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Commentary: Time for a structure changeBy William W. Sutton Jr. NABJ Immediate Past President There’s a lot of attention on politics at the NABJ convention this week, and that’s a good, healthy thing. As you debate and discuss who should be the next NABJ parliamentarian, who should be the next NABJ treasurer and who should be the next NABJ president, please take some time to discuss the future structure of our organization. Vote "YES" to change the national board structure and then consider the three options. For many years now, many of your NABJ leaders past and present have discussed and debated whether the NABJ Board of Directors structure should be changed to include a formal ladder system, a smaller board and/or to exclude either or both the associate member representative or the student member representative positions. The bottom line is this: It’s time for a change and with each passing year, we’re sinking deeper and deeper into a chasm that will be difficult for us to climb out of the longer we take to make some of these critically important changes. You have before you on this year’s ballot a question to determine whether you, the members, want to change our board structure and then you have a choice of three structure proposals. First, I ask that you vote “YES” to change the structure to make sure that your leadership and the membership know that yes it is time for a change. Second, I ask that you vote “YES” for option A or option B. My choice? Option B. We must have a vote of at least two-thirds on the first question for one of the structure proposals to pass. We must have a vote of at least two-thirds on ONE of the three structure proposals to be implemented. Why Option A or Option B? Because we need a structure change and we need membership action now. There is little difference between the first two options and choosing either of these two proposals will allow us to start taking the important steps toward a structure transition that will establish NABJ with a leaner leadership structure, a clear definition of experience and path for members who wish to become president and each keeps the associate member and the student member representative positions. The biggest difference between the two is that Option B includes a system that allows part of the board to get elected each year, meaning that we don’t have a single year where half or more of the board leadership turns over. In my opinion, that’s a good thing and that should be one of our ultimate structure goals. If you’re ready for that change now – which really means you’re ready for the leadership to start taking the necessary steps now to implement it later – then vote for Option B. If you’re not, vote for Option A. But what about Option C? This option is the most drastic of the three structure change proposals. It establishes a short ladder system and it eliminates the associate member representative entirely. But it also makes the student member representative a non-voting member. I am a big supporter of having students as an official ntirely and the student member representative part of our leadership team. I put the proposal on the table during the DeWayne Wickham administration during one of my previous board terms in the 1980s. The membership wisely chose to include these future journalists and future leaders as an official part of our regional and national structures, and it has been a good thing as we have watched some of these student leaders become professional leaders at the chapter, regional and national levels of our organization. I’m not in favor of having an associate member representative because I don’t believe that marketing and public relations professionals should have a voting seat at the NABJ leadership table. There is the matter of journalism education professionals, and that’s an issue we need to deal with by creating a different membership category or by including them as full members. But let’s not confuse NABJ’s original goals and mission of advocating for black journalists, enhancing journalism education and recognizing important coverage of blacks and black issues with selling a product or marketing a company or individuals. We’re a journalism organization of black journalists. That said, I would rather that you vote for Option A or Option B, each of which includes the associate member representative position, and work on changes later. Perhaps even next year at the UNITY '04 convention in Washington, D.C. Let’s leave this convention knowing that the membership is smart enough to recognize how difficult structure change is and will be for the next few years while making it clear that we, members, expect our leaders to find good solutions that will move us to the next levels of strong non-profit association management. William W. Sutton Jr. is a Deputy Managing Editor at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. He served as President of NABJ from 1999 to 2001. If you would like to discuss the amendments further, he is staying in room 1761 at the Hyatt. He can also be reached by email at Sutton@newsobserver.com |
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