Proposed amendment to NAGCR constitution

This proposed amendment to the constitution is to treat all members of the Guild residing in North America on an equal footing, by making Resident Membership open to any resident of North America interested in furthering the goals of the Guild. The reduced class of Associate Member is eliminated. The proposed amendment to the by-laws is simply to harmonize them with the constitutional amendment, if it is adopted.

Such a change is clearly in the best interests of the Guild, as by welcoming all those interested in ringing in North America it furthers the goals of the Guild, as defined in Section 2 of the constitution.

It also eliminates the confusion and offense, caused to our newer members who are currently obliged to find a sponsor to join the Guild. Such a sponsorship criterion makes the Guild seem like a closed, private club, rather than an open and welcoming organization aiming to encourage and improve North American ringing.

I strongly urge the Guild's membership to support this amendment. The current sponsorship criterion serves no purpose, and causes confusion and resentment. Our goal should always be to further ringing in North America. The most important constituency we can serve is the newest ringers, or those interested in introducing ringing where it does not yet exist. They are our future, and the future of ringing in North America. Appearing to be a private club, excluding potential members simply because we don't know them personally is backwards and contrary to our goals and interests.

We should be attempting to maximize our membership and the interest and enthusiasm for ringing in North America. We should be trying to include people, not exclude them.

Note that all this amendment does is strike the notion of associate member from the text of the constitution and by-laws, and make resident membership open to anyone in North America interested in furthering the aims of the Guild. All other language regarding resident members is retained unchanged.

To facilitate comparison of the proposed amendment with the current wording, below are the relevant sections of the constitution and by-laws, with text that will be removed if the amendment passes struck out, and text that will be inserted in bold face type.

Please remember when considering this that the only proposed addition is the sentence in bold face type. All other retained language is already in our constitution and by-laws. If folks object to any of the unchanged language, they should certainly propose amendments in the future to correct such issues as they see fit, but doing so is not properly a part of this proposed amendment.

Change to article 3 of the constitution:

3. Membership

Membership in the Guild shall be open to all who support the purposes of the Guild. Resident Membership is open to ringers residing in North America who are sponsored by a Resident Member currently in good standing; other members residing in North America shall be Associate Members. Members residing in North America shall be Resident Members. Members not residing in North America shall be Non-Resident Life Members. The Guild may also elect Honorary Life Members who shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of Resident Members.

Changes to sections 1.1, 1.4 and 1.5 of the by-laws:

1.1 Resident and Associate Members shall pay annual dues. Their membership shall run for one year from the anniversary of their joining the Guild. Members age 65 and older qualify as Senior Members; Members enrolled full time at an accredited educational institution qualify as Student Members.

1.4 A Non-Resident Life Member moving to North America shall become a Resident or Associate Member on payment of annual dues. A Resident or Associate Member moving overseas shall become a Non-Resident Life Member without further payment of dues.

1.5 Resident Associate and Honorary Life Members shall receive the newsletter as part of their membership.

That is, the proposed amendments are:

Article 3 of the Guild's constitution is changed to read:

Membership in the Guild shall be open to all who support the purposes of the Guild. Members residing in North America shall be Resident Members. Members not residing in North America shall be Non-Resident Life Members. The Guild may also elect Honorary Life Members who shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of Resident Members.

If and only if the accompanying constitutional amendment is adopted, the by-laws are changed as follows:

The first sentence of Section 1.1 is changed to read

Resident Members shall pay annual dues.

Section 1.4 is changed to read

A Non-Resident Life Member moving to North America shall become a Resident Member on payment of annual dues. A Resident Member moving overseas shall become a Non-Resident Life Member without further payment of dues.

Section 1.5 is changed to read

Resident and Honorary Life Members shall receive the newsletter as part of their membership.

Note:

The reason for the sentence beginning “If and only if the accompanying…” is to ensure that the constitution and by-laws remain in harmony. Because the threshold required to pass an amendment to one is higher than for the other, if the two were considered separately we could end up in an unfortunate situation where one passed and the other did not, making the result inconsistent. It is worded to try to assure that the proposed amendment passes or fails as an atomic whole.