Dear SEAC Members,

During the annual meeting in Chattanooga, SEAC will hold a forum about the new image policy to provide an opportunity for SEAC members to better understand the process through which the policy came to be, the perspectives of the petitioners who have put forward the referendum to rescind the policy and restart the process, and the perspectives of supporters of the policy.  The goal of the forum is to better educate the membership through a respectful conversation about the policy and the petition, prior to the vote on the referendum in early November.

The forum will thus serve as a listening and learning session, not a session through which we will come to a resolution about what a policy should look like.  We encourage you to do your homework ahead of time by reading the policy and the petition, and to submit your questions and/or comments (anonymously if you choose) ahead of the meeting through the online portal.

Participants in the forum will include:  Jessica Fleming Crawford (The Archaeological Conservancy), Robbie Ethridge (University of Mississippi), Vin Steponaitis (UNC-Chapel Hill), Carrie Wilson (NAGPRA Director, Quapaw Nation), RaeLynn Butler (Historic and Cultural Preservation Department, Muscogee Nation), Beau Carroll (Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Lindsay Bloch (Florida Museum of Natural History), and myself (University of Tennessee, Knoxville). T.R. Kidder (Washington University in St. Louis) will serve as moderator.

Please do keep an eye out for the electronic vote on the referendum in early November, which will be sent via email to all current SEAC members.

We look forward to seeing you all in Chattanooga!
Kandi Hollenbach

SEAC President