Members of the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) voted overwhelmingly to change the way the PATFA constitution can be amended. Using secret ballot, members voted 72-14 in favor of the proposed change.
Essentially, the change allows a majority vote of those members present at the Annual Meeting to adopt changes to the PATFA constitution. Under existing language, such changes had to be made via secret ballot and snail mail.
The PATFA constitution now reads:
“Article XV, Section 1. This constitution may be amended as follows:
a) Proposed amendment is submitted to the Executive Council. The Executive Council may initiate amendments.
b) After having received a majority vote of the Executive Council, the amendment shall be submitted to the membership.
c) A majority vote of those members present at the Annual Meeting shall be sufficient for adoption.”
Members discussed the issue at the 2013 Annual Meeting in Augusta. The previous arrangement was cumbersome and expensive. Proposed amendments to the PATFA constitution will now be distributed to the membership in advance of the Annual Meeting. But email was not a viable option when PATFA’s constitution was drawn up in 1987, so this single change was designed to simplify the process and to take advantage of email.
Full text of the PATFA constitution is available on this website. Look under "About Us."