Class officer elections are important because:

• They develop leadership skills in volunteers;
• They demonstrate that the class is active;
• Diversity and turnover of volunteer leadership insures that a class will remain active. For instance, if someone “always” serves in a particular position for many years and is suddenly unable to serve, it is difficult to replace that officer with someone who has a thorough understanding of the role and is prepared to serve with dedication on short notice.

MIT classes usually choose to run their elections in one of two ways:

•  Online: It is best practice to hold elections online. This is to promote participation in the election to the entire class (as opposed only to those attending the reunion), and keep the focus on celebration during Reunion activities. The Alumni Association is able to assist by providing an online platform through Infinite Connection. This is only needed when there is a contested election, not for a single slate of officers.

•  At a reunion event: Some MIT classes have made a tradition of conducting a business meeting during a particular reunion event (e.g. formal dinner, Sunday brunch), at which a slate of officers is presented for a voice vote.

At minimum, MIT classes should elect officers to these positions:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Web-Master

Classes that have passed their 55th reunion sometimes have difficulty in filling all five of these officer positions. In such cases, the Association encourages the nominations chair to recruit at least a class secretary, since that person’s responsibility is to prepare and publish Class Notes in Technology Review on behalf of the class.

In addition, classes may elect one or more of the following positions based on their class’ specific needs and interests:

• Vice Presidents
• Assistant Treasurer
• Assistant Secretary
• Members-at-Large

Please see the volunteer job description page for more information on some of these standard roles or guides for how to write a description for a specific role.

Classes can have multiple Vice Presidents and Members-at-Large to further engage and include a large sampling of the class and have as many voices as possible heard.

If positions are not filled, it is up to the incoming Class President to work with Alumni Association staff to appoint volunteers for vacant positions. Class Presidents may appoint Members-at-Large and Vice Presidents as long as there were not contested elections.

On occasion, when class presidents or other officers who have served for a long time or with particular distinction retire from office, they are given by their class at election the distinction of emeritus [officer position].

Some MIT classes have also conferred Honorary Membership in their class to others who are substantially engaged in the activities of the class but who did not graduate with it, such as spouses who serve on reunion committees. One or two classes have even voted to make all spouses Honorary Members of their classes automatically.

By end of April:

• Staff liaison (or class president, if requested) will send a call for nominations to the class about open class officer positions with job descriptions and the nominations form (if online election). The deadline for nomination submission should be mid-June, after Reunions.

Early June:

• MIT Alumni Association Class Programs staff send class officer candidates a nomination form containing some basic information about the candidate and position. This form will have space for an optional candidate’s statement. (Note: this information will be published online.)

Mid-June:

• Voting deadline set by class with staff closes

June 30- early July:

• Classes are notified of election results. If class still has an open position, Class President should be prompted to recruit a volunteer to fill the open position.

By end of March:

• Classes need to confirm with staff liaison that they would like to hold elections in person at reunions. Otherwise, elections will be held online.

By mid-April:

• Work with reunion committee and class president to determine when the class elections will be held during Tech Reunions and who will introduce the election process at reunion event.

Early June, Tech Reunions:                

• Classmates vote on new officers during a class meeting. The nomination chair submits the voting results to Class Programs staff.

June 30:

• Classes are notified of election results.