Board of Trustees Adopts Program of Paperless Meetings

The New England College mission statement contains nine values, one of which describes our community’s commitment to ecological sustainability. In addition to the many initiatives that the NEC campus has undertaken over the years, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously on May 13 to implement paperless meetings immediately.

The original proposal to conduct paperless meetings called for a two-step process to phase in the new program. The Board of Trustees opted instead to adopt the plan in its entirety immediately.

The Board cited several reasons for moving to paperless meetings: to demonstrate their commitment to the College’s values and to taking a leadership role in supporting them; to share information quickly without the use of mailed or emailed documents; and to update documents while ensuring that all Board members have access to the most recent versions.

According to Dr. James Garvey, Vice President for Strategic Priorities and Advancement, Board members will receive notification prior to a meeting indicating that their materials have been posted to a secure site on the Internet. In addition, the material provided in the traditional notebooks that Board members receive at their meetings will be accessed using laptop computers instead. “This form of cloud computing will continue to revolutionize the way that organizations conduct business,” said Dr. Garvey. “The Board’s enthusiasm for this new process sends a strong message about their willingness to embrace the many ways that new technology supports sustainability.”

The paperless process will take effect with the next series of meetings scheduled this fall for both the Board of Trustees and all Board Committees.