 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
"CONSTITUTIONS AND BY-LAWS: SPAWNS OF EVIL??" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"CONSTITUTIONS AND BY-LAWS: SPAWNS OF EVIL??" |
|
If I were to mention a popular sport, like baseball, hockey, football, basketball, or (for our overseas members) soccer, there is a very good chance that you'd be able to devise an on-the-spot pickup game. Everyone knows the basic rules, and certain variations depending on where you are and the terrain would be agreed to. And then comes the fun. How many of you have read the Official Rules of any of the sports mentioned. Even better, how many of you have followed the Official Rules in a pickup game? There are times when the game will become intense and there will be controversy and conflict. You need to have a decision made and then move on, for the longer you argue and dispute, the longer you've stopped playing and having fun. Then, it becomes a matter of principle and not of fun. I look at By-Laws and Constitutions in the same way. Yes, I know that for a fan club like your Friendly Neighborhood STARFLEET Chapter, there has to be a business side. For a chapter to function in the real world, there has to be the recognized structure of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and all the trappings of a not-for-profit organization. You also have to have a way to track money flowing in and out for possible tax purposes. So, like any other social organization, there needs to be the structure of By-Laws and a Constitution. Indeed, Region 7 Command now requires its shuttles to have a set of By-Laws in place before being commissioned. I will say that I have had first-hand experience in why that requirement is needed. However, I look at By-Laws at best as a necessary evil, and at worst a ticking time-bomb in the hands of a person more concerned with the letter of the law rather than the spirit -- the Spirit of Trek. I come from a unique perspective. My first chapter, the USS Christa McAuliffe, had minimal By-Laws which, mostly dealt with the playing of types of music, the proper disposal of potent potables, and other actions relating to in-jokes to the club. The most "proper" By-Law, which dealt with money, gave the responsibility to the accountant in the group -- our own Fleet Captain Howard Cronson. Responsibility was left with people who you knew that they knew what to do. I have seen By-Laws tear apart an organization. Anyone remember the Maryland Squadron? What started out to be a confederation of Maryland-based chapters and other Star Trek clubs got bogged down in organizational meetings, procedures, and finally politics, with different factions using the By-Laws to the Squadron to back up their point of view. Happily, the Squadron has faded into oblivion. Ships in the Region 7/Sector 2 area (with the USS Athena in Region 1) now engage in mutual cooperation involving cons and events without the need to invoke any By-Laws. In my humble Little Guy Manner, I give this sage advice to shuttles in the SHoC program and to other future shuttles: consider your By-Laws a reflection of your chapter rather than try to structure your club to the By-Laws. Whatever works with your chapter can be codified. If you nitpick over a section, step back and think whether or not you really need that clause or wording. Finally, consider those Articles which are designed to guide resolution to internal conflict (such as member expulsion, Officer's Code of Conduct, and removal of Commanding Officer) in the same manner as Picard and crew would consider the weapon arsenal of the Enterprise-D. There will be times which there will be no other option but to invoke them and only when all other remedies have been exhausted. Under no circumstances should they be invoked with jubilation. At that stage, there will always be a faction who will consider a case of political posturing rather than for the good of the chapter, no matter what they may say. These articles of the By-Laws should be used only as a last resort for, to paraphrase the TNG Tech Manual, their use should be an acknowledgement of failure of the primary mission of the ship. In the chapter's case, it is a failure to bring about the idealistic future of Star Trek by working toward a better today. Read Adam Davilla COUNTERPOINT Article to this article...
|
AREA
52: All rights reserved. © COPYRIGHT 2006 This material may be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
only with permission granted from the AREA
52 Administrator. Thank you for your cooperation.
