In the upcoming IEEE elections, starting on August 15, members will be asked to vote on an amendment to the IEEE Constitution.
The following motion was passed by the Sensors Council AdCom:
Motion (From John Vig, Seconded by Troy Nagle)
I, John Vig, move that:
“The IEEE Sensors Council AdCom opposes the proposed constitutional amendment and modified board structure. To reflect this opposition, a statement of opposition will be posted on the Council website, on Council social media outlets, and e-mailed to Council contacts.”
The reasons behind the motion include the following:
a) The problem statement that the proposed amendment is attempting to solve is not well-defined and the proposed solution adds complexity,
b) The existing IEEE Constitution offers alternative, less complex ways of accomplishing the intended improvements,
c) The risk associated with a major constitutional change is not clearly outweighed by its possible benefits,
d) The modified Board of Directors (BoD) structure being considered removes TAB, MGA and regional representation from the BoD and, thereby, makes the IEEE BoD considerably less diverse than it is currently.
e) There are serious risks that the Bylaws changes induced by the Constitutional Amendments will reduce the visibility and control of IEEE societies and geographical regions on key strategic decisions made by the BoD for the future of the IEEE,
f) There is a risk that the proposed changes, such as the Constitutional Amendment, will shift too much power from IEEE members to IEEE staff.
The proposed changes to the Constitution can be found https://ieee-sensors.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IEEE-2030-About-Constitution-Amendment-TAB.pdf.
In addition, the IEEE in 2030 Ad Hoc Committee is proposing changes to the IEEE's organizational structure. The details may be seen at:
https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/ieeein2030_archive_m.html
For background, the IEEE governing documents, including the Constitution and Bylaws, can be found at:
http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/index.html
The "Loyal Opposition" has established a website where reasons for opposing the changes may be found:
https://ieee2016blog.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/ballot-objection-position-from-3-past-ieee-presidents/
