Nov. 12 business meeting (part I)

[Norman Fiering]

Dear fellow members of the ERH Society:

There is a business meeting of the Society, the first ever, scheduled from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m., on Friday, November 12, just before the Wm. James/ERH conference begins at 2:00 p.m. The meeting is in Haldeman 125, for those who will be attending. No provision has been made in this instance for participation at a distance. So only those present will have a vote  (insofar as any voting is required).  

However, those not present, who write to me or to Clint Gardner ( clintga...@gmail.com) before November 10, may have a voice, should there be any matter about which you wish to comment.  (Note: only full members who have paid their annual dues may participate in the meeting, although observers are welcome). 

For the past eighteen months, since its founding, the Society has been operating more or less by fiat. This meeting will give us a chance to get better organized in preparation for the transition to a new, more broadly based, democratic regime on Sept. 1, 2011. It would be good to know who among you would be willing to put in some small service to the Society, as an officer, or whatever, enabling us to spread around responsibilities. 

Attached to this first memo pertaining to the meeting are three documents: 1) a draft agenda for the meeting; 2) a copy of the existing constitution of the Society; 3) a list of proposed changes to the constitution; 4) a revised version of the constitution, with the changes indicated in boldface.  Still to come, in another memo, are the reports of the Secretary and the Treasurer, both from me. 

I wrote the original constitution in the abstract. The Society did not exist when I drafted it. It was somewhat generic. Now, with eighteen months experience, I see that it needs to be revised here and there.  I hope that at the meeting those present, after discussion, will vote to adopt the revised version of the constitution. The revised constitution will enable us to move ahead in the next year with greater ease.  This kind of business is dreary, but necessary to put the Society on a sound footing.  Thereafter, our business should flow quite naturally.

In the course of the next six months, the present leadership will create a nominating committee which will propose a slate of officers and council members who will take office on September 1. 

Norman