List of authors and co-signers of the statement in opposition to the proposed amendments

Here is the current list of authors and signers (as of January 18):

                                                                       Authors

Name	Class	Alumni Association Activity; Recognition for service
Johanna Colgrove	1992	current: Europe Chapter chair, Alumni Board of Directors (“ABD”) member; past ABD member,  Portland chair, alumni office staff
Bennett Barsk	1982	past DC Chapter chair, ABD, ABD outreach committee chair
Connie Brand	1978	SF Bay Area Chapter Chair, ABD
James Paul Kahan	1964	past: ABD, chair Portland chapter, chair Foster-Scholz Club; Babson awardee; commencement speaker
Paul Alan Levy	1972	current DC rep on ABD, founder, Reedie Legal Network; past ABD at large, past DC chapter chair
Bill Nicholson	1978	co-founder Research Triangle (NC) Chapter, past: Triangle chapter rep, ABD at large
Martin Schell	1977	MAT graduate
Elizabeth Jerison Terry	1982	past Southern Calif Chapter Chair, ABD
Nico Terry	2017	Portland Chapter member

                                                                             

                                                                     Co-signers

Name	Class	Alumni Association Activity; Recognition for service
Jas. Adams	1971	Portland Chapter member, Distinguished Service Award honoree
Keith Allen	1983	current: AFR Steering Team member; past ABD member, Triangle Chapter Chair, alumni data maven, most recent Babson Award recipient
Alison Birkmeyer Aske	1993	past Chicago chapter chair, ABD
Ian Atlas	1991	past SF Bay chapter chair, ABD
Jessica Leigh Benjamin	1993	past Boston chapter chair, ABD
Gregory Byshenk	1993	past ABD president
Wayne Clayton	1982	current SoCal chapter chair, ABD
Kathia Emery	1967	past chair Foster-Scholz Club, ABD; Distinguished Service Award honoree
Brian Graham-Jones	1981	past NY chapter chair,  ABD
Sheldon Hochheiser	1973	past ABD president, alumni trustee, Babson awardee
Amy Lindsay	1981	past Southern Calif Chapter Chair, ABD
Annie Lionni	1979	co-founder NY chapter
Jan Liss	1974	cofounder NY chapter, past alumni trustee
Jonathan Make	1998	past DC Chapter chair, ABD at large, ABD nominating committee
David Perry	1973	founder Chicago Chapter, past ABD president
Constance Putnam	1965	past ABD; Boston chapter member; Distinguished Service Award honoree
Adam Riggs	1995	Founder, Working Weekend; past ABD member; Babson awardee
Erik Speckman	1991	past ABD president, Rainier Chapter chair
Angele Wilking Blanton	1964	Southern Calif Chapter member
Toby Sheppard Bloch	1998	New York Chapter member
Jason Htet Campbell	2014	Portland Chapter member, member, Reed Career Alliance
Liz Exter	1984	SF Bay Area Chapter member
J.D. Eveland	1964	Southern Calif Chapter member
David Fudenberg	1982	SF Bay Area Chapter member
Carol Hegstrom	1989	SF Bay Area Chapter member
David Kanouse	1964	Southern Calif Chapter member
Theodore Kaplan	1963	New York Chapter member
Candace Lieber	1997	alumna
Jessica Litman	1974	tried to start a Detroit-area chapter
Peggy Mendelson	1964	SF Bay Area Chapter member
Paul Messick	2015	SF Bay Area Chapter member, student body VP and ABD liaison
Kelly (Carolyn) Pomeroy	1961	Hawai’i alum
Abbie Spielman	1982	Portland Chapter member
Erik Stallman	1995	SF Bay Area Chapter member
Leslie Mueller Stewart	1964	SF Bay Area Chapter member
Barbara Stross	1964	Portland Chapter Member
Jeffrey Whitehead	1994	SF Bay Area Chapter Member

Statement of Opponents to the Proposed Amendments

Both proponents and opponents of the proposed amendments were asked to submit, no later than December 3, a 500-word statement that will appear at a page of the Reed College web site once ballots are transmitted to all alumni for voting. 

The following statement has been submitted by the opponents:

Because of our love of Reed College and our community, we oppose key aspects of the proposed constitutional changes. We, the authors and co-signers, include past and present trustees, alumni board members, alumni office staff, Reed service award honorees, and chapter leaders. Three dedicated chapter chairs resigned in protest of this proposal, and at least one at-large board member resigned. Our goal is to strengthen the Alumni Association and Board of Directors (ABD).

ARTICLE II Purpose: ...Alumni Association exists to foster the continuing welfare of both the College and its alumni by promoting mutually beneficial interaction, by sustaining a sense of community among alumni and between the College...

Chapters are essential to ABD’s defined purpose—promoting beneficial interaction and strengthening the Reed community. 65% of alumni live in chapter regions. Programming by chapters is a critical way for alumni to meet other alumni outside of reunions. When ABD and Reed offices need people to assist students or alumni, they count on chapter leaders. Chapter representatives are essential participants in ABD discussions—they explain what does and doesn’t work locally; coordinate potentially conflicting efforts; leverage complementary projects; and serve as liaison between the ABD and chapters.

The ABD consists of 23 members chosen by the board’s Nominating Committee, and a representative selected by each active chapter (currently 9), for a total of 32 members. The proposal would reduce chapter representation to a maximum of 3, chosen by the Nominating Committee from a list supplied by a yet-to-be-created nominally independent Chapter Steering Organization. These representatives would serve for one year (as opposed to three or four for other ABD members), possibly renewable twice by the Nominating Committee. Importantly, these changes have no transition provision—if accepted, they remove all chapter representatives from the ABD until July 1, 2020, after the Chapter Steering Organization is created and can go through the annual nomination process.

The four "Goals for changes” (https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2018/alumni-board-changes.html) published in September 2018 Reed Magazine are vague and do not reflect what the changes actually do. No rationale for reducing the number of chapter representatives is ever given. One stated goal is to provide chapter independence, yet each chapter would remain required to report to the ABD. Chapter representation would be controlled by the ABD. The constitutional changes do not change committee assignments or project-based work.

Although supporters of the proposed changes claim that the ABD will be more streamlined and nimble once the changes have been adopted, the changes we oppose will instead add bureaucracy and distance between the ABD and the Chapters. Other changes, especially those that permit distanced and asynchronous participation, are entirely reasonable, but they have been unfortunately packaged with changes to chapter representation for a single yes-or-no vote.

The Alumni Association Board’s principal purpose is bringing together alumni as well as other College constituencies. Chapters are essential to this function.

We urge alumni to vote NO to these constitutional changes.

A list of authors and co-signers can be found at https://reedalumni.blogspot.com/2018/12/list-of-authors-and-cosignors-of.html