Marian, it would be great if you could point out exactly what "misinformation" you see. I noticed that in the Chronicle article, the ED also refers to "inaccuracies and misconceptions" without pointing out what they are. That doesn't help the transparency issue at the heart of the petition.

Also, please see my note above pointing out that compensation as a percentage of revenues grew, and revenues include grants, making this objection irrelevant, imo.

Also I’d say that it’s not really relevant imo whether or not one staff member was paid for with grants. Grants count as revenues. Personnel costs as a percentage of revenues grew from 15% to 39% from 06/2020 to 06/2024. That’s a big increase. Under most circumstances, one tries to keep this flat.

It also says a lot about an academic society when people feel they need to sign anonymously to protect themselves. It indicates a lot of fear and intimidation in the air. That’s not conducive to open discourse.

Government grants are on p9 line 1e of the form 990. For the years 6/2021-2024 thryre blank. projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/o...

Was he paid after 6/2024? Those are the last numbers publicly available.

There is an update from the program committee from October 2025 in the linked archive.

As an outsider, I don’t have the details, but there were no federal grants recorded on the Form 990 between 6/21 and 6/24. It’s possible that the nEH grants came in after 6/24, but they do not seem to have paid salaries in the 21-24 time period.

(The membership figure is taken from the 2024 Treasurer's report, on the AMS website under "reports".)

*Jacobs*

FWIW, having served in SMT, SEM, and AMS, my general impression is that while all 3 have their problems, I've found SMT to be more considered and rational. Perhaps because the field encourages one to think about processes and systems?

The financial reports to the AMS are posted on its website here: www.amsmusicology.org/reports-poli...

It is as if the society is burning through its ca. $600k in annual donations and grants--and then some. (This is unlikely to be a problem with fund manager performance, since the same fund managers deal with another fund I know.)

Also, investments seemed smaller than what I would have expected. They have been virtually flat between 6/2021 and 6/2024, despite a 33% increase in the US stock market and $1.9 million in donations during this period.

As a percent of total expenses, salaries grew from 24% to 39%. As a percent of revenues, salaries grew from 14.9% to 38.7%. In a well-run organization, those percentages would be flat, ie, you increase expenditures in line with revenues, not in such excess to them.