Moderator Election Planned for 2020

Earlier this year, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Board of Trustees reported that we did not have a candidate to propose for the 2019 Moderator election. Despite a thorough search by the Moderator Search Committee, there was not a candidate who was willing to undertake the role. In addition, the report from the Search Committee raised specific questions and concerns that came from potential candidates about the structure and expectations of the position.

The Board of Trustees asks the Association’s forbearance in filling the Moderator position via the regularly scheduled election at General Assembly (GA) 2019. The transformational work that the Board has undertaken continues in earnest. We ask potential candidates to wait until 2020 to run so that the Board will have more time to develop a more sustainable and effective Moderator role and job description that embraces the learnings from the Moderator Search process as well as the broader institutional change work of equity, inclusion, and dismantling white supremacy culture in our institution. To do this well takes time.

If there are no Moderator candidates who file to run by petition by the February 1, 2019 deadline, the Board of Trustees hopes to appoint Mr. Barb Greve and Elandria Williams to continue in their current roles as Co-Moderators for one additional year, until the special election for Moderator is held at General Assembly 2020 in Providence. This timeline allows for both a revamp of the role description and adequate discernment for potential candidates based on that new description.