RATIFICATION OF BY-LAWS CHANGE

Ratification of Changes to the Fort Schuyler Maritime Alumni Association’s (DBA: Maritime College Alumni Association) By-Laws

Greetings from your Alumni Association!

We recently came to you with a proposal for a significant change in our alumni structure and By-Laws.

We are pleased to report that the proposed By-Laws changes have been approved by the membership. We had 369 members respond to the poll and the results were as follows:

312 In Favor, 49 Not in Favor, and 9 Abstained.

The change was therefore approved by a majority vote of the membership.

The By-Laws now allow for membership and registration to be open to all graduates with the payment of dues being changed to an optional status.

Some points that were part of this decision:

1. The Board believes it is now time to move forward in an environment where all alumni are included, following a structure replicated by most 4-year colleges.
2. A more inclusive membership will let us remain relevant to our members and future graduates’ needs.
3. The college, RADM Michael Alfultis in particular, is in full support of this effort to move to a more inclusive membership structure. This proposal is seen as one more step in solidifying the strong working relationship established between the College, the Foundation, and the Alumni Association to increase outreach.

Under this proposal, there will be three classes of membership (Article II Section 1)

1. Members (Article II Section 2)
   • All Graduates
   • Non-dues-paying Members will have participation and engagement with the MCAA at no cost.
2. Sustaining Members (Article II Section 3)
   • Those electing to pay dues and fees. (Sustaining-Regular, Sustaining-Life 5o, Sustaining-Joint Spouse) Join HERE
   • As an incentive to pay dues, Sustaining Members will be eligible to vote, run for and hold office as an Officer of the Board. Additionally, the Board may designate other rights and privileges for Sustaining Members to add value to this level of participation.
3. Lifetime Membership (No longer offered) – Alumni who paid a one-time fee to become a Lifetime Member will continue as a Sustaining Member.
4. Honorary Members  (Article II Section 4)
   • No Change in By-Laws wording
   • Persons who have distinguished themselves in affairs beneficial to the Association.

Also, as part of our overall housekeeping and cleanup, under Article VIII – Local Chapters, we have deleted the wording on the dues rebate procedures. As best as anyone can remember that option has never been requested, let alone approved, in the past 20 years and we do not foresee it being in our future.

Again, for those interested in seeing the details of the various changes, a draft mark-up copy, showing all the various changes, can be found below.

I would also like to note that this is the latest step by our By-Laws Committee in continuing to review and upgrade our By-Laws.  We intend to continue an ongoing review to make the document and our structure more relevant and transparent.

Please feel free to contact me or any of the members of the By-Laws Committee if you have any questions regarding this change.

I would like to thank the Board and the By-Laws Committee for all their hard work on this matter.

Regards,
Stephen J. Carbery
President
Maritime College Alumni Association
Founded in 1903
President@MaritimeCollegeAA.org

By-Laws Committee
Leo Imperial ’01 (Chair / 2nd VP) // leonard.imperial@msc.com
Ted Mason ’57 (Past President & Board Member // tedtmason@gmail.com
Mike Trotta ‘99 (Board Member) // michael.trotta@swinerton.com
Vic Corso ’83 (Board Member) // vpcorso@aol.com
Seth Lucas ’01 (Board Member) // nymc01@gmail.com
Vinod Melwani ’02 (Board Member) // vinnrod@gmail.com
Dennis Brennan ’64 (San Diego Chapter President) // djb1119@gmail.com
Doug Hasbrouck (Maritime College Staff Liaison) // dhasbrouck@sunymaritime.edu