Governance

Colleagues:

Below is a revised version of Article VIII of the NASW Constitution, the article that deals with the organization's procedures for suspending or terminating membership.

All regular members should have received a unique email invitation to participate in the upcoming Board and Officers election.

In February, the membership voted to approve of a new set of bylaws for NASW, as required by NY state government regulations for nonprofit corporations, except for a passage that dealt with disciplinary procedures, Article VIII. Members voted to create an ad hoc committee to further discuss and develop a draft for Article VIII. Co-chairs of the committee are Dan Ferber, a board member, and John Gever. They solicited volunteers from a general call to membership. Other members of the committee are: David Lawrence, Jennie Dusheck, Melissa Blouin, David Levine, Norman Bauman. Once the committee's work is concluded and the president, Mariette DiChristina, and others have commented, the Article will go to an attorney for review and adjustments (if needed). The amendment will then be voted on at the next annual meeting in early November in New Haven, Conn.; as usual, members may vote in person or by proxies.

OFFICER CANDIDATES

President

Nancy Shute (freelance)

President Mariette DiChristina called the meeting to order at 4:10 and established that a quorum existed. She explained that the purpose of the meeting was to vote on the proposed amendments to the Constitution and reviewed the resolution and three voting options. She said that documents from the NASW archives reflected the growth and evolution of the organization and that the update of the Constitution was part of moving toward a larger and more professional organization.

For those of you who do not subscribe to NASW-talk, there has been much discussion of the proposed bylaw revisions. That discussion led members to carry out a successful petition drive to change the available choices about bylaw revisions to be considered at the February 20 special meeting in San Diego. As you read and consider your vote, we hope you will find this FAQ helpful.

The annual membership meeting of the National Association of Science Writers was held Oct. 17, 2009, at ScienceWriters 2009 at University of Texas at Austin. About 80 members attended.

The membership meeting was convened on Oct. 25, 2008, as part of the NASW workshop, in Palo Alto, Calif. Approximately 80 people attended. President Robert Lee Hotz called the meeting to order at 8:50 a.m. and reminded everyone that the information being discussed — and more — is available on the NASW website. He praised complete transparency in communication and requested that members recommend to officers and the board additional ways to achieve this goal.

Convened at 5:41 p.m. by Robert Lee Hotz, president, who started by saying: "I'm not one to bury the lede." He then announced that Diane McGurgan will be retiring in June 2009 and called it a "sad but wonderful moment." He talked of Diane as "the heart, the soul, the memory, the sharp tongue and the all-embracing warm hug of this organization."