Based on the vote held at the Open Meeting today, November 7th, 2016, the following amendments will be made to the HRDC Constitution. Text in italics was the previous text of the Constitution; non-italicized text is new.
A two-thirds vote is required to pass any amendment to the Constitution; there was one question which did receive a plurality of votes but not the two-thirds majority required to pass. Full ballot counts may be found at the end of this page.
Article IV will be amended as follows:
III.4: The term for officers shall be one year. Election of officers shall be held annually in November at an open meeting of the HRDC. Elections shall be scheduled at a date and time determined by the Board to minimize conflicts for all members of the community. The date and time of elections will be shared with the community before the beginning of the season. Directors and producers may not schedule rehearsal, performances, or tech time during an open meeting of the HRDC. Officers shall assume the duties and privileges of office at the beginning of the following semester. Candidates for office should nominate themselves by submitting a position paper to the current Executive Board at least two days prior to the election. An affirmative majority vote by the members of the HRDC present shall be required to elect officers of the HRDC. Candidates may be nominated from the floor.
Members of the HRDC who are unable to attend Elections may vote by proxy by meeting with the President or another senior member of the Board prior to Elections, and may contact the President to send in questions for the candidates or statements of support or concern about candidates, which will be read aloud at the meeting. Absentee voters may specify in this meeting with the President their intentions in the event that the pool of Candidates for any position changes during Elections by, for example, ranking all the possible candidates for a position.
Article III will be amended as follows:
III.7. The duties of the Executive Board shall be to: select appropriate productions for the Loeb Mainstage and Club OBERON, administer the Loeb Experimental Theater, administer and approve expenditure of all HRDC funds and determine all matters pertaining to the finances of the HRDC, attend as many HRDC and other productions as possible, and make all policy decisions regarding student participation at the Loeb.
Article VIII will be amended as follows, and Sections 2 through 6 will be added:
VIII.1. Funding for the Mainstage and the Experimental Theatre productions shall be provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences through the auspices of the Loeb staff who shall authorize and disperse the funds to the producers of the shows.
VIII.2. Each semester the HRDC will support no more than one student production at OBERON. The HRDC board will work with OBERON staff to select this production from qualified applications.
VIII.3. This production will operate under the OBERON “bar guarantee” model. In this model, the OBERON staff proposes a cost estimate, and if that cost is not met in bar sales the remaining balance will come out of ticketing revenue. Once this cost is met, additional ticketing revenue will be deposited to the HRDC.
VIII.4. OBERON production teams will be granted use of the HRDC p-card in order to avoid fronting production costs out of pocket. The HRDC will use OBERON ticketing revenue to cover the charges on the p-card.
VIII.5. Any student who wishes to produce at OBERON may do so through the OBERON open submission policy, open to the general public, but only the designated sponsored production will receive HRDC financial support.
VIII.6. In the event that the HRDC sponsored production fails to recoup its costs, the HRDC will pay the remaining balance to OBERON. Profits from previous HRDC/OBERON productions will be used to handle this circumstance should it arise.
Article II, Sections 8, 9, and 10 will be created as follows:
II.8: The HRDC shall be committed to the representation of different identities in all of its activities. Specifically, the Executive Board will encourage critical thinking about inclusion and diversity both onstage and offstage and push for the inclusion of people of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations and abilities in casts and staffs. As a community, we pledge to continue to examine and explore narratives that are underrepresented or excluded from the stage, at Harvard and in the world at large.
II.9: To these ends, all directors and producers shall adhere to policies of color-conscious casting, which emphasizes actively working to include people of color in productions, and gender-inclusive casting, which works to include performers of all genders. We also encourage productions to actively welcome and include people of all religions, sexual orientations, and abilities.
II.10: The Executive Board will support training for incoming students and particularly outreach to and mentorship for those who have not yet been provided the resources and opportunities to pursue theater design and production. The Board will actively work with directors and producers to achieve this goal.
Full Ballot Counts
29 individual ballots were cast. A two-thirds majority (20) was required for an amendment to pass.
Question 1. Elections scheduling – PASSED.
27 votes YES, 1 vote NO, 1 abstained.
Question 2: Removing floor nominations – NOT PASSED.
15 votes YES, 13 votes NO, 1 abstained
Question 3: Obligatory elections – NOT PASSED.
13 votes YES, 16 votes NO
Question 4: Absentee voting – PASSED.
22 votes YES, 7 votes NO
Question 5: Absentee voting – discussion – PASSED.
26 votes YES, 3 votes NO
Question 6: Absentee vote counting – changes to Candidate pool – PASSED (RANKING).
3 votes A, 0 votes B, 26 votes C
Question 7: Write-in voting – NOT PASSED.
13 votes YES, 16 votes NO
Question 8: Online voting – NOT PASSED.
8 votes YES, 20 votes NO, 1 abstained
Question 9: OBERON Funding – PASSED.
29 votes YES, 0 votes NO
Question 10: Diversity and Inclusion – PASSED.
27 votes YES, 2 votes NO