Assalam-u-alaikum, AKUAANA family. I would like to update you regarding the approval process of several proposed amendments to the AKUAANA Constitution and Bylaws.

Process

During mid-April 2016, the Executive Council sent out the proposed amendments to all active members for comments. In addition, we simultaneously posted the proposed amendments on our website and Facebook Page for review by as many AKU Alumni as possible, to improve transparency.

Secondly, we emailed all active members with voting status on June 06, 2016, a list of the proposed amendments and instructions on how to vote electronically.

Additionally, the Executive Council reached out to individual alumni to get their feedback and requesting them to vote. The reaction and participation by the alumni was very impressive. As a result of this pro-active approach, we were able to collect the needed votes (30% of active membership) within a week!

Results

Eventually, we inactivated the Google Form collecting responses after 30 days, as per our Bylaws, on July 7, 2016 at 12:08 AM Eastern Standard Time. At the time of closing:

• we had 131 active members with voting status.
• a total of 63 responses were received, 62 in favor, and 1 against. This was way more than the required voting by 30% of active membership (40 votes, with a two third majority to carry).
• our voting rate was 48%.

In conclusion, I am pleased to inform the alumni body that the motion to approve the proposed amendments to the AKUAANA Constitution and Bylaws has passed successfully.

Thank you for your support, feedback and recommendations!

Sincerely,

Habib Chotani, ‘95
President, AKUAANA (2016 – 17)

Dear AKUAANA Members,

On behalf of the Executive Council of AKUAANA, I am soliciting your feedback/comments on proposals to make amendments to the current Constitution & Bylaws of AKUAANA.

These proposals were deliberated and sent to the Executive Council with unanimous recommendations of the Constitution and Bylaws (CABL) Committee. They have subsequently been approved unanimously by all members of the Executive Council. The newly formed Board of Trustees has also reviewed them and voted unanimously to proceed with these changes.

The process now requires a minimum 30-day period to solicit comments from the Active Membership on the proposed amendments.

The main objectives of the proposed changes are to:

1. Change the authority and title of the Board of Trustees to a Board of Advisors. The purpose is to give primary authority to the elected Executive Council and to remove ambiguity in the role of the Board.
2. Clarify the nomination and election criteria of the Board of Advisors to ensure a more diverse group of members.
3. Clarify the mechanism to resolve any ethical issue or grievance addressed towards AKUAANA, its members or its Officers and to give the Board of Advisors an independent authority to approach directly the Active Membership of AKUAANA if such a need arises.
4. There are also some clarifications and changes to the formation of committees, timeline of nomination/election process and timeline of the amendment process.

Please review the document and send your comments or concerns directly to my attention. The deadline to submit any comments is May 18th, 2016. Your participation is essential in building our Alumni Association. Please submit your comments to president@akuaana.org

Thank you,

Habib Chotani
President, AKUAANA