Updated bylaws are available online at dsp.org/bylaws.

• Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5 and Bylaws, Article VIII, Section 3 were amended to remove references to Regional Vice Presidents from the Board of Directors section of the Bylaws, ensuring all clauses are covered in the Regional Vice Presidents section.
• Bylaws, Article V, Section 4 and Bylaws, Article VI, Section 8 were amended to match Policy as it applies to the new Individual Discipline Policy (including creation of the National Standards Committee) by removing the responsibility of the Provincial Vice President to appoint a Provincial Discipline Committee and removing the Provincial Discipline Committee from the list of provincial committees.

The following updates were approved to Ritual. This information is intentionally vague to honor the secrecy of Ritual. These Ritual changes do not go into effect until a new Ritual Book is distributed, currently anticipated for January 2023.

• Ritual was updated to remove instances of brothers physically pinning a badge or pin on another person, handing the badge or pin to the person instead. “If able” language was added by an amendment to the originally submitted proposal.
• Instructional language was added to the Pledging Ceremony to clarify and streamline it. Originally proposed language was amended to not restrict the Pledging Ceremony gathering methods.
• A proposal to remove the New Member Induction Ceremony for Alumni Chapters was amended and then approved to instead shorten the ceremony, removing the oath and obligations to the alumni chapter.
• Limited reproduction of Ritual by the Central Office staff was approved for the purpose of creating Ritual training materials.
• A single officer installation Ritual was created to be used in all instances by all bodies, and a “Guide to Meeting Rituals” was created to simplify instructional language within the Ritual Book. Part of a proposal to also combine versions of Opening and Closing Meeting Ritual was amended to keep those ceremonies separated for specific meeting types.
• Ritual was edited to allow for overall consistency in phrasing throughout the book.

The following Bylaw Amendments did not get approved.

• Proposal #2: Changes to election procedures to hold Regional Vice President elections at provincial council meetings instead of at Grand Chapter Congress.
• Proposal #3: Add a second vote to Bylaws for interim Regional Vice President elections when a majority is not initially achieved and create limitations to non-local appointments of Regional Vice Presidents by the Provincial Vice President to fill a vacancy.
• Proposal #4: Create limitations to non-local appointments of Regional Vice Presidents by the Provincial Vice President to fill a vacancy.
• Proposal #5: Remove from Bylaws National Committees (except Finance, Nominations and Organizational Development) and remove the current provincial committee structure from Bylaws. This proposal would not have eliminated the currently existing committees, as they continue to exist within policy, but would allow the Board of Directors flexibility to make changes if desired.
• Proposal #7: Add two voting “at large” Board members to focus mainly on strategy and fill areas of necessary experience, elected by the Board of Directors, who do not have specific operational or programmatic set of responsibilities.

A quasi-committee of the whole was held to offer delegates the opportunity to more openly discuss their desires related to representation, structure and governance. 

Details are available by contacting centraloffice@dsp.org.