Last year’s revision of the division bylaws was done primarily to address longstanding concerns, dating back to efforts by David MacKinnon in 2015, regarding technical complexities attendant on adding the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology (SQIP) section. Dealing with these matters was the initial brief of an ad hoc Bylaws Committee, made up of section representatives Neal Kingston (EMS), Linda McMullen (SQIP), and Emily Shaw (Assessment) and co-chairs Lawrence Stricker and Amy Schmidt, that began work in 2020. After a detailed review of the bylaws, a number of additional issues surfaced that also needed attention. Other concerns and pertinent information were brought to the Bylaws Committee by the division’s Executive Committee; Dustin Fife, Matthew Fritz, David MacKinnon and Jeanne Marecek; and APA’s Paula Aviles, Keith Cooke and Christine Tipton. The upshot was an extensive revision, with some large and many small changes, all unanimously signed off on by the Bylaws Committee. The revised bylaws were then approved by the division’s Executive Committee and by APA; the approval process facilitated by Eric Youngstrom.
Major changes are:
- Governance structures (e.g., bylaws, officers) are not required for all sections.
- Sections’ rights and responsibilities depend on whether they have a governance structure: some are relevant to all sections (e.g., autonomy) and others only to those with governance (e.g., electing officers, reporting on finances).
- All sections are represented, as much as possible, on electoral slates and committees.
- Graduate students are full voting members, paralleling APA’s recent change.
- Members may have voting membership in any and all sections, not just in a “primary” section.
- Early career psychologists and graduate students are represented by standing committees.
- Business meeting may be virtual.
The Bylaws Committee was also responsible for the vote by the membership on the revised bylaws. It was planned and coordinated by the committee and executed by Eric Youngstrom and Alex Beaujean. The voting procedures were modeled after those used in a recent bylaws vote by the Association for Research in Personality. Brent Donnellen, who oversaw the vote, assisted the committee in its planning. The goal was to simplify the voting and facilitate an informed decision despite the complexity of the bylaws and the extent of the changes. The vote was on approval of the revised bylaws in their entirety, not individual changes, given their scope.
A series of emails—announcing the bylaws revision and the vote, transmitting the ballot, reminding members to vote, and reporting the results—were sent to the entire membership or just to eligible voters, depending on the content. Relevant emails contained a summary of major changes in the bylaws (shown above) or links to the complete bylaws and a detailed description of all significant changes and the rationale for them, located on the division website. Qualtrics software was used for the ballot and for recording the vote.
The voting began on July 23, 2021, and ended on September 22, 2021. The ballot was sent to 641 voters. Of the 112 who voted (17%), 102 (91%) voted to approve the revision. (It is notable that the turnout rate was also 17%, 236 of l,375, in the last vote on a bylaws revision, in July 2012, for which data are available—the revision largely concerned with governance issues for the division and the sections; see The Score, April 2012, October 2012.)
The new bylaws are now in effect and are accessible on the division website. The Bylaws Committee thanks all who helped on this important project and all who voted.