B O A R D M I N U T E S
Chicago Headline Club
Board of Directors Meeting
June 11, 2003
President Molly McDonough called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m.
Present: Molly, Howard Dubin, Diane Monk, Lucio Guerrera, Casey Bukro, Ed Cooper, John Camden, Bob Roberts, Abdon Pallasch, Jennifer Leopoldt of Northwestern and Susan S. Stevens
President’s report: Molly distributed her 2002-03 report, which she sent to national headquarters. It includes information on programs, ethics, freedom of information, student outreach, membership, finances, etc. She had 41 attachments of such things as program flyers. She noted that attendance is best when we mail flyers.
May minutes were approved.
Molly was filing articles of incorporation for a Chicago Headline Club Foundation that week. Howard moved and Casey seconded that the Headline Club spend $550 to set up the foundation. Its two goals are scholarship and professional development. Its board members are five former Headline Club presidents. Howard noted the Headline Club is a 501c6, while the foundation will be 501(c)(3) and allow people to write off contributions. The University of Chicago Institute for Justice saved us at least $5,000 by setting up the foundation pro-bono. We will need to track in-kind donations for the foundation.
The last of this year’s PR Newswire programs was held. Molly said the whole series was great and raised $5,000. Almost all the money will go to scholarships.
Internship recipients are: Laura Mallory of Northwestern and Maya Henderson of Columbia College. Laura received $2,000 in Mary McAndrew’s memory. Maya received $2,000 in memory of Kathy McClelland. Barbara Jeanne Vanesco of Northwestern was runner-up for the McAndrew internship and Whet Moser of the University of Chicago was second for the McClelland internship. All four will get paid SPJ/CHC memberships for one year.
Molly would like two award programs a year.
Membership: John is still trying to verify membership information for a directory. He is looking at a directory-on-demand publishing operation that would allow us to do more updates and also smaller compilations such as freelancers or speakers. It’s supposed to be very inexpensive. National is doing a pretty good job sending renewal information. Some board members are not currently paid up, and John urges them to do so quickly. Current membership total is 426; it was over 500 previously during the year due to Brownlee and the regional convention. This is a slow time. He plans a recruitment drive around September.
Programs: Molly noted the diversity program coming up June 19. For Brownlee, seven programs are scheduled this year plus some other things including classes by Apple and Microsoft. Nine programs were part of last fall’s Brownlee Series. Opening night Oct. 3 at the Chicago Athletic Association may be with WTTW-TV’s Bob Sirott doing a “Chicago Tonight” production with us. It’s his 30th year in broadcasting.
Medill: Jennifer reported the chapter at Northwestern is working on a scholarship program with panels and wants to pair up with CHC for this. Molly advised her to call board member Art Menke because of his focus on students.
FOIA: Bob and Molly signed a letter they sent Gov. Rod Blagojevich urging him to sign the Verbatim Records Act. He urged everyone to do the same.
Ethics: Casey said the ethics team is seeking foundation funding for the AdviceLine, which has received more than 150 calls in its two years of existence. The ethicists recently mailed 4,750 letters and wallet cards, producing a new surge of calls. Another 40,000 cards have been printed. Casey is looking for a way to continuously feed cards to groups of journalists. The AdviceLine is aimed at professionals, he said, and though advisers are polite to students, “We don’t want to do students’ homework.
Credentials: Bob said police agreed to return fingerprint cards to journalists. Molly said police guidelines have not been written yet. Current press cards still work. It appears new vehicle cards are being issued.
Thanks to Molly: John Camden moved that the board members thank Molly for her year of being a strong president. Numerous members seconded the motion.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan S. Stevens
Secretary