NABJ Board Meeting Review: 2024 Chicago Convention, Finances and Kathleen McElroy

BY ELIJAH PITTMAN

BIRMINGHAM, AL – Board members gathered at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex ahead of the 2023 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference on Tuesday, where they discussed the 2024 Chicago convention, finances and membership among other things.

NABJ Executive Director Drew Berry said the organization’s acting executive director made the choice to not have the joint convention between the two groups in Chicago in 2024, expressing the desire to celebrate the NAHJ 40th convention alone.

Due to ongoing legal matters, Berry stated that he could not go into details regarding NAHJ’s choice.

“NABJ is going to be in Chicago, and we [will] put on an incredible show,” Berry said. “NAHJ had signed a contract in Holly- wood, now that means they’ve got two contracts going on there [and] we’re not going to absorb the cost alone.”

“[In ] 2021 NABJ had $4.4 million in revenue; in the same year, NAHJ had about half of that,” Berry said.

“We’re strong; we’re very strong.”

NABJ’s convention in Birmingham is expected to clear in excess of $700,000, according to Berry, while the 2022 Las Vegas joint convention had only $301,817 in surplus.

Berry also presented the board with the statistics of membership increase for this year’s convention. He stated that the 2023 convention would be the third-highest-attended convention and would be expected to surpass the 2017 numbers from New Orleans.

“Our membership is at 4,236 and growing,” Berry said. “Okay. I’ll put it in per- spective; we are 34 away from a record membership. Stay tuned, and we’ll probably get it at this conference.”

Dr. Syb Brown, the academic representative for NABJ, briefly mentioned the Texas A&M hiring scandal involving prominent journalist Kathleen McElroy.

McElroy was offered a tenured professor position at Texas A&M’s School of Journalism, but due to her literary work on race relations, the offer was met with pushback by anti-DEI groups. The pushback led to the university reducing the offer to an “atwill” professor position for one year, which McElroy rejected.

Brown said NABJ backed down from getting involved in the matter due to McElroy saying she’s in the middle of a legal situation.

“So she said, stand down, I will let you know when I need you,” Brown said.

Brown cited a key piece in the article, which stated that Texas would conduct a systemic analysis of all hirings completed under diversity, equity, and inclusion or affirmative action initiatives. She added that if they let all of those people go, it would cause a “firestorm.”

The board also unanimously voted on a motion that approved the proposal to change the name of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists to the National Association of Black Journalists, St. Louis.

The meeting concluded with the mentioning of food trucks that would be available to convention-goers and a free concert on Sunday, Aug. 6.