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Constitution & Bylaws
Below are the constitution and bylaws of the American Comparative Literature Association, as approved on March 18, 2018. Previously approved bylaws as amended in 2010 are available for download here.
Bylaws of the American Comparative Literature Association
Article 1. NAME AND PURPOSES
1.1 The name of this corporation shall be: the American Comparative Literature Association (hereinafter the Association), a nonstock corporation organized under the laws of the State of Maryland.
1.2 The Association has the powers and purposes stated in its Articles of Incorporation, as well as whatever powers are or may be granted under the applicable laws for nonstock, nonprofit corporations in the State of Maryland.
Article 2. OFFICES AND AGENCY
2.1 The Association may maintain such offices either within or without the State of Maryland as its purposes require.
Article 3. MEMBERSHIP
3.1 Membership in the Association shall be open to anyone of any geographical, scholarly, and linguistic area who is interested in furthering its objectives upon payment of annual dues.
3.2 Each member in good standing with the Association is entitled to one vote on any matter put before the membership.
3.3 The Board of the Association may create other classes of membership, such as Institutional or Honorary memberships, which may have different privileges and duties.
Article 4. THE BOARD OF THE ASSOCIATION
4.1 The primary governing body of the Association is the Board (called the Advisory Board in the Articles of Incorporation).
4.2 The Board consists of the four (4) officers of the Association and all nine (9) members of the Advisory Committee as described further below.
4.3 The President of the Association serves as Chair of the Board.
4.4 The Board shall assume responsibility for advancing and developing the aims and purposes of the Association and is authorized to take all such action, including entering into contractual relations with other organizations, as will support and carry out the Association’s purposes and promote its interests. Further, members of the Board have fiduciary duties and obligations to serve on the Board and act in the best interests of the Association and to avoid conflicts of interest as provided in these Bylaws and applicable law.
4.5 The Board shall meet at every regular meeting of the Association. It should meet, ideally in person, at least one other time during the year.
4.6 Any action that is required to be taken, or that may be taken, at a meeting of the Board may be taken without a meeting if a consent in writing, setting forth the action so taken, is signed by all of the members of the Board. Such consent in writing shall have the same force and effect as a unanimous vote of the Board and shall be filed with the corporate records with the minutes of Board meetings. Further, members of the Board, or any committee designated by the Board, may take any action permitted or authorized by these Bylaws by meeting using any means of communication by which all members may simultaneously hear each other during the meeting.
4.7 The President may call a special meeting of the Board, and any four (4) members of the Board may also call a special meeting.
4.8 A quorum of seven (7) members of the Board is required for the transaction of business. A majority of the quorum carries any action, except where provided otherwise by law or by these Bylaws.
4.9 At regular meetings of the Board, the elected committee chairs shall make reports of their activities.
4.10 The Board shall present reports for consideration by the membership at any regular business meeting.
4.11 The Board shall annually review and approve the Association’s budget.
Article 5. ELECTED OFFICERS AND CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
Section 1. President
a. The President shall be the presiding officer at all meetings of the Association, and shall chair the Executive Committee and meetings of the Board. In the event of a tie vote at any of those meetings, the President shall cast the deciding vote.
b. The President shall have all the duties and responsibilities commonly associated with this office, except as limited by these Bylaws.
c. The President shall serve as a regular member of the Conference Committee, as detailed in Article 8.3.
d. The President, in consultation with the Executive Committee and subject to the approval of the Advisory Committee, shall appoint the chairs of all ad hoc Committees and, in further consultation with the chairs of these ad hoc Committees and the Executive Committee, shall appoint members to them. (See Articles 9 and 8.6.e below.)
e. The President, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall perform all duties related to the corporate status of the Association
f. Only the President or the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), at the President’s discretion, may sign contracts, memoranda of understanding, or any other agreements obligating the Association in any way.
Section 2. Vice President
a. The Vice President shall preside at meetings in the absence of the President and shall have the powers and duties of the President, should the President be incapacitated or otherwise unavailable.
b. The Vice President is responsible for supervising and ensuring fair and diverse representation in all nominations, elections, and committee assignments, including working with the chairs of the standing committees to appoint their additional members.
c. The Vice President shall serve as a regular member of both the Nominations Committee and the Publications Committee. (See Articles 8.6 and 8.8 below.)
Section 3. Second Vice President
a. The Second Vice President shall preside at meetings in the absence of the President and Vice President and shall have the powers and duties of the President, should the President and Vice President be incapacitated, and shall have the powers and duties of Vice President, should the Vice President be incapacitated.
b. The Second Vice President shall serve as a regular member of both the Program Committee and the Graduate Student Committee. (See Articles 8.5 and 8.7 below.)
Section 4. Secretary-Treasurer
a. The Secretary-Treasurer shall supervise the maintenance of the records and rolls of the Association.
b. The Secretary-Treasurer, or the CAO on his or her behalf, shall issue notices of all meetings and conduct the official correspondence of the Association, in consultation with the President.
c. The Secretary-Treasurer shall supervise the recordkeeping of all income and expenditures of the Association, and shall make a report at each regular meeting, giving the condition of the Treasury. The Secretary-Treasurer shall supervise the management of the funds of the Association, preparing and presenting with the CAO an annual budget to be approved by the Board.
d. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be responsible for the minutes of Executive Committee Meetings and of meetings of the Board.
e. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be responsible for certifying the results of all elections.
f. Unlike the other officers, the Secretary-Treasurer is nominated by the Executive Committee and elected to a four-year term by a majority vote of the Board. The four-year term is divided into a one-year observation period and a three-year active duty term. The first observation year overlaps with the final year of the outgoing Secretary-Treasurer, who shall retain the full powers of the office during the overlap year. For that overlap year, the incoming Secretary-Treasurer is a non-voting member of the Executive Committee and the Board.
g. The term of any Secretary-Treasurer may be renewed once by a majority vote of the Board. A renewed term will ordinarily be for four years.
h. The Secretary-Treasurer shall assume the duties of the CAO on an interim basis in the event of the CAO’s removal or resignation from office.
Section 5. Chief Administrative Officer
a. The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) shall be appointed by the Executive Committee of the Association, with a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Advisory Committee.
b. The CAO shall develop plans and policies for accomplishment of the Association’s goals.
c. The CAO is a non-voting ex-officio member of the Board, the Executive Committee, the Advisory Committee, and all other standing committees of the Association. The CAO may delegate one or more staff members to liaise with the standing committees outlined in Article 8.
d. The CAO shall manage the daily business of the Association: including, but not limited to, routine correspondence, financial bookkeeping, maintaining business records, conference planning, annual membership renewal, collecting conference fees, making technical arrangements for elections and prize submissions, overseeing external contracts, and any other such matters as determined by the Executive Committee.
e. At the President’s discretion, the CAO may sign contracts, memoranda of understanding, or any other agreements obligating the Association in any way.
f. On behalf of the Secretary-Treasurer, the CAO shall collect the dues of the Association and all other funds payable to it, and shall pay all bills incurred by the Association.
g. On behalf of the Secretary-Treasurer, the CAO shall manage the funds of the Association and shall, with the Secretary-Treasurer, prepare and present an annual budget to be approved by the Board.
h. On behalf of the Secretary-Treasurer, the CAO shall maintain the records and rolls of the Association, to be made available for annual inspection by the Secretary-Treasurer or upon request with reasonable notification.
i. On behalf of the Secretary-Treasurer, the CAO shall keep a record of all income and expenditures of the Association, and shall make a report quarterly to the Secretary-Treasurer, giving the condition of the treasury.
j. The CAO and other administrative staff are responsible for the electronic information systems of the Association, including, but not limited to, website development and maintenance, online archives of historical documents (including past prize winners, past officers, newsletters, conference programs, past State of the Discipline Reports, and these Bylaws), seminar and prize submission portals, and any other interactive communication tools deemed necessary by the Board for the pursuit of the Association’s goals.
k. The CAO and other administrative staff are responsible for producing the annual conference program, coordinating and collecting all necessary information from the Conference Committee, the Program Committee, and the Local Program Committee.
l. The CAO shall be responsible for hiring any necessary full-time or part-time staff, with majority approval of the Executive Committee, and shall be responsible for supervising all such staff. The CAO may terminate any staff for cause, with majority approval of the Executive Committee; or such staff may be terminated directly by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Board.
m. The Executive Committee, in consultation with the Finance Committee, shall determine the rate of compensation (with benefits) of the CAO and will review annually the quality of work and terms of the contract with the CAO.
n. The CAO may be terminated by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Board.
o. The Executive Committee and the Board may identify additional responsibilities and enlarge the portfolio of the CAO beyond the duties elaborated in these bylaws, without derogating the rights or responsibilities of the Board and its members as described in these bylaws.
ARTICLE 6. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
6.1 The Executive Committee shall consist of the four (4) elected officers of the Association and the CAO in a non-voting ex-officio capacity.
6.2 The Executive Committee shall be empowered to do all such acts deemed necessary to conduct the ordinary business and to pursue the goals of the Association, except as limited by these Bylaws. The Executive Committee is empowered to contract with outside consultants, vendors, corporations, and associations to accomplish the goals of the Association. However, any such contract over and above an amount to be determined by the Board must be approved by the Board and only the President or the CAO, at the President’s discretion, may sign such contracts.
6.3 In consultation with the Finance Committee and the CAO, the Executive Committee shall set the fiscal year of the Association.
6.4 In consultation with the Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee shall set the annual dues, conference fees, and any other fees on the membership of the Association.
6.5 The Executive Committee shall vet proposals from the Conference Committee about possible future conference sites and shall make recommendations to the Board.
6.6 Annually, the Executive Committee will review the general legal, financial, and insurance needs of the Association and make recommendations to the Board.
ARTICLE 7. THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
7.1 The Advisory Committee shall advise the President and other officers on matters of both immediate and long-range interests to the Association.
7.2 The Advisory Committee shall consist of nine (9) persons, all of whom shall be members of the Association in good standing. These include the immediate President Emerita/us of the Association, the chairs of the six standing committees (see Article 8 below); an additional elected student member of the Association; and the President of the Association of Departments and Programs of Comparative Literature (ADPCL), or another representative designated by the ADPCL. (For terms and term limits of these positions, see Article 11.2 below.)
7.3 Ordinarily, the Advisory Committee does not meet as a separate body from the Board. However, should the Advisory Committee be asked to meet by the President or by a majority of committee members, then the President Emerita/us of the Association shall chair. In the case of absence, the most senior member of the Advisory Committee may chair its meetings. The Chair shall produce minutes of the meeting and shall report the results of any votes to the appropriate officer or the Executive Committee.
7.4 A simple majority of the Advisory Committee shall constitute a quorum. All Advisory Committee members have full voting rights, except the President Emerita/us who votes only in the case of a committee tie.
7.5 During intervals between regular meetings of the Association and the Board, the Advisory Committee shall assist the officers in conducting the business of the Association.
ARTICLE 8. STANDING COMMITEES AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Section 1. Committee Chairs
a. The Chairs of the standing committees shall be members of the Association in good standing.
b. With the exception of the Graduate Student Committee, the Chairs of the standing committees shall be elected to three-year terms, staggered as much as is practicable among the various committees. The Graduate Student Committee chair is the senior graduate student member, serving the second year of a two-year elected term to the Board.
c. In the event of a vacancy in office occurring outside of the ordinary election cycle, the President, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall appoint an interim committee chair, who will serve until the next election season. The appointee may, at that time, run for an ordinary three-year term.
d. No elected committee Chair may serve two consecutive terms as the Chair of a committee.
Section 2. Committee Members
a. Except as detailed below, all non-elected committee members are appointed for one-year terms to standing committees by the Chair of the committee and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. All committee members must be in good standing with the Association and may be re-appointed for up to three (3) successive one-year terms.
c. No committee member may serve on a committee in any capacity that may raise issues of conflict of interest.
d. In case of resignation, absence, or vacancy, the committee Chair, in consultation with the Vice President, may appoint a member to complete the year-long term.
e. Current lists of all committees, Chairs, and members shall be reported to and maintained by the Secretary-Treasurer and the CAO.
Section 3. Conference Committee
a. The Conference Committee shall consist of three to four members: its elected Chair, the President, the CAO, and up to one other member appointed to a one-year term by the chair and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. The Conference Committee is responsible for soliciting proposals for and identifying future sites of the annual conference and for making contact with a prospective Local Program Committee (LPC).
c. The Conference Committee will share with the LPC the most recent ACLA Conference Hosting Guide and will communicate the expected needs of the Association, including, among other things, the financial, space, and accommodation requirements for staging the annual conference.
d. After a preliminary assessment by the Conference Committee, and review by the Executive Committee, the Chair will present all viable proposals to the Board for discussion and approval.
e. The Chair of the Conference Committee is responsible for collecting, coordinating, and, in consultation with the President and the Chair of the Program Committee, approving the information about non-seminar events for the annual conference, including, but not limited to, pre-conference workshops, special events, plenary sessions, and the Presidential Address and panel.
f. The Chair of the Conference Committee, along with the Chair of the Program Committee, the President Emerita/us, and the CAO, in consultation with the Chair of the LPC, shall revise and update the ACLA Conference Hosting Guide after each annual conference.
Section 4. Finance Committee
a. The Finance Committee shall consist of three to four members: its elected chair, and two or three other members appointed to one-year terms by the Chair and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. Its responsibilities include financial oversight of the Association’s budget, including oversight of all income and expenditures; accounting oversight and coordination; and oversight of the Association’s investment and endowment portfolios.
c. The Finance Committee shall periodically review the investment strategy of the Association and make any recommendations to the Executive Committee for alternative strategies.
d. The Finance Committee shall inspect annually the budget and accounts of the Association and may, at its discretion, designate a commercial auditing firm to audit these accounts.
Section 5. Graduate Student Committee
a. The Graduate Student Committee shall consist of four members: the Senior elected Graduate Student serving as chair, the Junior Graduate Student, the Second Vice President, and the ADPCL Representative.
b. The Graduate Student Committee is responsible for organizing and coordinating all student-directed events at the annual conference.
c. The Graduate Student Committee may propose, plan, and execute any initiative that has been approved by the Board that is designed to foster and enhance student participation in the Association and/or to further its goals.
Section 6. Nominations Committee
a. The Nominations Committee shall consist of four to five members: its elected Chair, the Vice President, and two to three members appointed to one-year terms by its Chair and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. The Nominations Committee shall each October solicit from the membership and the Board nominations for Second Vice President, a graduate student member, and for all other open or upcoming positions on the Advisory Committee. Any member may self-nominate. The committee may also nominate candidates. All preliminary nominees shall be asked to submit a short statement of interest and/or a brief vita to the committee for consideration. The Nominations Committee shall draw up a slate of at least two candidates and at least one alternate for each open or upcoming position on the Board by October 31.
c. The Nominations committee shall determine that all nominees for positions within the Association are members in good standing and shall assess any potential conflicts of interest of such nominees (see Article 11.3).
d. The Vice President shall supervise and certify fair and diverse representation in the nominations and elections. In order to proceed to an election, the final ballot proposed by the Nominations Committee must be approved by a majority vote of the Board.
e. The Nominations Committee also oversees the nomination of members of the Association to the various ad hoc prize committees. The Vice President shall supervise and certify fair and diverse representation on the prize committees. The President, after approving the nominees, shall appoint new members of each of the prize committees to three-year ladder terms, with the President’s appointee ordinarily becoming the Chair of the respective prize committee in the third year.
Section 7. Program Committee
a. The Program Committee consists of three to four members: its elected Chair, the Second Vice President, and one or two members appointed to one-year terms by the Chair and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. The Program Committee provides support for and coordinates with a Local Program Committee (LPC), which is appointed by the local hosts of the Association’s annual conference, to solicit and select proposals for the content of the annual conference (whether these be for seminars, panels, invited speakers, or any other format). In years that the Annual conference does not have a local host, the Program Committee Chair, in consultation with the Vice President, will appoint at least three members of the Association to an ad hoc LPC to assist in reviewing proposals for the annual conference.
c. The Program Committee coordinates with the staff of the CAO to help proofread the Annual Conference Program Guide.
d. The Chair of the Program Committee, along with the Chair of the Conference Committee, the President Emerita/us, and the CAO, in consultation with the Chair of the LPC, shall revise and update the ACLA Conference Hosting Guide after each annual conference.
Section 8. Publications Committee
a. The Publications Committee consists of three to four members: its elected Chair, the Vice President, and one or two members appointed to one-year terms by the Chair and the Vice President, upon approval of the Advisory Committee.
b. The general charge of the Publications Committee is to promote the work of the Association, both in terms of the scholarly materials its members produce and in terms of the impact of the Association in the field of Comparative Literature.
c. The Publications Committee is responsible for coordinating the Association’s formal relationships with academic journals and presses, including discounted rates for members in good standing.
d. The Publications Committee oversees the annual assessment and assignment of the Helen Tartar First Book subvention awards.
e. The Publications Committee makes arrangement for publication of the annual Presidential Address, an ACLA associated forum, a newsletter, and/or any other association-related projects that have been approved by the Board.
f. The Publications Committee plans an annual conference session, ordinarily on some aspect of article or book publication.
Section 9. Committee Funds
a. Committees are authorized to spend funds on behalf of the Association after specific requests have been approved by the Board.
b. Committee Chairs shall work with the CAO and the Secretary/Treasurer to create an annual budget proposal for regular expenses that will be part of the Association budget presented to and approved by the Board annually.
c. The Executive Committee, in consultation with the CAO, may authorize out-of-pocket expenditures up to a certain amount for each committee to cover routine operating expenses.
ARTICLE 9: AD HOC COMMITTEES
9.1 Unless otherwise stated in these Bylaws, the President, in consultation with the Executive Committee and subject to the approval of the Advisory Committee, shall appoint the Chairs of all ad hoc Committees and, in further consultation with the Chairs of those ad hoc Committees and the Executive Committee, shall appoint members to them.
9.2 Ad hoc committees, appointed for the limited duration of their assigned tasks, will attend to matters related to the interests of the Association that come up from time to time (e.g., standards, Bylaws, etc.).
9.3 At least every ten years, an ad hoc committee, whose members are nominated and approved by the Board, must be appointed to oversee preparation and publication of a Report on the State of the Discipline.
9.4 All appointees to ad hoc committees should be members in good standing, and no one may be appointed to a committee if its duties would raise conflict of interest issues.
ARTICLE 10: HONORARY COMMITTEE
10.1 Former Presidents of the Association shall become members of the Honorary Committee one year after serving as President.
10.2 The members of the Honorary Committee should be invited to advise the Board, the Executive Committee, the Advisory Committee, or any other Association body on matters of institutional history and policy.
ARTICLE 11: ELECTIONS, TERMS OF OFFICE, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Section 1. Elections
a. Elections shall be held annually, normally in November.
b. Elections shall be advertised through all relevant media at the Association’s disposal.
c. Elections shall be conducted by mail, electronic mail, or another form of secure electronic ballot. Such action by the members shall be authorized only by delivering a consent in writing or by electronic transmission of the members entitled to cast not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take the action at a members meeting (see Article 12.3.b), if the Association gives notice of the action not later than ten days after the effective date of the action to each member who, if the action had been taken at a meeting, would have been entitled to notice of the meeting.
d. Ballots shall contain, or contain directions to, candidate statements, CVs, or any other supporting materials that might help members to make informed decisions.
e. At least three weeks shall be allowed for the return of ballots. Ballots not received by the stated deadline will not be counted.
f. Ballots shall be collected and counted by the CAO, in the presence of at least one member of the Association, and shall be certified by the Secretary-Treasurer, who will report the results to the Board.
Section 2. Terms of Office
a. The Second Vice President is elected directly by the membership of the Association to a four-year ladder term.
b. Annually, at the end of the Association’s regular meeting, the Second Vice President shall succeed to the Vice Presidency; the Vice President shall succeed to the Presidency; the President becomes President Emerita/us and may not be re-elected to the Second Vice Presidency.
c. The term of office for the Secretary-Treasurer is four years, with a one-year overlap with the outgoing Secretary-Treasurer. The term is renewable once. (See Article 5.4 above.)
d. The term of office for Graduate Student members of the Advisory Committee is two years, with each student elected in alternate years.
e. The term of office for the Chairs of the other standing committees is three years, staggered as much as is practicable.
f. No person representing the ADPCL may serve in that capacity on the Advisory Committee for more than two (2) three-year terms.
g. With the stated exceptions of the Secretary-Treasurer and the ADPCL representative, no member of the Board shall be eligible for renewal or immediate re-election or re-appointment to the position in which he or she currently serves.
Section 3. Conflicts of Interest
a. No member of the Board or appointee to any standing or ad hoc committee may hold a professional position in any organization that places the member in a position of conflict of interest with the obligations of office in this Association.
Section 4. Removal from Office
a. The Board shall have the right to remove from office any member of the Board or its committees, including members of the Executive Committee, for cause, such as illegal activities, conflicts of interest, incapacitation, or devoting insufficient attention to the duties of office. A two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the other members of the Board or the vote of a majority of all Association members entitled to cast votes for the election of Board members is required for removal.
ARTICLE 12: MEETINGS
Section 1. Annual Meeting
a. The time of the annual meeting of members shall be in the spring of each year. The site of the meeting shall be determined by the Board.
Section 2. Special and Other Meetings
a. Upon due notice in writing, the President may call special meetings of the Association.
b. Upon petition of at least fifteen percent (15%) of the members in good standing, the President shall be required to call a special meeting of the Association, the time and place to be determined by the Executive Committee.
c. The Association shall give whatever support it can to special meetings or conferences that are sponsored by its membership and that further the goals of the Association, so long as such meetings are, in principle, open to any member of the Association.
Section 3. Notice of Member Meetings, Voting, and Quorum
a. Notice of regular and special meetings shall be delivered in writing or by electronic transmission, in a manner compliant with Maryland law, to each voting member of the Association not less than ten (10) or more than ninety (90) days before the date of the meeting. The notice of the meeting shall state the time of the meeting, the place of the meeting, if any, and the means of remote communication, if any, by which members may be deemed to be present in person and may vote at the meeting; and the purpose of the meeting if the meeting is a special meeting.
b. At a meeting of members, the presence of five percent (5%) of members in good standing constitutes a quorum. A majority of all the votes cast at a meeting at which a quorum is present is sufficient to approve any matter which properly comes before the meeting.
ARTICLE 13: DUES
13.1 Annual dues rates shall be set each year by the Executive Committee.
13.2 The Annual dues shall be payable at the beginning of each calendar year and shall be collected by the office of the CAO. All members in good standing shall receive general communications or newsletters from the Association and will be eligible for any discounted journal or other subscription rates the Association may offer.
13.3 The right to vote or to stand for election for any office in the Association shall be contingent upon payment of dues; and no one shall be considered a member of the Association whose dues are more than twelve months in arrears.
13.4 Honorary members of the Association may enjoy life membership without payment of dues.
ARTICLE 14: RULES OF ORDER
14.1 Traditional rules of parliamentary procedure shall be observed at all meetings of the Association.
ARTICLE 15: ADVOCACY POLICY
15.1 The Executive Committee may publish such statements, open letters, press releases, etc. as it deems important, in accordance with the purposes of the Association as stated in its Articles of Incorporation, in order to defend departments, programs, publications, writers, and scholars imminently or currently at risk. Such actions may only be undertaken upon unanimous vote of the whole Executive Committee.
15.2 The Board of the Association may publish such statements, open letters, press releases, etc. as it deems necessary, in accordance with the purposes of the Association as stated in its Articles of Incorporation, in order to promote and/or protect the integrity and future of the Association, its general goals, missions, or members. Such actions may only be undertaken upon unanimous vote of the entire Board.
15.3 The membership of the Association may petition the Executive Committee and/or the Board to take up a particular issue or cause upon presentation of the verified signatures of at least ten percent (10%) of the members in good standing. Upon receipt, the relevant body (the Executive Committee or the Board) will discuss the petition and respond, as it sees fit, following the procedures in Articles 15.1 and 15.2.
ARTICLE 16: AMENDMENTS
16.1 These Bylaws may be amended, in whole or in part, by the members at any regular meeting of the Association.
16.2 Amendments may be proposed by the Board or by ten percent (10%) of the current members of the Association in good standing by verified petition to the Board.
16.3 Any proposed amendment must be presented to the membership at least four weeks before a regular meeting at which a vote may be taken.
16.4 Any successful amendments shall be effective immediately upon the date specified in the proposed amendment, or thirty (30) days after a successful vote if no such date is specified, and shall supersede and nullify all relevant previous provisions and amendments to the Bylaws.