San Diego ACHS Meeting

ROUNDTABLE NOTES San Diego ACHS Meeting

Facebook/Twitter Roundtable

Bil Johnson noted that there is one person in his society office who handles the Facebook/Twitter matters.

Another person noted that students now tweet with each other—much more than email; email is pretty much out-of-date for student to student communications. A big problem is that the new generation uses a different technology.

One society uses twitter primarily to communicate with chapters and with each other.

There is a serious problem, however, in the need for someone to monitor the content, appropriateness, etc. of contents. This may require somebody who is able and willing to monitor this much of the day so that inappropriate messages are removed (or whatever is done with them). Having such monitoring can be very time-consuming because the monitoring should be constant.

One person noted that there are companies that will manage the social media; their software manages material, collects information on who participates, when they participate, and other things.

One person pointed out that most students do a pretty good job in separating person material from organization things. However, the marketing society pointed out that there may be a consequence of losing membership if there is a violation of media standards—again, the problem of monitoring, perhaps.

The main use of social media, however, may be as a way of providing information—at least the messages from the organization. Social media can be used to send messages to subscribers.

We received an article entitled “The Risks of Going Social” that indicated that there are risks of using the social media. There may be liability issues. And societies using social media should be careful to balance the risks with possible legal problems. Legal Issues: Trademarking and Registering with States Attorneys General

Trademarks have been a problem in recent years for a number of societies. Societies are encouraged to register their trademarks. The trademark may be on stoles and other regalia, and some companies are trying to market the logos without the permission of the society. Also, people might check on the society website to see what other sites the society initials might connect with. As a beginning in handling the whole matter, a society might consult an attorney who specializes in intellectual property to check on keys, letters, Greek letter names, etc.)

One person noted that it was necessary to trademark some regalia. Another recommended checking Google and Wikipedia periodically to see if there are any problems.

One problem is the chapter use of the society logo, and the society may have to ask chapters to be careful in the use of the logo. A written policy on use would be appropriate in a handbook.

The big problem, perhaps, is the business use of the logo, not so much the chapter use of it, though chapters may still cause a problem. However, some societies encourage the use of the logo in t-shirt competitions where the best designs are sold at the convention.

State Attorneys General:

Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have approached honor society chapters to pay taxes. In some twenty states, if a society solicits funds, the society is asked to register. Jim Viehland’s board member recommended registering because(?) a claim against a non-registrant had been allowed in court. There are issues, however; do the chapters belong to the society or to the school. The chapters must follow school regulations. BGS registered in all 50 states and paid $15K to a Connecticut corporation to handle this; TBP did this on its own. There is a Uniform Registration Form, though it will not work in all states. Jim noted that he was sorry they had to do this because the process was onerous and required annual renewal (at $5K). Problem of Societies with no (or minimal) paid staff

On Saturday we discussed the situation of several small honor societies. Some small societies are struggling to find advisors who are interested in doing the work of the society. A possible solution is to have an advisor award and to tap into the work of good advisors. Another idea is to have each board member serve as a liaison to a group of chapters.

Some societies also have people serving in the same capacity for years with no plans for sustaining the position.

Some societies have students on the Board, and though this is often good, problems can arise.

Nancy McManus handed out a page detailing information about Pi Sigma Alpha; the page included information about percentage of budget devoted to salaries, taxes, office expenses and professional fees as well as the percentage devoted to programs and awards. Pi Sigma Alpha has a salaried administrator for about 20 hours per week average, a salaried Executive Director, an intern, and hires an accountant and a general counsel. The page also describes programs and awards, publications, and merchandise available.