ACS News
Council faces decisions on key proposals Committee on Committees, referendum system are among important proposals Council will consider in Los Angeles this spring A proposed Committee on Committees will be one of the potentially far reaching issues that will be voted on during the Council meeting to be held during the Society's national meeting in Los Angeles this spring. Another key issue that may come to a vote is a proposed referendum system for the Society. This proposal was defeated 112 to 92 at the previous Council meeting—a marathon, all-day affair at the ACS meeting in Chicago last fall (C&EN, Sept. 17, 1973, page 28). In Los Angeles councilors also will consider, but not vote on, a number of other proposals. One of these pretty well would revamp the way ACS is run by making the Council the Society's policy setting body. Other proposals would, among other things, change the preferential ballot first used in the Society's 1974 elections, change the way in which nominees for President-Elect are chosen, and specify that no Society Bylaw or Regulation could "abridge in any way the members' rights to freedom of speech, expression, or communication in any matters of the Society." The proposal for a Committee on Committees—which will be brought up for action by the Council—has been triggered by a feeling among a group of councilors that the Council should have a voice in determining the composition of its own committees. (Committee members are currently appointed by the President.) The petitioners, who include President-Elect William J. Bailey and three other Board members, also feel that there is a pressing need for a group with the continuing responsibility for reviewing the structure and functions of Council committees. Under the proposal that will be presented to councilors in Los Angeles, the Committee on Committees would assist and advise in appointment of the chairman and other members of each standing and "other" committee of the Council. It would make recommendations on the size and responsibilities of such committees. And it also could make proposals to disband, create, or
merge committees. Membership of the Committee on Committees would consist of the President-Elect and 15 voting councilors who would be elected to the committee by the Council to serve for three years each. The only other petition that councilors are committed to vote on in Los Angeles—it too will be brought up "for Council action"—is a proposal concerning the makeup of subcommittees. The Bylaws at present do not specifically provide for the appointment to subcommittees of persons other than members of the parent committee. The proposal is that any person would be eligible. However, an amendment will be proposed to limit it to any member of the Society or of the parent committee. The matter of the referendum system will be brought up with a request for urgent action—this means the Council can either vote on it or defer action. Under the proposal, a request from 2% of the members of each Society region could trigger a membershipwide vote on amendments to the Constitution after the Council had either disapproved such amendments or twice postponed action on them. Urgent action will also be requested on a proposal to modify the present system of setting Society dues that could permit an automatic change each year. The size of the change, if made, depends on changes in the consumer price index for services. Under the proposal, any annual dues change called for by the formula given in the Bylaws would be made only after positive action by the Council. A third proposal for which urgent action has been requested concerns ACS elections. Under this scheme directorsat-large would be elected by the membership, not by the Council as now, and all local section and division councilors and alternate councilors would be elected by the membership of the sections and divisions. The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws will recommend strongly that the Council reject the request for urgency on this petition and postpone any possible vote until the next Council meeting, which will be at the ACS meeting in Atlantic City in the fall. Probably the most critical proposal coming up for "consideration only" at Los Angeles—this means that councilors will not vote on it in Los Angeles— is a petition entitled "Responsive member - Council - Board relations." This petition emerges from two years
of deliberation by the Long-range Planning Subcommittee of the Council Policy Committee (C&EN, Jan. 21, page 34). It is designed, according to its proponents, to provide a responsive and responsible Council, to provide better interaction between Society members and Society policy, to provide efficient implementation of Society policy, and to provide a smooth interchange of ideas through a single set of Society committees. (Currently there are both Board and Council committees in the Society.) One of the keys to doing all this would be to make the Council—currently about a 450-member group—responsible for general policy formation. Such policy would be implemented by the Board of Directors, a much smaller body that would be responsible to the Council. The proposed change in the Society's preferential ballot also will come up for consideration only at Los Angeles. Since last year a preferential ballot is being used in elections for PresidentElect and for regional director when there are three candidates. And each ballot has to be marked with both a first and second choice to be valid. In the election for President-Elect last fall about 10% of the ballots received were invalid. Under the new proposal, a ballot marked with only a first choice also would be valid. Another proposal concerning election procedures that will be considered at Los Angeles is one calling for a mail ballot of councilors to select nominees for President-Elect and for members of the Council Policy Committee and of the Committee on Nominations and Elections. The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws points out that thé freedom of communication proposal as framed could have far reaching effects on many Society affairs—for, instance, it could limit the editorial judgment of journal editors—and is calling for further comment on the idea.
Council meeting The Council meeting will start at 8:30 A.M., Wednesday, April 3, in the Biltmore Bowl of the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles. Councilors may check in from 7:30 A.M. Space will be available for ACS members and nonmembers who are registered for the ACS meeting to observe the Council proceedings.
March 11, 1974 C&EN
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