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June 1, 1997

To: General Council

From: Marilynn Kulieke, Chair of Judicial Committee

Re: Annual Report

Society Representation in the Fellowship Historical Timeline

The Judicial Committee has been somewhat inactive over the past year. With the conclusion of a five year process to change the constitution to allow for society representation on the General Council, our committee is currently regrouping and will spend the upcoming year working on issues of committee functioning in the Fellowship and increasing General Councilor knowledge of the protocols established by Robert¹s Rules. Since there have been a number of questions about the process that led to the vote last August not to change the constitution and by-laws to allow for society representation, the Judicial Committee report this year will focus on a summary of the actions taken by the Fellowship with regards to this issue.

1991

A resolution from the Triennial Delegate Assembly (TDA) was given to the General Council to review our organization¹s constitution and make appropriate recommendations for change. This included the concept of a representative structure which included direct representation for societies. This review was assigned to the Judicial Committee.

1992

Under Judicial Committee chairman, David Elders, two ad-hoc committees comprised of Fellowship members who had expressed an interest were formed. They were "The Fifth Epochal Principles Research Committee." Both these groups met in November, 1992 to consolidate input provided by each group member and create a comprehensive report.

February, 1993

A report was made to the General Council which included the following provisions:

• 1. The active membership of societies would directly elect a Councilor to service on the Society Council. The TDA would be abolished.
• 2. The Executive Council would be elected by the Society Council from among eligible Fellowship members not already on the Society Council.
• 3. The Judicial Council would be elected by the Society Council from among eligible Fellowship members not already on the Society Council.
• 4. Members at large could affiliate with any chartered society.
• 5. Amendments to the constitution would be proposed by the Society and must be approved by 60% of the active voting membership of The Fellowship.

A resolution was passed by the General Council which said that General Council approved in principle the report and that the Judicial Committee should send the proposal to all Fellowship members and societies for their comment. The proposal was to be brought back to the General Council.

April, 1993

The proposal was sent out for member and society review with feedback requested by June 1.

August, 1993

Due to a minimal level of response to the request for comments both from individual members and societies, several of which stated that they did not have sufficient time to discuss the topic, the General Council voted to place the topic on the 1994 midyear meeting agenda. The proposal was also discussed at a society conclave committee which was attended by 11 of 18 Fellowship societies.

January, 1994

A revised copy of the proposal was developed which included the pros and cons for each suggested change (1-5). A copy of this proposal is Attachment A. It was sent to General Councilors, Society Delegates and TDA Representatives.

February, 1994

The midyear Council meeting, which included society representatives, was devoted to discussing this issue of society representation. Each society was asked to report on their society's reaction to the proposal for structural reorganization. The feedback was varied. A motion was made, seconded and defeated which stated that the General Council direct the Executive Committee to initiate procedures to amend the constitution to allow each society to elect one General Councilor for a 3 year term. The TDA would continue to elect 36 General Councilors as currently provided for in the Fellowship constitution. Other motions that were presented at this meeting and failed were to establish an annual delegate assembly with delegates each having a three year term and also to allow each society to elect one general councilor for a 3 year term. A motion was made to reconsider the first resolution (to allow societies to elect Councilors for a 3 year term) and it passed this time.

April, 1994

The Executive Committee passed a resolution dealing with the issue of fairness relating to the minimum standard for a society. The resolution that passed provided that 10 persons was a minimum number of members needed in order to receive voting privileges to elect a delegate.

August, 1994

Judicial Committee chair David Elders became secretary and Marilynn Kulieke was elected to replace him.

November, 1994

In November, a report was presented to the Executive Committee which outlined a strategy for approaching structural changes in the Fellowship. This report contained the following three suggestions.

• 1. Develop language for constitutional changes which did not relate to the structure of the Fellowship but are needed to better match the way that we currently function. An example might be to change the name of the charter committee or change the description of the charter committee¹s responsibilities.
• 2. Develop language for constitutional revisions which included those changes made in #1, but in addition include the concept of an annual delegate assembly which passes its work on directly to the General Council.
• 3. Language for constitutional revisions which include those changes made in #1, but in addition included the concept of a General Council in which societies have direct representation.

The general direction from the Executive Committee was to proceed in direction #3.

July, 1995

The General Council again discussed constitutional revisions allowing for society representation. A series of straw votes were taken which were as follows:

Size of the Council Increase the size of the General Council rather than hold it at 36 with additional local society General Councilors (24 out of 29 - yes).

Numbers of Representatives from Societies There should be one representative from each society rather than proportional representation (24 out of 29 - yes).

Length of Term The term of the General Councilors elected by the TDA should be 9 years (24 out of 29).

The term of the General Councilors elected by the Societies should be 3 years( 26 out of 29)

Criteria for Societies to have Representation There should be some kind of criteria for societies to have representatives (23 out of 29)

The Fellowship should determine the criteria (23 out of 29)

There should be 20 or more active members (9 out of 29)

There should be 10 or more active members (21 out of 29)

Equity All Council members should be of equal status, whether society elected or TDA elected (27 out of 29)

October, 1995

Judicial Committee members Steve McIntosh and Duane Faw both provided drafts of constitutional and by-law language which was aligned with concepts from the straw votes which were supported by the General Council. A copy of the language can be found in attachment B.

The Executive Committee accepted the constitutional language of the Judicial Committee and sent it to the General Council. The Judicial Committee also made some suggestions about how to share this information with the societies. The suggestions included:

• 1. Write a letter for societies and ask for their support or opposition.
• 2. Have a forum at the International Conference which would give society representatives an opportunity to discuss the changes.
• 3. Include society representation at the midyear meeting for the discussion of these proposed changes.

February, 1996

The Executive Committee and General Council affirmed the revised language of the constitution and by-laws and agreed that a survey should be sent to societies asking for their input.

March, 1996

A survey was sent to each society and the society was asked to meet to discuss the proposed language changes in the Constitution and by-laws and return the surveys to the Fellowship by August. A total of 12 societies had a meeting and completed the survey.

August, 1996

At the meeting of the Society Conclave which was held prior to the General Council meeting, societies discussed their viewpoints on the constitution and by-laws revision. It did not appear to be an important issue in most societies. At the General Council meeting, a presentation of the survey report was made and each society was given an opportunity for a representative to express their opinion about the proposed constitutional and by-law changes. Discussion on the Council continued. A motion was made, seconded and did not carry to accept the language for the change in the constitution and by-laws by a 2/3 vote.

* * * *

This ends my recounting of the historical time line of the Fellowship restructuring process. I feel that we owe the many individuals who spent great amounts of time and energy on this process a debt of gratitude. These individuals include: members of the Fellowship, members of the general council, the original subcommittee members (Virginia Brown, Steve McIntosh, Larry Mullins, David Owen, Lee Smith, and Carolyn Kendall), the Judicial Committee members (Duane Faw, Tom Kendall, Steve McIntosh, Ellen Montgomery and David Owens) and particularly David Elders, who allowed a group of people to think outside of the box and dream about a wholly different way to run our organization.

Although many are disappointed with the decision that was made, those who had strong feelings about the "rightness" or "wrongness" of changing the way we structure our selves need to remember that our organization and those who work to bring its success need to view this from the framework that The Urantia Book so beautifully sets up for us... "Failure is simply an educational episode--a cultural experiment in the acquirement of wisdom--in the experience of the God-seeking man who has embarked on the eternal adventure of the exploration of a universe. To such men defeat is but a new tool for the achievement of higher levels of universe reality." (p. 1780).