[eletter] important balloting opens today

[Harvard SEAS Dean]

CSS Colleagues,

I am re-sending this message from late July, as the urgency of making an 
informed decision on this matter has escalated in recent weeks with 
numerous messages being issued from the proponents of this initiative 
(notably from the IEEE President to various Regions and Societies). 
There has been an obvious lack of balance on those central communiques.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your participation in the 
voting process - which opens *TODAY*!

Past IEEE ballots have passed with roughly 17% of members participating, 
so your vote will make a difference.

Best regards,

Frank Doyle
2016 IEEE Control Systems Society President



-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	[eletter] Special issue eletter (message from CSS President)
Date: 	Sat, 23 Jul 2016 16:02:16 -0500
From: 	Jianghai Hu <jianghai at purdue.edu>
Reply-To: 	jianghai at purdue.edu
To: 	eletter-css at ecn.purdue.edu




E-LETTER on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing
Special Issue
July 23, 2016

Editor:
Jianghai Hu
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Purdue University
465 Northwestern Ave.
West Lafayette, IN, 47907
USA
Tel: +01 (765) 4962395
Fax: +01 (765) 4943371

Welcome to the Special Issue of the Eletter (July 23, 2016), available 
electronically at
http://ieeecss.org/publications/e-letter/archive/current 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ieeecss.org_publications_e-2Dletter_archive_current&d=CwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=WafxIImkdw7UWDGjcqYd4fGDqoLwQlWFKdUUVpQ1fjw&m=qIFGsQyYieH4HfmlOZ4mODjBfyiauFEWSBBdhyTB77k&s=yEzJI_roV6J07e_BDMaii93PVq-nWMmXtSdfKrWY-JI&e=>
together with its pdf version

This is a special issue of Eletter containing the following message from 
Frank Doyle, IEEE Control Systems Society President:

  *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Message from Frank Doyle, IEEE Control Systems Society President

Colleagues,

I am writing to you today about an urgent matter with far-reaching 
ramifications for the future of both CSS and IEEE. There is a proposal 
being advanced at the highest levels of the IEEE to modify the IEEE 
Board of Directors (the so-called IEEE2030 initiative). This fall, there 
will be a ballot on a constitutional amendment to modify/optimize the 
IEEE Board Structure.

At the heart of the amendment is a modified/optimized Board structure, 
intended to create nimble, flexible, forward-looking organization. 
However, significant concerns have been raised by a number of CSS 
members who are familiar with the initiative as well as by several other 
IEEE societies that are concerned about whether this reorganization 
still offers the societies a strong enough voice in IEEE Board 
decisions.  Specifically:

    - IEEE is a bottom-up member-run organization, run by volunteers. 
The proposed structure appears to turn IEEE into a top-down 
organization, run by a small Board of Directors with reduced input from 
members.

   - Members are represented by their Societies and in the existing 
structure Societies have a strong voice in the decision making process 
within IEEE. The Societies and sections generate 75%-80% of IEEE’s 
income. Societies elect directors who represent their members on the 
Board of Directors (BoD). It appears that the new structure will dilute 
this voice and move Societies away from the decision process, especially 
because Societies will no longer elect these Directors directly. They 
will elect Delegates who will not serve on the Board of Directors but as 
members of a new body called the Assembly.

   - Directors will now be elected by the entire IEEE membership and 
only candidates that satisfy certain “diversity” conditions set by the 
BoD can qualify to run.

   - The possible benefits of the amendment do not outweigh its risks. 
It is uncertain how IEEE would be restructured if the amendment is 
approved. It is premature to vote for something for which the underlying 
details are still uncertain. The new bylaws are to be written and 
decided later by the BoD, and will not require member vote.

A second concern that has been voiced by several other societies is that 
some of the processes followed thus far in IEEE’s handling of the 
IEEE2030 initiative have strayed from the spirit of  IEEE Policy 
13.3.A.2 that states "It is the policy of IEEE to facilitate open 
discussion, including opposing views, of issues and initiatives to 
appear on the ballot (Constitutional amendment and referendum); this 
applies to those proposals originated by the IEEE Board of Directors as 
well as those of other members of IEEE.” For example, there have been 
accusations of censorship being applied to the statements of those who 
oppose this initiative.

At the July 5, 2016 meeting of the CSS Board of Governors meeting in 
Boston, after careful review of these and other considerations, the 
Board voted unanimously on the following motion:

   •    Motion: The IEEE Control Systems Society BoG opposes the 
proposed constitutional amendment and modified board structure on 
IEEE2030.  To reflect this opposition, a statement of opposition will be 
posted on the Society website and in editions of the E-Letter.

Many geographic units and the governing bodies of over 22 IEEE 
societies, including the largest societies such as Computer, 
Communications, Power and Energy, Signal Processing, Circuits and 
Systems, Electron Devices, Robotics and Automation, and Solid-State 
Circuits have also voted against endorsing the amendment. At least four 
past IEEE Presidents and other past IEEE leaders have also spoken 
against the amendment.

It is very easy to ignore ballot initiatives, especially when there are 
not familiar names on the ballot. In this case, there is a very 
important element on the ballot, which you are urged to evaluate and 
vote upon. A number of resources are available for you to review and 
make an informed decision:

Additional reasons for opposing the constitutional amendment and 
proposed restructuring may be found here:
https://ieee2016blog.wordpress.com 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ieee2016blog.wordpress.com&d=CwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=WafxIImkdw7UWDGjcqYd4fGDqoLwQlWFKdUUVpQ1fjw&m=qIFGsQyYieH4HfmlOZ4mODjBfyiauFEWSBBdhyTB77k&s=mDapM3j5BHKu0-v8wCw8qzwnxqNzxzYHz4iDuedw3oE&e=>

For background, the IEEE governing documents, including the Constitution 
and Bylaws, can be found here:
http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/index.html 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ieee.org_about_corporate_governance_index.html&d=CwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=WafxIImkdw7UWDGjcqYd4fGDqoLwQlWFKdUUVpQ1fjw&m=qIFGsQyYieH4HfmlOZ4mODjBfyiauFEWSBBdhyTB77k&s=-DgL77qUcCJ7ri2t7VVeIq-1WLPoxOUF-2z95bkABB4&e=>

The proposed changes to the Constitution can be found here:
https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/election/2016_constitutional_amendment.html 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ieee.org_about_corporate_election_2016-5Fconstitutional-5Famendment.html&d=CwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=WafxIImkdw7UWDGjcqYd4fGDqoLwQlWFKdUUVpQ1fjw&m=qIFGsQyYieH4HfmlOZ4mODjBfyiauFEWSBBdhyTB77k&s=CWMxU49ybSmJ-EkOI-o2_fEXRN4ewD1JiWHdypegtl0&e=>

In addition, the IEEEin2030 Ad Hoc Committee’s advocacy of proposed 
changes to the IEEE's organizational structure is posted on an official 
IEEE website here: 
https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/ieeein2030_archive_m.html 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ieee.org_about_corporate_ieeein2030-5Farchive-5Fm.html&d=CwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=WafxIImkdw7UWDGjcqYd4fGDqoLwQlWFKdUUVpQ1fjw&m=qIFGsQyYieH4HfmlOZ4mODjBfyiauFEWSBBdhyTB77k&s=yTlBSpBx6VRLi_0PiWZw9MzUTPQi1fWnmy8tndhoRtQ&e=>


Respectfully yours,

Frank Doyle
2016 IEEE Control Systems Society President

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