Print

Print


Oh, dear.

I for one, while remembering with gratitude the unique intellectual 
stimulation and camaraderie of the Inkshed/CASLL community, sadly but 
respectfully bid the entity that fond farewell and the wish that it rest 
in peace.

With wonderful memories,

Ginny Ryan
Memorial University of Newfoundland

On 10/04/2017 12:27 PM, Brock MacDonald wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> (I’m sending this message to both the CASLL and CASDW lists, in the 
> hope of reaching all former Inkshedders.  Apologies for duplications!)
>
> The announcement Roger Graves recently sent out re the latest book 
> from Inkshed Publications makes this a timely message . . .
>
> This is the second year in a row without an Inkshed conference.  None 
> of our efforts to reboot and reinvigorate the conference in the years 
> 2012 through 2015, though sometimes moderately successful as one-off 
> meetings, have generated the collective commitment needed to truly 
> revive Inkshed and keep it going.  Taking stock of this situation, the 
> CASLL Board of Directors has decided that it’s finally time to face 
> the music and accept that Inkshed and its parent association aren’t 
> coming back.  (Re the association, it effectively no longer exists: 
> for several years now there have been no paid-up members apart from 
> some of us on the Board and Margaret Procter, who manages the 
> Inkshed/CASLL website.)
>
> No doubt there are a number of reasons for this situation: one is the 
> growth of CWCA in recent years, based on its great success in bringing 
> together the Canadian Writing Centre community; another is the way 
> that CASDW has become a big tent association for Canadian writing 
> studies and writing pedagogy in general since its metamorphosis from 
> CATTW.  Most pertinent of all may be the fact that a great many 
> (almost all?) of Inkshed’s founding generation of members have retired 
> in recent years: the core of the community that once sustained the 
> conference and its parent association just isn’t there any more.
>
> I’m sure many of us will feel some sadness about this, remembering how 
> significant Inkshed has been in our professional lives.  However, 
> although the Board has decided that it’s time to shut CASLL down, this 
> isn’t an absolute ending.  The Board proposes to transfer the 
> remaining funds in the CASLL bank account, roughly $7000.00, to 
> Inkshed Publications.  Unlike the Inkshed conference, Inkshed 
> publications is very much alive: besides the recently published 
> /Cross-Border Networks in Writing Studies, /it has two more books 
> coming out in the near future, following which it will still have 
> sufficient funds to produce perhaps one more.  The infusion of the 
> funds from CASLL will make possible up to four more books over the 
> next few years, following which new funding will be needed, perhaps 
> from CASDW and CWCA.  According to its Constitution, the purpose of 
> CASLL is "to provide a forum and common context for discussion, 
> collaboration, and reflective inquiry in discourse and pedagogy in the 
> areas of writing, reading (including the reading of literature), 
> rhetoric, and language.”  We on the CASLL Board feel that devoting the 
> association’s remaining funds to supporting Inkshed Publications, the 
> one and only Canadian imprint devoted to work in our field, is the 
> best way to ensure that CASLL’s dissolution is in keeping with its 
> fundamental purpose.
>
> Regarding the association's online presence: it's currently (and 
> rather awkwardly) in two cyber-places, the Inkshed newletter/blog site 
> that Margaret maintains (http://www.inkshed.ca/blog/) and the older 
> Inkshed site (http://inkshed.ca/), now essentially an archive of 
> material from the association’s earlier years.  Ideally all the 
> association’s records should be brought together on one site, either 
> under the aegis of CASDW or as part of an independent Inkshed 
> Publications site (which would be effectively a repurposed version of 
> the Inkshed newsletter site, where Inkshed Publications currently has 
> its online presence).  The key thing is that the association’s archive 
> needs to be maintained by an active organization to ensure its 
> long-term viability.  This will be on the agenda for discussion at the 
> CASDW AGM at Congress.  As for the CASLL list serve, once the 
> association has been dissolved it would be shut down.
>
> I should say something regarding the constitutional aspects of 
> dissolving CASLL. The one explicit mention of dissolution procedures 
> in the CASLL constitution is a clause that says "In case of 
> dissolution of the association, the profits and liabilities of the 
> association will be shared equally among all of the paid-up current 
> voting members.”  The Board’s plan to transfer the association’s 
> remaining funds to Inskhed Publications is in effect an agreement 
> among the paid-up current voting members to use their “shares” that 
> way, rather than simply cashing out (!!).
>
> As for the decision to dissolve the association, while there is no 
> specified procedure for this, the constitution does say that "The 
> Board of Directors of the association shall have the responsibility of 
> carrying out the management of the association. This responsibility 
> should be carried out with the knowledge and cooperation of the 
> membership.”  In our view, in the absence of any specific clause re 
> dissolution, it clearly comes under “management of the association.” 
>  As for "the knowledge and cooperation of the membership," as I’ve 
> already mentioned, at present the membership is effectively 
> non-existent, leaving the Board on its own.  However, in keeping with 
> the spirit of the constitution, the Board agreed that this notice 
> should be sent out: we hope it will reach all former CASLL members and 
> prompt some discussion, from which we further hope will emerge general 
> agreement in support of the decision we’ve taken.
>
> If there is strong opposition to the Board's decision, those opposed 
> would need to take a number of steps to give their opposition effect, 
> starting with paying fees in order to become current CASLL members and 
> thus be entitled to vote on the Board’s plan.  If a sudden flood of 
> membership payments materializes, obviously we’ll have to think again! 
>  However, we sincerely hope that this will not happen — that everyone 
> will agree that it’s best to bid CASLL and Inkshed a fond farewell and 
> let them rest in peace.
>
> Best wishes,
> Brock
>
> On behalf of the CASLL Board of Directors (membership as of 2016, when 
> we met and made this decision): Clare Bermingham, Kim Garwood, J. 
> Barbara Rose, and Dena Taylor
>
>
>
> W. Brock MacDonald
> Vice-Principal
> Director, Academic Writing Centre
> Woodsworth College, University of Toronto
> 119 St. George Street
> Toronto, ON M5S-1A9
> (416) 978-0246
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL-L command 
> to [log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> or, if you experience 
> difficulties, write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> To view or search the list archives, go to 
> https://listserv.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CASLL-L -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL-L command to
 [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
         write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]

        To view or search the list archives, go to
   https://listserv.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CASLL-L
                    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-