[committee] [wheel] UCC policies and regulations

[gozzarda at ucc.asn.au]

Hi Frames, 

Thanks for your response. Please see my comments below. I hope this
clarifies the situation. Please contact me or Committee if you have any
further questions. 

Cheers,
Gozz 

On 2018-05-28 13:08, Frames wrote: 

> On 28/05/2018 12:20 PM, gozzarda at ucc.asn.au wrote:
> 
>> Firstly, UCC Committee does not have the power to create policies that last beyond their term.
> 
> Citation please.
> I've heard that claim thrown around a few times. I'm intensely dubious of it.
> I assume SOC or the guild has passed a rule claiming such?
> If so I'ld like to see it, and have it linked in the collection of rules on the infobase page.
> (I used to maintain that list fairly closely, but a lot broke with the university and guild redid there websites)

Section 25.2 of our constitution specifies "Creation, modification, or
removal of policy shall require written notice and shall only be passed
by special resolution at a General Meeting." It seems pretty clear that
this means Committee does not have this power, as the Committee does not
have the powers of a General Meeting. The Committee only has powers
granted by the constitution, so a regulation binding the current
Committee to their own rules would be fine, but they would not be
capable of binding future Committees. 

> It would be worth checking if such a rule from Guild actually trivially can be applied to us.
> Unlike say Unigames, we do not have a clause saying that "the rules of the guild shall supersede our own".
> Further we do not even have an objective to remain affiliated (unlike most guild clubs),
> though of course we want to do so.
> So if it is a SOC or Guild rule saying that your rules automatically expire,
> we would likely have to actually pass a rule to bring it into effect.
> And once we brought it into effect, each committee would have to pass it again since it would itself expire.
> (unless we made a policy or a constitution change) .

I am not sure whether such a rule exists. I remember seeing one at some
point, but can't find it now. Even so I would say section 25.2 is clear
enough. 

> In general (without such rule from outside sources),
> I would assert that if the committee has the ability to make rules at all, (lets say rules rather than Policy since that is section 25)
> that there is no reason a rule the committee made would terminate with them.
> Committee should be arguing that they have the ability make day-to-day rules under that Powers of the Club:
> _"13. The Club may do all things necessary or convenient for carrying out its objects and purposes"_

This is why the Committee is able to create regulations that are
agreements they bind themselves to. The ability to bind future
Committees would be an act of policy, which the Committee does not have
the power to do. 

> In particular for Wheel and Door:
> "13.6 appoint agents to transact any business of the Club on its behalf"
> Which of-course inherently has the club creating as rule that defined what that business is,
> and how it is to be transacted.
> I believe that rule is covered by https://www.ucc.asn.au/infobase/policies/groupguidelines.pdf [1]
> A relevant part of that document would be:
> "Wheel members will inform users of computing matters which may affect them - such as conditions of acceptable use"
> Which to me seem to be inline with telling someone that their account would be locked if they have reinstalled the OS.

To be clear: Felix's original email was not about telling someone their
account would be locked. That would be absolutely fine with Committee,
even though I really want the club's regulations to be much clearer. The
reason for the original email was a matter of inter-member conduct. 

> As a complete aside, I have no problem with the committee changing the rules so that 
> the disciplining people, is outside the power of door or wheel.
> Seems reasonable to me; a lot of the account locking rules are kinda outdated.
> They seem to be from a time (before my time) when we didn't door people as much as just locked their accounts. (First recorded dooring was in 2008, though I know it wasn't the first one ever, since the phrase dooring was already a verb)

Committee will be looking into clarifying our policies and handover
system in an effort to make this sort of policy confusion much easier to
sort out in future. 

> But as a matter of procedure, the committee does actually have to change the rules to change the rules.
> Or at very least update the documents to say that is is so.
> And they need to do so before issuing warnings to people for acting inline with the rules as published.
> (Currently as worded, it is unclear as to if the warning was for overtly aggressive, for being wrong, or for acting outside the rules.
> The first is fine, the second is a problematic demand for perfection, and the third is out of order.)

I agree the original warning was unclear. I have sent an email to
clarify this matter. Please be assured that Committee does not intend to
reprimand anyone for a mistake of communication or following what seem
to be active policies. As I say above, however, I would like to see the
club regulations clearer and better maintained, so there may be some
changes in the future. 

> [*OX]
> Wheel Member 
> 
> On 28/05/2018 12:20 PM, gozzarda at ucc.asn.au wrote: 
> 
>> Hi wheel, 
>> 
>> Following the recent emails that have gone out to wheel@, I think it is necessary to clarify current UCC policies that affect wheel members. 
>> 
>> Firstly, UCC Committee does not have the power to create policies that last beyond their term. The only way such a policy can be created is by two-thirds majority vote of a General Meeting and all such policies must be appended to the constitution. The Account Locking Guidelines on the UCC site were last updated in 2009, have not been passed by this year's Committee, and hence are not current policy. This is not made clear on the website, and that is something we intend to fix shortly. The annual reinstatement of club regulations has been an ongoing issue and one we are working to solve by fixing our Committee handover systems and protocols. We intend to write official regulations in the near future. 
>> 
>> As it stands now, wheel members are club members with sysadmin access. As systems administrators, we have the power to maintain the operation and security of the club's machines. This does not automatically give us the authority to discipline club members. If you encounter a matter that is not an immediate security threat that you feel requires disciplinary action, please contact Committee with all relevant information. 
>> 
>> Thanks for volunteering your time to help keep the club running and secure. Hopefully things will become more straightforward in the near future. If you have any questions or concerns please contact myself or the Committee. 
>> 
>> Kind Regards, 
>> Andrew "Gozz" Gozzard 
>> UCC President 2018 
>> Wheel Member
> 
> On 28/05/2018 12:20 PM, gozzarda at ucc.asn.au wrote: 
> 
>> Hi wheel, 
>> 
>> Following the recent emails that have gone out to wheel@, I think it is necessary to clarify current UCC policies that affect wheel members. 
>> 
>> Firstly, UCC Committee does not have the power to create policies that last beyond their term. The only way such a policy can be created is by two-thirds majority vote of a General Meeting and all such policies must be appended to the constitution. The Account Locking Guidelines on the UCC site were last updated in 2009, have not been passed by this year's Committee, and hence are not current policy. This is not made clear on the website, and that is something we intend to fix shortly. The annual reinstatement of club regulations has been an ongoing issue and one we are working to solve by fixing our Committee handover systems and protocols. We intend to write official regulations in the near future. 
>> 
>> As it stands now, wheel members are club members with sysadmin access. As systems administrators, we have the power to maintain the operation and security of the club's machines. This does not automatically give us the authority to discipline club members. If you encounter a matter that is not an immediate security threat that you feel requires disciplinary action, please contact Committee with all relevant information. 
>> 
>> Thanks for volunteering your time to help keep the club running and secure. Hopefully things will become more straightforward in the near future. If you have any questions or concerns please contact myself or the Committee. 
>> 
>> Kind Regards, 
>> Andrew "Gozz" Gozzard 
>> UCC President 2018 
>> Wheel Member
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List Archives: http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/pipermail/committee [2]

 

Links:
------
[1] https://www.ucc.asn.au/infobase/policies/groupguidelines.pdf
[2] http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/pipermail/committee
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