In the fall of 2020, fifty forums will need to elect Delegate Assembly representatives. The executive committees of these forums must conduct the following nomination process:
The voting members of the forum’s executive committee will be responsible for nominating one candidate and for reviewing all the nominees suggested by the membership (including self-nominations) and choosing from these one candidate to be paired with the executive committee’s choice. Membership suggestions will be solicited through the forums’ groups on MLA Commons. If fewer than three suggestions are received from the membership, the executive committee will be encouraged to give serious consideration to these suggestions but will not be required to use them. If there are no suggestions from the membership, the executive committee will nominate both candidates. Before their names are placed on the ballot, nominees must agree to accept the nomination and to provide candidate information and a statement on matters of professional concern.
A ballot for each forum delegate election will be made available to members who have a primary affiliation with the forum in question. Elected forum delegates will be required to have a primary affiliation with the forum they represent.
The term of delegates elected in the fall of 2020 will begin on 11 January 2021 (the day after the 2021 convention ends) and end on the last day of the January 2024 convention. Since an elected delegate who cannot attend an assembly meeting may not be represented by proxy, each forum’s delegate should be willing and able to attend the meetings of the assembly in 2022, 2023, and 2024. (The January 2022 convention will be held in Washington, DC; the January 2023 convention will be held in San Francisco; the January 2024 convention will be held in Philadelphia.) Additional information about assembly service is available here.
The executive committees of the forums that need to arrange elections in 2020 will take up the matter of nominations during their business meetings at the 2020 convention in Seattle. All nomination suggestions must therefore be received on or before 20 December 2019. Suggestions should be sent to governance@mla.org and should include the following information: the name of the member suggested; affiliation, department, and rank, if any; and a brief statement (100–200 words) of qualifications.
