[nabs-l] My Two Cents:

[Lewis, Anil]

My Two Cents:

I offer the following solely in response to Sean's message.  Nothing in this email should be considered to be an endorsement of any candidate.  

Active participation in the organization is a constitutional right afforded to each member in good standing.  Restricting a member from participating as a convention presenter because of a perceived unfair advantage restricts their ability to actively participate in the organization.   

I state that it is a perceived unfair advantage because there are individuals with poor presentation skills that would do themselves more harm as a presenter.  With that in mind, does disallowing a good presenter from presenting afford the poor presenter an unfair advantage?  Please, let's not debate this question.  Let's work on identifying leaders in the organization that can continue to build the National Federation of the Blind.

The simple remedy to this problem is to allow the individuals that have a message that would benefit the attendees to present on the agenda.  After all, would it be so awful to elect someone with a good message and the ability to offer a stellar presentation to the membership as a leader in the organization? 


Anil







Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Deputy Executive Director 
(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 
Twitter: @AnilLife
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sean Whalen via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 2:19 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: nabs-presidents at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] . Re: Justin Salisbury for NABS Presiden

Good Friday afternoon NABS,

I wanted to briefly jump in on this thread to offer a few important points and clarifications.

First, the policy to exclude individuals who are campaigning for Board positions from speaking on the NABS agenda at convention is not a "private agreement" among the NABS Board. It was a decision that has been discussed, considered and voted on several times dating back to Arielle Silverman's stint as NABS President. I very much understand why Justin and others have concerns about this policy. There is certainly an element of unfairness to it. But it is important to acknowledge that there are also legitimate arguments in favor of the policy. The strongest of which being that placing somebody on the agenda who wishes to run for a position benefits that individual enormously in his or her bid. A speech on the agenda familiarizes everybody in the room with the candidate and leaves the candidate fresh in the mind of all meeting participants. Clearly permitting one candidate this opportunity while denying it to others is not fair. And if everybody who were running for a position was entitled to a spot on the agenda, we would have little time left for anything else. I am not saying that I either oppose or support the policy; I didn't vote last time we considered it. But it is something that was and has been openly discussed among the NABS Board and voted on. Some on the Board voted against the policy last time we discussed it, each of whom had a full opportunity to voice opinions and each of whom possesses one of the equally-weighted nine votes that the Board uses to make decisions between national meetings. There is certainly space for disagreement, but there is no "whistle" to be blown. The process by which the decision was made was legitimate.

Second, nothing in this policy in any way conflicts with the Constitutions of the National Federation of the Blind or the National Association of Blind Students. If anybody is aware of any such conflict, I would be very grateful if it could be brought to my attention, in which case we will certainly change course immediately.

Please, anybody with questions or concerns about this, feel free to contact me to discuss them.

Many thanks,

Sean Whalen
President, National Association of Blind Students
(608) 332-4147
nabs.president at gmail.com

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