Message from the President

Bylaws set forth the process by which decisions will be made. There are practical decisions that need to be made: If there is money (and that covers most organizations) someone must be responsible for deciding how to invest it, determining whether and for what to spend it, and must account for those actions. If there is a staff, someone must take responsibility for hiring, training, and letting them go,and those actions require accounting. A non-profit organization is also built around a purpose, a mission, and the responsibility for making sure that the organization serves that mission, and that the mission continues to be worth serving, rests with individuals specified in the bylaws. As an organization evolves, both the practical and the visionary elements may change. Bylaws, when they are well thought out, ensure that the organization is able to respond appropriately.

The AAVSO constitution (the old bylaws) was written when the organization was still young and the leadership almost entirely volunteer. The Director, in those days, was elected annually just as were the other officers - President, Secretary, Clerk and so on. As the AAVSO became a more mature organization, it developed a strong staff with the responsibility for carrying out or coordinating nearly all the activity of the association. However, we have continued with the old rules, for example electing our Director again at each annual meeting. If you imagine the chaos that would result if the Council suddenly decided to elect a different Director, you can readily appreciate that this process is no longer appropriate! The new bylaws recognize more appropriately the role and responsibilities of the Director of the AAVSO.

Perhaps a good analogy for an organization is a species that fits into a natural niche in the local ecology. Some species are relatively short-lived, because their niche disappears or because they are not easily able to adapt to new circumstances. An organization that clings blindly to its original mission, or to its original way of carrying out that mission, even as times change risks this fate. Sometimes, that may be appropriate; an organization whose goal is to elect a particular person to political office obviously shouldn’t outlive the person by very much! The organizational structure, as specified in the bylaws, must make it possible for the organization to evolve in a healthy way, and at the same time must protect the organizations devotion to its mission. There is also, then, a responsibility of the organization to look ahead and think about why and whether the ultimate goals of the founders and the members may best be served by modifying the mission or by maintaining it as originally defined.

AAVSO’s mission is promoting the study of variable stars. Is this still a valid mission? Why should we want to promote variable star astronomy? Among other reasons, we do this to bring people into astronomy, in particular, or science in general. The Hands on Astrophysics project epitomizes this. We promote variable star astronomy so that there is someone who knows what is happening with the stars that vary, and we are primed to discover new variables and new phenomena on old ones, because the variable stars are interesting in and of themselves. Most fundamentally, though, we promote variable star astronomy because there are things to be learned from studying variable stars that have an impact broader than the observations alone.

There are three ways our mission could become obsolete:

1. We havelearned everything worth knowing about stars in general and variablestars in particular.
2. The study of variable stars becomes impossible without resources available only to professional astronomers.
3. The study of variable stars becomes entirely automated

   Are any of these fates imminent? Some have suggested this may be the case. As an organization, we are obliged to examine this possibility carefully and either agree to disband (or change direction) or be able to defend clearly and persuasively the continued need for our activity.

   One key role of the officers and Council of an organization is to beinvolved in long-range planning - looking ahead and checking that the organization is moving in a direction consonant with its help develop or maintain the interests of urban amateurs or amateurs in the stages of life where late nights at the telescope are not often possible. I will be very interested in hearing people’s thoughts on this “new feature” in November at our meeting.

   The results of the discussion in May, and the essential points of the by-laws revision, are both described in more detail elsewhere in this newsletter. What is very evident now is that the AAVSO will continue to serve a vital role in astronomy; both archival and new observations are needed and intelligent observers (including data miners) are always in demand. As has been the case, the AAVSO’s function and structure will continue to evolve, in response to changing needs of the membership and the broader community it also serves.

   — Lee Ann Willson

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