Nonmembers at meetings

[Terry Allen <tallen@sonic.net>]

re my action item

>1.  Terry Allen - will investigate whether this committee can
    invite non-members to participate in the phone call meetings
    and, if it can be done, describe the procedure.         

Executive summary:  yes, and there are no rules for invitation.

R, p. 491, remarks that "During actual deliberations of [a]
committee, only committee members have the *right* to
be present" (emphasis added).

The more illuminating language is in Chap 20, art 60, "Disciplinary
Procedures."   p. 639 (referring to meetings of a society):

"Nonmembers, on the other hand - or a particular nonmember or
group of nonmembers - can be excluded at any time from part or
all of a meeting of a society, or from all of its meetings"
(by the chair, procedure, etc.).

p. 642, "Protection from Annoyance by Nonmembers in a 
Meeting; Removal of an Offender from the Hall" states

"Any nonmembers allowed in the hall during a meeting, as
guests of the organization, have no rights with reference
to the proceedings (p. 639)."  Of interest (though not in this
context) is that "at a maass meeting, any person who attempts to 
disrupt  the proceedings in a manner obviously hostile to the
announced purpose of the meeting [as opposed to a manner
sympathetic to the purpose? remmber this when you toss
those tomatoes] can be treated as a nonmember ... ."

So, clearly:

1.  Nonmembers may attend committee meetings.

2.  They can be booted.

3.  They have no rights, which I infer means they could be
     forbidden from speaking.

But as they have no rights, and R prescribes how to get rid
of them should they become annoying, R doesn't bother to
say how to invite them.  I suggest that a new OASIS TC should
as an early order of business adopt a standing rule (see pp 17-18)
stating the occasions
and conditions under which a specified group of nonmembers
should be invited or disinvited from phone and physical
meetings, leaving it to the secretary or the chair to do the
inviting of disinviting.  We should probably draft a stock
rule.

Here's a cut at it, for discussion:

The X Committee adopts as a Standing Rule that OASIS members 
and employees of OASIS member organizations who have
subscribed to the e-mail discussion list, but are not members
of the Committee {shall | shall not} be invited by the Chair
to attend {all meetings by telephone | all physical meetings | both
| neither}, except as conditions may require in the Chair's judgement.


regards, Terry