Letters: Bishop (Andrew Smith vote)
Like your other correspondents in the April issue, I was disappointed at the result of the ballot to elect Andrew Smith a fellow. There is, however, one other matter concerning this which seems to me to deserve to be ventilated further, which is the series of administrative glitches relating to the issue of the notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting.
Upon receiving in late January details of the postponement of the Meeting owing to the failure to circulate to those who did not have an e-mail address, I e-mailed the Institute as follows:
"Having already had to draw attention to the defective nature of the original proxy form circulated, it does seem to me that this proposal, which some might consider controversial, has not been handled at all well from an administrative standpoint, which may not help in getting the membership onside with it".
While I did receive in return a full apology, which I appreciated, this did not alter the basic facts set out in the above message, which may even appear to have been somewhat prophetic, as it is not wholly inconceivable that better administrative handling could have resulted in making up the difference between the near 70% vote in favour of the proposal, and the 75% required to pass it.
John Bishop
29 April 2008
