ANNUAL MEMBER VOTE FAQ

Who is eligible to vote?

• As stated in NACAC’s Bylaws, only NACAC voting members in good standing on the sixtieth (60) day prior to the start of voting, June 10, 2021, are eligible to vote.

What will we be voting on?

• The vote includes the election of three new officers to the NACAC Board of Directors. The vote will also decide on the passage of proposed bylaw amendments. 

What is the approval process?

• One-tenth (1/10) of all eligible voting members must submit a ballot to constitute a quorum.
• For the proposed bylaw amendments, of the ballots submitted, two-thirds (2/3) must vote in the affirmative for them to pass. Unlike the Special Member Vote earlier this year, members will be able to vote on each proposed amendment separately instead of a straight up/down vote.
• Results of the election will be decided by a simple majority.

When and how will the vote take place?

• Online voting will begin on Monday, Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. ET and continue until 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 15. Watch your email for a personalized ballot on Aug. 9 coming to you from Election Buddy.

• If your institution blocks such emails, please contact governance@nacacnet.org to provide an alternate email address (such as gmail). To ensure that your ballot does not end up in your spam folder, please add invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com to your safe recipient list.

When will the results be announced?

• All members will receive an email message as soon as possible after the results of the vote are confirmed.

Will there be any in-person voting at the national conference?

• No.  With the changes in NACAC’s voting process announced earlier this year, the election of candidates for office and the voting on bylaw changes will all take place online and in advance of the conference. 

Where can I get more information?

• Register for the Aug. 5 webinar
• Learn about the nominees for board election: bios | statements | videos
• Review the proposed bylaw amendments
• Contact governance@nacacnet.org

PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENT FAQ'S

Why replace “principal representative” with “primary contact”?

• The term “principal representatives” no longer exists since the new membership model went into effect in January 2021. 
• The current bylaws require principal representatives to be admission professionals.  The proposal would substitute the term “primary contact,” which could include individuals who work in an administrative capacity. 

Why change the title of President to Chair of the Board, President-Elect to Chair-Elect of the Board, and Immediate Past President to Immediate Past Chair of the Board?

• The change will provide more clarity concerning the role of the board’s leader.  Member feedback gathered during preparation of the white paper from the Ad Hoc Committee on Leadership in College Admission and during the 2020 CEO Listening Tour indicated confusion over the NACAC president’s official role and duties. 
• The change will align NACAC with its peer organizations.  A survey of our partner associations in higher education conducted in Fall 2020 showed that for the overwhelming majority, the elected leader of the board of directors is called the “chair” or “chair of the board” – not president.
• Common practice in non-profit and for-profit organizations is for the highest-ranking board member to be known as the chair, whose responsibility is to lead the board, monitor the organization’s finances, establish overarching goals and strategic direction, hire and fire the chief executive officer, make committee appointments, and set the agenda and preside over board meetings.  

Why does a reference to ad hoc committees need to be added to the bylaws?

• With NACAC’s recent transition to an ad hoc committee model that will provide more members an opportunity to become engaged in short-term, high-impact projects, it is necessary to add a reference to ad hoc committees to the bylaws.

Why remove the last three remaining standing committees from the Bylaws?

• Over the years, the three committees have served NACAC well and made important contributions to the association, but now NACAC is reimagining our governance to give more members the opportunity for engagement and to offer more flexibility to do meaningful work. This has led to a move away from our traditional standing committees, whose members were required by the bylaws to be selected by the board of directors and limited to only seven members and three-year terms.
• Eight of the former standing committees have already been eliminated.  The NACAC Board of Directors is proposing that the remaining three -- Admission Practices, Finance, and Governance and Nominating – be removed from the bylaws and not continue in their current form, but that their essential work be continued in new ways. 
• NACAC’s new ad hoc committees were announced in April 2021 with a call for volunteers to participate.  Nearly 400 members applied for positions on the committees, and more than 80 were invited to join.  The committees will address high-impact topics – such as addressing the needs of high school counselors and next-generation professionals, and for reimagining the way that NACAC and the affiliates can work together – and will complete their work by early 2022.  More ad hoc committees will be announced next year. 

Why change the Admission Practices Committee from a "standing" to "special" committee?

• With NACAC’s approach to ethical practices evolving from enforcement and compliance to the new best practices model embodied by the Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission, the work of the AP Committee also needs to change.  Freeing AP from the bylaws’ requirements for standing committees would allow greater flexibility to respond to developments in the higher education environment and the changing needs of the membership.  Removing bylaws restrictions would also allow timely changes to the committee roster to allow for new skill sets that might be needed as admission practice constantly evolves. 

Why should the Finance Committee be sunset? 

• Because NACAC’s Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation assign to the Board of Directors the fiduciary responsibility to monitor NACAC’s finances, the Finance Committee's oversight of the same tasks adds a second layer of governance.
• The change would eliminate possible redundancy with the Board of Directors’ Performance Committee and NACAC’s external auditors, where there is already sufficient oversight over the association’s financial operations. 
• The change would align NACAC with the best practices of its partner associations in the higher education community, very few of which have finance committees drawn from their general membership rather than their boards. 

If the Finance Committee sunsets, will the biannual Treasurers’ Development Institute continue? 

• In the past, the Finance Committee made major contributions to the Treasurers’ Development Institute, the summer training program offered every two years for affiliate treasurers.  This professional development program has been viewed as extremely valuable, especially for affiliate members who assume the treasurer’s roles for their respective ACAC and who might not have any accounting, finance or treasurer experience.  NACAC plans to continue the institute under the leadership of our new Chief Operating Officer who will be named later this year. 

Why change the Governance and Nominating Committee (GNC) from a "standing" to "special" committee?

• Freeing the GNC from the bylaws’ requirements for standing committees – including requirements that dictate the number of and credentials for committee members and the lengths of their terms – would allow the opportunity for greater access to the committee and the improved engagement of individuals with a wider range of skills and experiences to better meet the needs of membership.  In recent years, some members have called for expanding the committee to provide better representation for NACAC’s membership.
• Research on other higher education associations revealed that few have a committee or other body separate from the board that oversees and manages the recruitment, application and selection process of potential board members. By removing the GNC from the bylaws, the GNC will be able to better adjust the makeup and size of the committee to account for the constantly changing skill sets needed as well as evolving interests of the NACAC membership.