NEBC Name Change
NEBC Changes Name!
On the evening of Saturday, 27 February 2021, a Special Meeting of the New England Botanical Club was convened virtually to discuss and vote on two important items: updates to our organization's Bylaws and a proposal to change our organization's name to
New England Botanical Society.
This Special Meeting for changing the Bylaws, which requires 30 members present, was attended by 48 members of NEBC. A 2/3 vote of those members present and voting is required to pass changes to the Bylaws.
- The proposed updates to our organization's Bylaws, other than the name, were passed unanimously (47 votes in favor, with 1 abstention).
- A vote to change our name to New England Botanical Society was also unanimous (46 votes in favor, 2 abstentions)
- The final vote on the Bylaws with "Society" replacing "Club" was also passed unanimously (47 votes in favor, no abstentions).
These votes resulted in the adoption of the updated 2021 Bylaws for New England Botanical Society, which also includes the name change.
This Special Meeting was preceded earlier in the month by sharing with the full membership a 4-page document that outlined Council's rational for the name change proposal. An Open Discussion of the proposed name change was held virtually on 13 February 2021, followed by a non-binding online poll of membership, which was open from 13-25 February 2021. A Summary of the Name Change Poll results were presented at the Special Meeting. The membership received the announcement of the name change from the 2020-2021 NEBC Council via email on 2 March 2021.
The process of formally and legally changing our organization's name to New England Botanical Society will be undertaken in the coming weeks and months. Until those changes are officially made, we will still use NEBC in our mailings, on the current website, and in social media posts. However, the new, more responsive, and expanded website that is currently under construction will be as the New England Botanical Society. Our herbarium acronym will remain NEBC.
