Alumni To Vote On Constitutional Amendments

Referendum of entire alumni body will be held next year.

Reed alumni—all 18,000 of them—will decide whether to adopt or reject of a set of amendments that were recently proposed to the constitution of the Reed College Alumni Association. The amendments were approved by the alumni board of directors in June by a vote of 20–5 and duly published in Reed Magazine. But the proposed changes have drawn enough opposition—53 alumni submitted written objections—to trigger a ballot of the entire alumni community.

The alumni board approved the referendum and set out a timeline during its November 10 meeting.

The balloting is scheduled to take place between January 21 and February 4 and will be conducted online. Proponents and opponents of the changes have both submitted arguments for and against the measure; alumni will be able to submit their own personal statements starting December 10. These will be accessible on the referendum website. The college is working with the alumni board to create this site; we'll post the link as soon as it’s available.

The outcome will be decided by a simple majority of the votes cast.

Many, even most of the proposed changes are uncontroversial, but certain provisions have provoked disagreement, specifically those relating to the structure of the board of directors.

The alumni board (not to be confused with the board of trustees) exists to foster the welfare of both the college and alumni by “promoting mutually beneficial interaction, sustaining a sense of community among the college and between the college and its alumni, and by contributing to the long-term financial health of the college.” (Also contrary to what many people think, the alumni board has no role in fund-raising.)

For more information, check out this page.

Tags: Alumni, Institutional