A083 Implementation of The Way Forward - Establishing an Effective and Efficient 21st Century Seminary
The effect of this Resolution is: • Reduction in the board size from forty-two (42) to between nineteen (19) and thirty (30), depending on current need of the seminary and the Church, giving flexibility and speed to such annual decisions; • Continuation of election of trustees in roughly equivalent proportions as currently provided: General Convention, alumni, the board, and the ex-officio electing bodies; • Recognition of the significance of the alumni executive board by provision of its President/Chair as a new ex-officio member of the board; and • Because of natural attrition, all current trustees are able to fulfill their current term and current term limits would be recognized. In other words, no current trustees would lose their place nor have to resign with implementation of this Resolution in January, 2019. The proposed Resolution addresses the fifty (50) years of General Seminary’s outside, independent accreditation body, ATS, urgings for flexibility and overhaul, one hundred and fifty (150) years of General Convention’s own struggles with empowering General Seminary to be responsive to the Church’s needs for the current time, and legions of Church leaders’ direct and oblique comments about governance. It continues to recognize the multi-layered constituencies of The Episcopal Church’s original seminary and gives it the flexibility and effectiveness needed for the rapidly evolving changes of the 21st century Church. General Seminary needs the help of the 2018 General Convention to continue to move forward on this important trajectory. This is an opportunity for the Church to embrace a solution for an adaptive challenge rather than default to a technical fix.
Explanation
The effect of this Resolution is: • Reduction in the board size from forty-two (42) to between nineteen (19) and thirty (30), depending on current need of the seminary and the Church, giving flexibility and speed to such annual decisions; • Continuation of election of trustees in roughly equivalent proportions as currently provided: General Convention, alumni, the board, and the ex-officio electing bodies; • Recognition of the significance of the alumni executive board by provision of its President/Chair as a new ex-officio member of the board; and • Because of natural attrition, all current trustees are able to fulfill their current term and current term limits would be recognized. In other words, no current trustees would lose their place nor have to resign with implementation of this Resolution in January, 2019. The proposed Resolution addresses the fifty (50) years of General Seminary’s outside, independent accreditation body, ATS, urgings for flexibility and overhaul, one hundred and fifty (150) years of General Convention’s own struggles with empowering General Seminary to be responsive to the Church’s needs for the current time, and legions of Church leaders’ direct and oblique comments about governance. It continues to recognize the multi-layered constituencies of The Episcopal Church’s original seminary and gives it the flexibility and effectiveness needed for the rapidly evolving changes of the 21st century Church. General Seminary needs the help of the 2018 General Convention to continue to move forward on this important trajectory. This is an opportunity for the Church to embrace a solution for an adaptive challenge rather than default to a technical fix.