The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

42 DECEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Proposed Bylaw Amendment to Rightsize AFSA Governing Board Attention AFSA Members: The Governing Board has con- ducted a review of the AFSA bylaws in accordance with its 2013-2015 strategic plan. The Board is proposing one bylaw amendment that, if passed by the membership, would take eect in 2017. Membership last approved bylaw amendments in 2012 to facilitate electronic voting, to modify the Board eligibility requirements and to make a technical change to the name of the Scholarship Commit- tee. The process of amending bylaws requires notification to the AFSAmembership, a 45-day period for submission of statements in opposition, a vote of the membership and two-thirds approval of those voting. The full process is found in Article IX of the AFSA bylaws at www.afsa.org/ bylaws. It is the responsibility of the AFSACommittee on Elections to conduct polling. The following schedule has been set: Statements in opposition to the proposed bylaw amend- ment must be signed by not less than 10 AFSAmembers in good standing and must be received by close of busi- ness on January 16, 2015. They must be sent by mail to: Chair, AFSA Committee on Elections, 2101 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20037, or by fax to (202) 338-6820 or by email to election@afsa.org. Explanation of Proposed Changes from the Governing Board Following review, the Gov- erning Board found one issue for bylaw reform, which, if approved by the membership, would necessitate amending two sections of the bylaws. At its November 5, 2014, meet- ing, the Governing Board voted to solicit member feedback through The Foreign Service Journal of a bylaw amendment to reduce the size of the Governing Board from 29 to 19 members. The Governing Board recommends members support the amendments to Sections 4 and 5 of Article V as proposed. Size of Governing Board Background The current bylaws state that each AFSA constituency is allotted one representa- tive to the Governing Board for each 1,000 constituents, or fraction thereof, who are members of AFSA. According to this formula, the current AFSA Board has a total of 29 members. The reform envisioned by the Governing Board would change the for- mula and reduce the number of members to 19. The Gov- ernance and Executive Com- mittees have dis- cussed at length the ineciencies posed by a large governing board. It is hoped that a proposed reduction of the number of mem- bers might help to alleviate some of the diculties associated with a large board and bring it back to the more manageable levels of past years. The size of the board, the high frequency of its meetings, and the resources required to sta and run it were highlighted as problem areas in an outside consul- tant’s 2012 review of AFSA governance and operations. In the report, the outside consultant recommended reviewing the organization’s governance, noting that the previous two Governing Boards had commented on the Board’s large size. The board has grown from eight members in 1974 to 21 members in 1991 to 29 mem- bers at present. During the same period, the membership of AFSA has grown from 7,000 in March 1975 to 16,450 today. The Board’s growth outpaces growth in membership and has resulted in a Governing Board of record size. Note: Dates Action December 1, 2014 Proposed amendments announced to membership January 16, 2015 Deadline for statements in opposition to proposed changes Mid-April 2015 Sending of ballots, together with any statements for or against the proposed amendments by mail and email June 4, 2015 Bylaw amendment ballots tabulated July 1, 2015 Governing Board endorses results of bylaw poll reported by the Committee on Elections