On March 30, you received the email detailing the proposed amendments which were prepared by the Bylaws Review Committee and approved by the LLI Council. For your convenience, the proposed amendments, the current LLI Bylaws, and the revised LLI Bylaws, if approved, are also linked below.

The substantive changes are: 

• We have added one sentence to Article II to say that LLI strives to be an inclusive organization and welcomes applicants and members from all backgrounds. This is the language approved by Council in June 2021 for our current mission statement.
• We have combined the Nominations Committee and the Election Committee into a single Nominations and Election Team. This simplifies our structure and ensures continuity in the process of nominating and electing our officers. 
• We have formalized the president’s role in creating ad hoc teams as needed and in maintaining our connection with Bard. 
• We have made chairing the Nominations and Election Team the responsibility of the first vice president. This proposed bylaws change would codify our existing practice.
• Since the members at large represent the interests of the general membership, we have added serving on the Nominations and Elections Team to their responsibilities. 
• Since LLI has increased its membership substantially since the last bylaws revision, we have changed the provision permitting LLI members to call a special membership meeting from 10 members to 10% of the membership. Such a meeting could only take place once in a fiscal year. 
• Finally, we have clarified that, should Bard LLI be dissolved, its net assets would be distributed to Bard College. 

In addition to these substantive changes, we made some editorial changes — most importantly, clarifying our nomenclature so that there are only six committees: the standing committees. Any groups, ad hoc or operating under the aegis of the standing committees, are designated as teams. 

To read our current bylaws, click on the "Current Bylaws" link. To read our bylaws as we propose amending them, click on the "Proposed Bylaws" link.