carpentries / 2018_bylaws Goto Github PK

This was frighteningly vague to me. Made me think that if I were signing up I might have wildly different terms of membership than some other org. Maybe state some basic/common bylaws here with the caveat that signed agreements may supersede some/all of the general bylaws?

I know you state that there will be a more detailed Elections document. However I still think that the information that is in the bylaws already could do with a bit of tidying up. For instance, a deadline for when the vote on appointed members is mentioned (15 Dec) with a reference of the election of elected members, however, at that stage in the text, no dates for the election is mentioned. Also, how come the election of Appointed members are mentioned in the section of Elected members?

"The Executive Council will seek candidates for Elected Members seats that become vacant. Two (2) of the Appointed Member seats shall be filled at each election. "

I suggest a short overarching section first, with a description of the order in which things will happen, followed by a descripton of how Appointed and Elected members will be elected.

There is a "Resignation and Termination" section, but it only mentions people resigning. We do have situations where we have to terminate people's memberships. As far as I can see, there are no provisions for doing that according to the bylaws.

I am not clear what a lesson program is after reading the bylaws. Is Data Carpentry a lesson program, are the Genomics Lessons a lesson program? I'm sure this made sense to people on the inside but was not clear to me.

I think quorum should be 6, since a quorum of 5 could create a situation where importance business could be conducted with only the nominated (and not elected) members present. Also, 10 meetings is a high bar for some of the really experienced (and likely very busy) members that should be a part of this group. Maybe 4-6 is the minimum, although of course monthly is great if people can do it.

The Carpentries vision, once approved, needs to be added

The bylaws describe a composition of the Executive Council which includes both elected and appointed members. While the former are selected by the community at large, the latter are selected by the Executive Council. Section 6 of the bylaws specify that the Executive Council will accept recommendations from the community for appointed members. Do we need to specify more clearly the mechanism through which we accept nominees?

We value the ability to describe our community in as inclusive a sense as possible. In general, we use "members of the community" in reference to a diverse group of people including (but not limited to!) trainers/instructors, workshop organizers, and learners.

Bylaws, however, need to describe specific groups with rights and responsibilities related to how the organization functions. Section 4 of the bylaws defines Voting Members, and what individuals need to do in order to vote in elections. Are these requirements adequate to define our community of Voting Members?

Current version of bylaws now in handbook. (yay!) Do we still need this repo? If not, we should archive it. Otherwise, should cleanup up readme, remove draft versions of bylaws, etc.

v2 currently states:

"Resignation and Termination of Lesson Programs
In the event that Lesson Programs fail to meet the responsibilities described above, the Executive Council may decide to retire the Lesson Program through a majority vote. If the Lesson Program Committee chooses to discontinue the Lesson Program’s association with The Carpentries, they must inform the Executive Council to arrange for separation of responsibilities and resources."

I'm somewhat uncomfortable with this presenting the possibility that Lesson Program may not fulfill their responsibilities and does not mention that The Carpentries might not fulfill their responsibilities. I hope we do, but it fills a bit one-sided. There is some language in the Lesson Program document (at the very end) that might be massageable for this here.

Suggestion: "In the event that either the Lesson Program or The Carpentries is not fulfilling its obligations under the Lesson Program Policy, or the mission and vision of The Carpentries and the Lesson Program no longer align, the relationship between the Lesson Program and the Carpentries can be severed. The Executive Council may decide to retire the Lesson Program through a majority vote, or the Lesson Program Committee can choose to discontinue the Lesson Program's association with the Carpentries. In either case, notice must be given to the other organization to arrange for separation of responsibilities and resources."

Might be nice to have a conflict of interest form that EC members should sign.

Link to the Carpentries handbook for definitions of instructor, trainer, etc as these are referenced in the bylaws, and connect with agreement about CoC

I feel like rules 1, 2, and 3 can be combined into one rule...

Voting rights are granted every instructor or trainer upon their certification for one year. Membership is automatically renewed and extended on the anniversary of their certification provided they teach at least one Carpentries workshop within that year.

(Example: Instructor certified on July 1st, 2018 will have voting rights until June 30th, 2019. Provided they have taught at least one workshop on on before their membership expiration date their membership will be aromatically renewed for July 1, 2019 - June 20, 2020.)