Bylaws Amendment: Enabling Steering Committee Member Training for UAWD Leadership Roles
2025 October Annual Membership MeetingThis Bylaws amendment was passed at the October 2025 Annual Membership Meeting via Zoom on October 26, 2025.
Whereas, the UAWD Steering Committee roles of Co-Chairperson, Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, and Trustee can be demanding roles, in terms of the time, capacity, organizing experience, and political experience that is required;
Whereas, many prospective holders of these UAWD leadership roles are capable of taking on the role, but may be reluctant to do so without an opportunity to train and learn about the role;
Whereas, this inability to train within a role before taking it on significantly limits the pipeline of UAWD leaders and tends to favor members with more privilege taking on leadership roles;
Whereas, our new framework for appointing Steering Committee members to leadership roles enables members to hold “Vice” roles for the purpose of learning from and supporting the work of the primary role holder during an active trial and training period;
Be it resolved, that Article VI, Section 2 of the UAWD Bylaws be rewritten in the following way (language in bold is added and language that is struck through is removed):
Section 2: Officers
The UAWD Steering Committee will be composed of eleven (11) General Members. Either through appointment by the Steering Committee or by majority vote at a UAWD membership meeting, the General Members will serve on the Steering Committee in the following primary roles: two (2) Co-Chairpersons, one (1) Recording Secretary, one (1) Financial Secretary, two (2) Trustees, and five (5) Members-at-Large. The General Member holding each of these roles may be altered at any time, and the Steering Committee may not overrule an appointment made at a membership meeting. Any sitting Steering Committee Members who hold specific offices at the time that this Bylaw is approved will immediately become General Members.
Each primary role may also have a Vice role appointed from the Steering Committee General Members to learn from and support the work of the primary role holder. The Vice role holder should be involved in all aspects of operations and decision-making. General Members serving in a Vice role will serve in addition to whichever primary role they hold. Vice roles should be held for a limited period of time and only during an active trial and/or training period.