The ICA Board of Directors met during the 2010 annual conference in Singapore and took action on several important issues. Several of the decisions have been covered in other Newsletter articles; however, a synopsis of the other decisions is below.

• On the recommendation of the Publications Committee, the Board approved "Early View" access for articles in the ICA journals. What this means for authors is that their articles will be published on the web ahead of the actual print version. This will result in articles reaching publication more quickly, and the research being read and cited earlier and hopefully more frequently. Each article will be assigned an issue number and a page number based on the actual print publication date. Early View will be phased in journal by journal over the next year, starting with the Journal of Communication, which is currently faces the longest backlog.
• On the recommendation of the Feminist Scholarship Division, the Board adopted a socially responsible investing policy that is now part of the overall investment policy for ICA. Research indicates that these investments have broadly the same rates of return as other investments. In response to this issue, the Board mandated a policy amendment to prohibit any direct investments into alcohol, gambling, tobacco, or firearm related investments. Socially Responsible Investment Funds are also to be included in investment manager screens.
• The Board also voted to increase the conference surcharge fee that ICA uses to fund travel grants. Conference fees have had a $2.00USD surcharge for many years for this purpose. The approved increase brings these fees to $5.00 USD per registration. ICA is striving to provide more travel funding for students and those from "B" and "C" economies. This increase would make several thousand additional dollars available for travel grants.
• The Task Force on International Communications Director proposed the creation of an international director of communications for the association to strengthen the public visibility of the organization. It is important for the association to publicize its activities as well as the research of its members. Still, board members expressed particular concern about how the position will be defined and evaluated, and how it will be funded. The task force is now charged with producing a business plan in time for the midyear Board meeting in January. The business plan will include projected costs and revenues for several years, to the point where the Board can see that the position can, even will, "pay for itself." If the cost analysis should require a dues increase, this would need to be voted on by the membership-but, given that dues have not been raised for several years, this cost analysis would likely be one of many reasons. The Board also requested an estimate of likely costs for an appointee situated in (a) Europe or (b) Asia rather than the United States. There was a lot of interest in benchmarking the starting point and then in establishing clear indicators of progress against which the position can be evaluated.
• The Task Force on Greening ICA made several recommendations that the Board adopted. The task force will now work on developing a specific greening policy for ICA based on the approved recommendations, through which the association will implement those recommendations. More information on this policy will be made available as it develops.
• A request came before the Board for a petition of support for a professor in Belarus, over matters of academic freedom. However, the Board encountered significant difficulty in obtaining accurate information on this case. The discussion at the meeting centered around the issues of academic freedom versus political activism; the final decision was that the request seemed more appropriate for individual rather than organizational action. As such, ICA will create a section on the website with background on the case and encourage all members, via an ICA e-mail broadcast, to individually review and consider signing a petition. Additionally, the Board approved the creation of a task force to look at the issue and recommend a process for ICA to address political requests in the future.

This was a highly productive meeting involving a wide range of issues of importance to all ICA members. More detailed information on any topic is available from ICA Executive Director Michael Haley, at mhaley@icahdq.org.