2003 Winter Delegate Assembly:

Quinn elected membership development officer for UUP

Delegates to the 2003 Winter Delegate Assembly elected, without opposition, a new statewide membership development officer and Executive Board member.

Edward Quinn, assistant to the chair of theater arts at Stony Brook, was elected to serve as membership officer, effective immediately. He takes over for Frederick Kowal of Cobleskill, who recently resigned.

Quinn has served the last five years as chair of the union’s Membership Committee and the last two-plus years on the Executive Board.

The position of membership officer is up for election again this spring during the union’s regular election cycle. At that time, delegates will also cast their ballots for president, secretary and several board seats.

Meanwhile, a separate election was held to fill the statewide Executive Board seat vacated by Quinn.

Robert Rees, a professor of electrical engineering technology at Alfred and a member of the union’s Negotiations Team, was elected to fill Quinn’s unexpired term. Rees’ election met the constitutional requirement to have at least one member of the board — which includes statewide officers — from each campus type. He represents the University Colleges of Technology.

Amendments defeated

In other business, delegates overwhelmingly defeated three constitutional amendments dealing with union elections.

Failing to get the two-thirds vote necessary to change the union’s constitution was a proposed amendment to increase, from one to two, the number of representatives from each campus type on the statewide Executive Board. Currently, the 17-member board has at least one representative from each campus type.

The second failed amendment would have prohibited delegates from electing more than two statewide officers from any campus type.

The third amendment to be defeated called for the direct election of statewide officers, rather than the delegate system currently in use.

All three constitutional amendments were proposed by the UUP chapter executive board at Cobleskill.

— Karen L. Mattison