The officers of the RGS-IBG have formally received the request for a vote
on Shell's sponsorship of the society and have agreed to hold a Special
General Meeting on the 2nd December, with a postal vote being held over
the preceeding month.
As the vote is unprecedented the RGS-IBG have drawn up a set of principles
for the SGM which they wish to agree with the signatories of the letter.
These are listed below, and I personally consider them to form a fair and
open procedure.
*** The principles need to be ratified by the RGS-IBG Council
on 7th October, so could I have any comments by 4th October at the latest.***
Also, as you will see, we need provide a 500 word statement on our
position. Could someone volunteer to write a draft which I suggest could
then be posted on the newsgroup for comment and amendment? Also, we are
invited to nominate four representatives to answer questions at the SGM on
2 December - again volunteers or suggestions are required.
Mike Woods.
[log in to unmask]
*** From 30 Sept: [log in to unmask]
PRINCIPLES FOR THE SGM
1. The Society (including the Council and the group of Fellows calling for
the SGM) to behave in as open and fair as manner as possible.
2. To seek to maximise the vote from the Fellowship to give as wide a
democratic representation of views as possible. This will be done by
making Fellows and Associates aware that the vote is taking place by:
* Announcment in October Newsletter
* Bland and carefully worded encouragement to use their vote through
approved (by the Director) announcements before some lectures during November
* Prepaid envelopes in the voting pack
3. To make information on the April Forum available to Fellows who were
unable to attend as follows:
* Tapes of the Open Forum meeting - in the library to be borrowed
* Report of the Open Forum meeting in the November issue of the
Geographical Journal
4. To ensure equal and fair representation of the cases of both the
Council and those calling for the SGM in the voting pack. We propose a 500
word statement is included from each group within the voting pack. The
other elements of the pack will be a covering letter encouraging Fellows
to use their vote and the prepaid envelope. We also suggest that the draft
documents for each case are exchanged in early October so as to maintain
the civilised principle of openness among Fellows of the one Society.
5. To ensure that fairness is seen to be operating in the administration
of the vote - the Electoral Reform Society to manage the count and receive
voting papers.
6. To organise the SGM with equality as the guiding principle. The
President will Chair the meeting as is normally the case with any SGM. We
will take the two supporting statements as read and will simply take
questions from the Fellows present, if they have any. There seems to be
little point in re-running the Open Forum debates. The Council would like
to nominate four Officers to be present on the podium to answer any
questions from Fellows regarding its position. The group requesting the
SGM will also be entitled to put forward four nominated representatives.
LOGISTICS/TIMING
October 1st - Piece in Newsletter alerting Fellows to the SGM and asking
that they use their vote. Notification that copies of the tapes may be
borrowed from the library.
October 7th - Full Council meeting at which the protocol will receive
final approval and at which a first draft of the Council's position paper
may be considered. After the Council meeting the drafts of both groups to
be exchanged so as to be seen to be as fair and open as possible.
October 20th - Final (camera-ready) documents for the voting pack to be
received/assembled at the Society and sent for printing and mailing.
Late October - Mailing undertaken
2nd Decemeber - Special General Meeting in the lecture theatre in the
Society's premises and a postal ballot. Postal ballot papers (with the
proxy vote option which is in the bye-laws and must therefore be followed)
to be returned by 3 days before the SGM to the Electoral Reform Society.
Results to be announced at the meeting.
Mid December - All Fellows notified of the result in the Society's general
newsletter.
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