[MD-AtLarge] Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the National Federation of the Blind

Sun Jun 5 01:33:54 UTC 2022

Hi Everyone,

I am sharing with you a proposed amendment to the constitution of the
National Federation of the Blind, which the NFB Board of Directors approved
to come before the convention this July for the membership to consider.
President Riccobono, in his June Presidential Release, encouraged chapters
and members to discuss this proposed amendment in the time leading up to the
Convention.  I whole-heartedly and enthusiastically support this amendment
and urge each of you to read it and share your thoughts with me about it.
The convention is the supreme authority in the Federation, and setting both
our policies and our governance is not only our right, but it is our duty.  

I want to share with you all why I without reservation support this
amendment.  While I believe that the Convention previously adopted the
policies in the Code of Conduct which delegated responsibility for
implementing, updating, and enforcing the Code including issuing discipline
to the Board and President, and thus the provisions in it are all
constitutional, there have been critics who have said that discipline lies
with the full Board and the Convention alone.  In reality, the Board of
Directors is charged with setting policies and procedures for the NFB in
between conventions, and when we delegated the Code implementation to the
Board, we agreed the Board would be responsible for effectuating the
discipline and misconduct process for us.  It was well within the Board's
authority to delegate decision-making on misconduct to the President, or if
the President is conflicted out, to a different officer.  It is also well
within the Board's authority to delegate hearing and deciding appeals to a
subcommittee of the Board.

Nonetheless, you may recall that the Special Committee, of which I was a
member, recommended to the NFB Board of Directors that the organization
consider amending the constitution to make it 100% clear that discipline and
consequences should and would be effectuated through the procedures in the
Code, meaning by the Office of the President (and if the President is
conflicted out. Then by a different officer), and appeals to be heard and
decided by a subset of the Board.  .  Our concern was that people would try
to bring sensitive matters to the entire Convention when dissatisfied with
an outcome, and that permitting this would do tremendous harm to survivors
and respondents.  We felt the Code was trauma informed and the
organization's intent was to be trauma informed, but we feared some may try
to find a loophole that would be the opposite of trauma informed.  We also
wanted to ensure consistency in decisions and that those making decisions
were trained on appropriate handling of such matters.  And thus, we
recommended the NFB shore up the process via a constitutional amendment.

What this amendment does is pretty straight forward.  It keeps discipline,
suspension, and expulsion for local chapters, divisions, and affiliates
exactly the way it was before - meaning two-thirds of the Board of Directors
or a majority of the states at the convention make the decision.  What the
amendment does for individuals is clarify that there is a process for
handling discipline and misconduct that the Board establishes and oversees;
this process is transparent and informed by feedback from the membership.
The amendment is trauma informed in that it establishes a minimum number of
delegates who have to agree to bring the matter to the convention - similar
to resolutions if the committee votes them down or if the proponent misses
the filing deadline.  Then, the rest, the hearing of the appeal, is the same
as it was before the amendment - in that states, through their delegates,
decide the matter.  Essentially, when we adopted the Code of Conduct as an
organization, we established procedures for assessing misconduct and issuing
discipline that was transparent, trauma informed, and consistent with our
guiding principles but just codified.  We sought to streamline how matters
are reviewed and decided, and we modernized our efforts to be consistent
with societal advances in this area.  We took no one's rights away - in fact
we augmented them because now there are several additional levels of review.

In Maryland, we amended our affiliate constitution in November 2019 to
incorporate the Code of Conduct and its disciplinary procedures.
Essentially, as a state, the amendment changes nothing for us operationally
or philosophically.  

For all of those reasons, I support the adoption of the proposed
constitutional amendment.  I urge you to read the proposed amendment, think
about it, talk about it in your chapters and divisions, talk with the
affiliate Board and me about it, talk to your friends in other affiliates,
talk to the President and Board of Directors, and come to an informed,
thoughtful decision about how you feel and what you think about the
amendment.  This is our time to educate one another - and I look forward to
learning from you.  We will discuss the proposed amendment in our caucus in
New Orleans, but I'm hoping the conversation will start now.  This is
important work, and we need to get it right.

Below is the proposed constitutional amendment:

Under Article III: Membership, the Current Constitution (as Amended 2014)
Reads:

Section E. Any member, local chapter, state affiliate, or division of this
organization may be suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined for
misconduct or for activity unbecoming to a member or affiliate of this
organization by a two-thirds vote of the board of directors or by a simple
majority of states present and voting at a National Convention. If the
action is to be taken by the board, there must be good cause, and a good
faith effort must have been made to try to resolve the problem by discussion
and negotiation. If the action is to be taken by the Convention, notice must
be given on the preceding day at an open board meeting or a session of the
Convention. If a dispute arises as to whether there was "good cause," or
whether the board made a "good faith effort," the National Convention
(acting in its capacity as the supreme authority of the Federation) shall
have the power to make final disposition of the matter; but until or unless
the board's action is reversed by the National Convention, the ruling of the
board shall continue in effect.

Proposed Amendments to Article III: Membership, Section E:

Remove the word "member"; this section will now pertain to local chapters,
state affiliates, and divisions.

Section E Would Then Read as Follows:

Section E. Any local chapter, state affiliate, or division of this
organization may be suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined for
misconduct or for activity unbecoming to a local chapter, state affiliate,
or division of this organization by a two-thirds vote of the board of
directors or by a simple majority of the states present and voting at a
National Convention. If the action is to be taken by the board, there must
be good cause, and a good faith effort must have been made to try to resolve
the problem by discussion and negotiation. If the action is to be taken by
the Convention, notice must be given on the preceding day at an open board
meeting or a session of the Convention. If a dispute arises as to whether
there was "good cause," or whether the board made a "good faith effort," the
National Convention (acting in its capacity as the supreme authority of the
Federation) shall have the power to make final disposition of the matter;
but until or unless the board's action is reversed by the National
Convention, the ruling of the board shall continue in effect.

Proposed Addition of New Section F to Article III: Membership:

Section F. Any member of this organization may be suspended, expelled, or
otherwise disciplined for misconduct or for activity unbecoming to a member
of this organization, and any non-member may have their engagement in the
organization restricted, through standards and procedures established,
maintained, and regularly reviewed by the board of directors. These
standards will be publicly available as a Code of Conduct for the
organization and members will be provided with opportunities to give
feedback on the Code on a periodic basis set by the board.

While considering disciplinary actions taken by the board either directly or
through the procedures it establishes, there must be good cause, and a good
faith effort must have been made to hear the concerns of all parties
involved. With regard to handling reports of violations of the code, the
board will establish policies and procedures on how such reports will be
investigated and then resolved. Any person subject to a ruling under these
policies and procedures may appeal that ruling to the board, which may elect
to have a subcommittee of the board handle the appeal. However, any three
members of the board may, through written request, initiate a full board
review of any disciplinary decision issued under the Code of Conduct. The
procedures maintained by the board must provide individuals with clear
guidance regarding their right to an appeal, the process for requesting an
appeal, and the standards used in the board's review of the appeal.

Any person subject to disciplinary action by the board issued through the
procedures and policies authorized by this section may appeal the board's
final decision to the National Convention. Such an appeal must be filed in
writing and within thirty days of the board's decision. The written request
shall be submitted to the President and must be signed by five delegates to
the next Convention who support hearing the appeal. Notice of the appeal
hearing must be given on the preceding day at an open board meeting or a
session of the Convention. Due to the sensitive nature of certain matters,
any disciplinary action to be considered by the Convention will only be
considered in a closed committee meeting consisting of the delegates present
and voting and the Federation's President. The committee shall be chaired by
the President unless a conflict of interest prevents the President from
chairing the committee, in which case the delegates shall elect one of the
other delegates present who does not have a conflict to preside over the
meeting. All efforts will be made in any disciplinary meeting to protect the
identity of individuals who were harmed. A matter that has not been fully
investigated shall never be considered by the Convention. If a dispute
arises as to whether there was "good cause," or whether the board made a
"good faith effort," the National Convention (acting in its capacity as the
supreme authority of the Federation) shall have the power to make final
disposition of the matter; but until or unless the board's action is
reversed by the National Convention, the ruling of the board shall continue
in effect.

Yours,

Ronza

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back

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