The convention center at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, site of the 2012 Unity convention, has 1.7 million gross square feet of meeting space.
Unity Might Escape Penalty for Unfilled Hotel Rooms
The pullout of the National Association of Black Journalists from the 2012 Unity convention in Las Vegas will not necessarily mean Unity will be stuck with a tab for unfilled hotel rooms, according to Unity’s executive director, Onica Makwakwa.
“Yes, there is a signed hotel agreement with a food and beverage commitment,” Makwakwa told Journal-isms by email on Tuesday. “We are re-assessing both to see what kind of adjustments need to be made. The room block is very conservative and may not need adjustment.
“Also, we negotiated a no attrition clause (fee hotel charges when you don’t pickup all your [rooms]) such that the rooms are not a great concern. We are taking a close look at the food and beverage minimum to see if and what adjustments are may be needed there.”
Journalists of color organizations were stuck with bills for unpaid rooms at the 2009 conventions when the recession deepened and the turnout was smaller than expected. Because the convention is a major revenue-generator for the associations, some of the groups ended the year with a deficit.
NABJ cited the Unity business model in its decision to pull out and is now planning its own 2012 convention, location to be determined.
Members of the remaining Unity groups — the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association — have been in Las Vegas in preparation for the still-scheduled Aug. 1-4, 2012, convention. Individually, some wrote on social-media sites that they hoped NABJ members still would attend.
. . . You Can Take It to the Bank When It’s Voted On”
Meanwhile, the Journal-isms item “Unity Agreed to Grant Each Partner Veto Power on Decisions” in Monday’s column prompted protests from some Unity board members that whatever unofficial assent might have been made behind closed doors, it did not constitute an agreement.
“You can take it to the bank when it’s voted on,” Kathy Y. Times, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told Journal-isms. “. . . The UNITY board did not approve any changes to the voting structure or give NABJ any veto power.”
“Correction requested,” began an email from Rhonda LeValdo, president of the Native American Journalists Association. “First of all no decision on veto power was made at the meeting. What was decided on was a motion agreed on by a majority vote by the board,” she continued, repeating the language of a motion that directed that “the Governance Committee made up of the four alliance presidents will review and recommend a revised process to represent the alliance partners in decision making, with the UNITY board of directors to approve by April 30, 2011.”
The Journal-isms item began,”At its meeting last month, the board of Unity: Journalists of Color responded to a key complaint of the National Association of Black Journalists by unofficially deciding to grant each partner veto power over Unity decisions, according to board members.
“. . . the movement on the veto was made in a session where no onlookers were permitted.”
Although the NABJ board cited financial reasons for its pullout from Unity on Sunday, governance issues and the Unity board’s willingness to respond to NABJ’s concerns were also factors.
Times said she left the March 30 Unity meeting believing “Communication was effective,” she told Journal-isms then. “I’m happy to hear the alliance partners . . . have a better understanding of what our concerns are.” She repeated those sentiments on Wednesday.
But Deirdre Childress, NABJ’s vice president for print, said she attended the meeting as an onlooker and concluded, “There were no serious concessions made and, in the end, I could not trust that we would ever again be able to gain a consensus on ideas and goals proposed by NABJ. I went to the last UNITY meeting and did my own research. I saw a failure to respect us and to be transparent by providing our financial statements in a timely manner.”
Meanwhile, Times scheduled a web discussion for NABJ members for Monday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Eastern time to discuss the decision to withdraw from Unity.
The Asian American Journalists Association held a conference call on Wednesday, where questions were raised about Unity. Emma Carew, co-president of AAJA-Minnesota, tweeted from the “town hall.”
- Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute: When solvency and solidarity collide in NABJ departure, how will UNITY survive?
