On Monday, June 7, 2010, the required three Synod-appointed trustees met and agreed to call for a Special Meeting of the Erskine Board of Trustees.

Since 10 days notice was required, the meeting was set for Friday, June 18. The board will meet on the Erskine campus in Due West, S.C.

The written document distributed to the board members, as required by the By-Laws, stated the purpose for the meeting would be to “consider a resolution to amend the charter of Erskine College.”

According to Erskine’s charter, this potential action will require the approval of the Synod:

“All members of the Board of Trustees of Erskine College shall be appointed by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church…Any change in this section of this charter must have prior approval of both the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Board of Trustees of this corporation.”

The written call to the meeting gives the following explanation of the proposal to be discussed:

The members of the Board of Trustees shall be nominated by the existing Board of Trustees and appointed by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The Board of Trustees shall submit annually the names of ten (10) nominees, in preferential order, to the General Synod for potential appointment and election. Of those ten (10) nominees, the General Synod thereafter shall elect and appoint five (5) of the nominated candidates as Trustees.

In order to achieve the desired twenty (20) total elected members of the Board of Trustees, in the years two thousand ten (2010) and two thousand eleven (2011), the Board of Trustees shall submit the names of six (6) nominees. Of those six (6) nominees, the General Synod shall elect and appoint three (3) members.

The terms of those Trustees currently in office at the time of this Amendment shall remain six (6) years and shall expire in the natural course. As such, the Board of Trustees will consist of more than twenty (20) members until the year two thousand fifteen (2015), when all the terms of those Board members existing prior to this Amendment have duly expired.

If the above Amendment is passed by a vote of the majority, the Class of 2010 of the Board shall remain in office until such time as the same is replaced, as follows: the Board shall nominate, at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Board in the fall of 2010, the names of six (6) candidates, and of those candidates, the General Synod shall elect and appoint three (3) members to the Board to fill the terms expiring by the Class of 2010. At the time of such appointment, the terms of all former members of the Class of 2010 shall be deemed to have expired. The vacancy created by a prior resignation in the Class of 2011 shall not be filled.

It appears that this explanation assumes that the Charter change will take place as of June 18th without any deliberation and approval by the ARP Synod. The current method of nominations at the Synod level is quite different than this proposed Charter change presumes would take place in the future.

The ARP Synod, currently in session at Bonclarken Conference Center in Flat Rock, NC, received the first public notification of this meeting in a document distributed on the floor on Wednesday morning. It is expected that the report to Synod will be acted on during the Thursday business meetings.