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Changes to Constitution 2007-2008: Message by ALLC Chair (April 2008)
Dear Colleagues
I am writing to you as Chair of the ALLC, to inform you of changes to the
Association's constitution which were approved by the Committee in the
meetings we held in Leipzig in December. We have been waiting for the
UK Charity Commission to give us their approval, but if we are to hold
elections this year under the new constitution, which the Committee
wishes to do, we cannot wait longer. In any case, there is only one
specific change for which Charity Commission approval is required,
and that is to do with the Association's 'objects', and these do
not affect the elections. Under our existing constitution, the
Committee is authorised to approve changes, and Charity Commission
approval is required only for changes to Objects (clause 2) and
Dissolution (clause 26). We propose to update the Objects clause,
and we propose no change to the Dissolution.
We propose therefore to go ahead with the new procedures. I must
apologise for not having notified all members immediately after the
December meetings of the Committee, but I confess I had expected a
faster response on the Objects clause. If we start the
nomination/election process now, however, we will be able to meet the
timetable of the revised constitution.
The new constitution is attached as a Word document. The changes,
including both emendations and additions, are highlighted in bold. These
changes are the fruit of a deliberation and consultation over a period
of a year or more, and the December meetings introduced many refinements
to a basic set of changes developed by a small working party consisting
of David Robey, Edward Vanhoutte and myself, with many of the ideas
having been discussed in successive Committee meetings.
The key changes cover the following areas:
- We have updated the constitution to reflect the situation following
the creation of ADHO (the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations)
and the adoption of LLC as the print journal of all ADHO associations.
ALLC continues to be the owner of LLC, but individual subscribers choose
which association(s) they wish to be considered members of, and LLC
revenue is allocated to all ADHO constituent organisations according
to the formula agreed in the establishment of ADHO. (For further
information, see the formal ADHO documents at www.digitalhumanities.org.)
- The Officers of the Association (Chair, Secretary,
Treasurer) will continue to be elected by the Committee, but for 3-year
rather than 1-year terms, and will be limited to serving a maximum of
two such terms consecutively. The election of Officers by the
Committee will follow a rotation principle, so that only one Officer
is elected in a given year.
- Similar provisions have been introduced for the election of the
Association President, who will continue to be appointed by the
Committee, but for a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms.
- The number of Co-opted Members that can be appointed by the
Committee has been increased from two to three.
Transition arrangements
The Committee was concerned to ensure that the transition from the
old to the new constitution should be as smooth as possible, and
have approved the following arrangements.
- A. Committee members: 2008-2010
Because the constitutional arrangements were in process, the Committee
agreed that the members elected at the Illinois conference should be
elected for 1 year rather than 3, but with the option of standing
for election for a further 2 years, in order to complete the normal
3-year term. This was reported at the 2007 AGM. The three committee
members elected in this way were:
- Elisabeth Burr
- Liliane Gallet-Blanchard
- Laszlo Hunyadi
All three have indicated their willingness to be nonimated.
Three members need to be elected in this part of the election, and
the three elected will serve two years.
- B. Committee members: 2008-2011
The 'normal' constitutional arrangements apply to this group,
who will be elected for three years. The three normally retiring
members are:
-
Alejandro Bia
- Espen Ore
- Thomas Rommel
Alejandro Bia is eligible for re-nomination and election, but Espen Ore
and Thomas Rommel have served two consecutive three-year terms,
and are therefore not eligibile for immediate re-nomination this year.
- C. Officers
In order to offer the chance of continuity while the new provisions
come into effect, the Committee decided - with the
current Officers absent from the discussion - that the following
procedure should be followed:
- 2008 Elections:
- Treasurer: appointed for 3 years (Jean Anderson had in any case
indicated her wish to stand down after many years of exceptional
service, so this will be a new appointment).
- Secretary: appointed for 1 year. Lisa Lena Opas Hanninen, the
current Secretary, will exceptionally be eligible for nomination.
- Chair: appointed for 2 years. Harold Short, the current Chair,
will exceptionally be eligible for nomination.
- 2009 Elections: a new Secretary to be appointed for 3 years.
- 2010 Elections: a new Chair to be appointed for 3 years.
Call for nominations
In order to put all of these provisions into effect, a further email
will therefore be sent out immediately to invite nominations for
the three categories of vacancy:
- 3 Committee Members to serve 2008-2010 (Elisabeth Burr,
Liliane Gallet-Blanchard, and Laszlo Hunyadi are all eligible for nomination)
- 3 Committee Members to serve 2008-2011 (only Alejandro Bia
of the retiring Members is eligible for nomination)
- 3 Officers: Treasurer for 3 years; Chair for 2 years (with Harold
Short eligible for nomination); Secretary for 1 year (with Lisa
Lena Opas-Hanninen eligible for nomination).
Committee Roles
In addition to the formal consitutional changes, the Committee
also decided at the December meetings to introduce a less formal
Appendix to the Constitution, in which specific Committee Roles
are defined. One such role - Membership Services Co-ordinator -
has been very effectively filled by Melissa Terras for the past
three years. We have discussed additional roles. The idea is
that these roles would normally be carried out by elected members of the
Committee.
A document is in preparation, which will be circulated to Association
members prior to the June meetings and conference in Oulu, for
information.
Best wishes
Harold Short
Chair, ALLC
April 2008
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