help in locating the needed
files. I wish to acknowledge the superb set of subject files
created and maintained over a span of many years by our now
retired colleague, Herb Evert. They were invaluable in the
process of checking murky facts. Patricia Fessenden, the present
chair of the Council, read through a first draft and made
some valuable suggestions. Her encouragement and support for
this project has been much appreciated. Joe Corry had suggested
the need for this project as a means of documenting the work
and accomplishments of a key panel composed of "working
deans and administrators."
For now at least, an electronic version of this document
will reside on the Registrar's Homepage where it is accessible
to all. The responsibility for errors of omission or misinterpretation
are solely mine.
Thomas L.W. Johnson,
Executive Associate Registrar
December 21, 2001 |