SPJ President Hosts Town Hall Meeting

Ensslin

SPJ President John Ensslin hosted a virtual town hall meeting with members in Region 1 on Saturday, June 30.

It was one of several meetings Ensslin has hosted across the country. Click here for more details.

Ensslin on Saturday updated the participants on the conference call about SPJ initiatives and issues. The following topics came up during the hour-long conversation:

• SPJ is proposing a measure to allow members to pay their annual dues with a credit card on a monthly payment plan, to help members be able to continue to afford the dues.

• SPJ’s national board is considering allowing institutional memberships and international members to join the organization.

• The national board is reviewing oversight policies of local chapter finances, after a situation in Oklahoma this year where a local SPJ treasurer and Region 8 director resigned amid allegations he stole money from the Oklahoma Pro chapter’s bank account. Click here to read a statement from national on the situation:

• The location of the Region 1 convention for 2013 is still being decided. Region 1 members have suggested Boston as a possible location, but now Region 1 members are leaning toward wanting to host the convention in New Jersey this year.

• All SPJ members will have a chance to vote in national elections for the first time in September. Members don’t need to be at the national convention in Florida in order to vote. Click here to view the online voting central, where you can get information on all the candidates and how to vote.

• Rebecca Baker, the so-far lone candidate for Region 1 director, spoke about her background and plans for the position, if elected at the national convention in September. Baker has been an SPJ member since 2000, and has worked in three Region 1 states: Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. She is the current past-president for New York’s Deadline Club. “I would definitely be available to help various chapters in the region with whatever they would need,” Baker said.