CR - UH Group -- legal info. for constitution

[Amy Forsyth]

At 04:59 PM 5/19/99 -0500, you wrote:
>It is possible that
>since this group would be a completely new group than the earlier group
>that had attained full status, that the Kingdom might re-designate them as
>incipient, until proven stable.  

Yes.  How College's are treated following a domancy is something that has
never really been formalized.  The issue seems to be handled on a
case-by-case basis.  In this instance, I think incipiency (WHEN and IF the
College does get going again) would be most appropriate.

>
>Adela said:
>"Those 15 people would all have to be current students of the University.
>[If you want to hold this interest group from becoming the College for a
>longer period of time, you could require that they also be registered and
>paying members of SCA, Inc. -- afterall, isn't that how SCA determines the
>level of a group....by paid memberships?]
>
>To which I respond... now things get tricky.  On the SCA side only: Since
>the college of Twr Cath is within the boundaries of another branch, its
>memberships (based on zipcodes) are not counted separately from the barony.
>So, in this case the Twr Cath memberships count to the zip codes in which
>they reside (Stargate, Loch, one of the Cantons, etc).  The officers
>definately have to be paid members by corporate law, which allows them to
>be warranted (ie covered by the insurance) and to get a Kingdom newsletter.
>The College of Twr Cath memberships only count on paper, as per their
>reports, but not as far as a branch viability goes.. its one of those
>wierdness that colleges get (unless the college is independent from any
>other group..ie. its the only branch in that city area.)
>

A-ha! You're beginning to see the situation!  How can you measure when a
group like the College is ready to form?  ready to move out of incipiency?
needs to be placed in dormancy?

It's really rather difficult.  

The SCA can dictate a minimal number of officers and membership in order
for a group to form.  But Kingdoms have the right to make stricter
requirements (hence why Herald is currently still a required office).  I
must presume that it follows that Baronies and other group can make even
more requirements so long as they meet and do not violate the requirements
of the Kingdom and of SCA, Inc.

In addition, the interest group is currently outside of the control of SCA.
 The interest group can set what it considers to be a good minimal number
and set of requirements for a functioning SCA group.  

My past experiences dealing with turnover of officers and membership in the
College suggests that the total membership number needs to be at least 3
times that of the officers (so if 4 officers is the minimum, the group
needs to have 12 members who are registered students; if the group's
Constitution says they need 7 officers, then they'd need 21 student
members).  
  

>Adela said:
>Who is eligible to be a member of the University group (according to the
>University)?  Current students, current staff, and alumni.
>What constitutes an alumni?  According to the Alumni Org., anyone who has
>taken at least 3 hours of classes at UH & is a paid member of the Alumni
>Org.
>Of course, current staff and alumni would not be counted in the membership
>count of the College.  But there are many 'alumni' around the area (even if
>they aren't paid members of the alumni org.)."
>
>Now I'm confused... are you saying the UH student association would allow
>staff or alumni to be active members and/or officers of the UH
>organization; or must they have officers who are students, only??  If I
>recall a conversation at the Loch last weekend, the officers (3 needed) of
>a student organization must be students (part or full time) and not be
>staff or alumni...right??
>
>Hillary

See....it really is confusing.  The University is a totally different
planet from the SCA.  

3 officers who are students are needed to form the student org.

Yes, staff and alumni can be members of the student org.  And, if the
constitution of the group so permits (or doesn't even talk about it), staff
and almuni can act as officers within the group so long as there's at least
3 students who are officers (including the President of the group).  

	That's why I was able to be Herald for Twr Cath even though I was a staff
member and alumna.  The same with Christoforo being Rapier Marshal (staff). 
	But we found that even though the group had the numbers to do a complete
turnover of officers, no one was willing to do the jobs.  That's why I
recommend such a high number of members....and also why I recommend that
they be paid members and students too.  If they've got the interest to
become paid members, they're more likely to be willing to be officers (and
at least they can't use membership as an excuse for not being an officer).
They should be students because the College is, first and foremost, a
student organization.  If the students aren't willing to do the work to
keep the College running, then it shouldn't be there.  

Basically, what I'm proposing is that the interest group, with permission
from the Kingdom (or Region or Barony or whoever would have to approve it),
place high, but reasonable requirements for Twr Cath to become an official
SCA group.  I'm not saying that this should be standard practice for
Colleges.  What I am saying is that with the history of this specific
group, it needs to be laid out very clearly and in advance what is expected
of the group.

~Adela

PS:  That it from me folks until tomorrow.  If something crucial happens, a
few of you have my phone number at home.  Give me a ring I'll get on-line
at home, but I won't be able to respond to any e-mails to the list, only
private responses.

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