Revised Procedure for Ordinary Scientific Council Meetings

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Callipygian
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Revised Procedure for Ordinary Scientific Council Meetings

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Procedure for Ordinary Scientific Council Meetings v2.0 DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION

A. FREQUENCY, INITIATION & ANNOUNCEMENT 

1. This procedure applies to the conduct of the Scientific Council when sitting to perform its regular duties. Separate procedures will exist for extraordinary meetings convened to hear appeals or to conduct impeachment hearings. 

2. The Scientific Council will hold ordinary meetings once per month

3. Any member of the SC can call for an extraordinary meeting at two day's notice provided that the member provides written justification and a draft agenda. This notice and agenda must be posted on the Forums, and by e-mail to the other members of the SC. The Dean/Chair will identify a time for such meeting that will ensure the meeting is quorate.

4. Legislation, including new Acts, amendments to existing acts and amendments to the Constitution, passed by the RA can only form the basis of an agenda item for an SC meeting provided that it is 'flagged' by a member of the SC within 48 hours of the legislation being archived and published.

5. A member of the SC may flag legislation by posting a notice to the effect that an SC review is desired, with a brief justification, in the SC announcements forum and notifying the Dean/Chair of the SC, who will in turn notify the LRA and other members of the SC. 

6. The Dean/Chair will announce all meetings of the SC in the SC announcements forum, at least 24 hours before the meeting time. Extraordinary meetings to hear appeals or to address impeachment will be announced at least 48 hours before the meeting time.

B. THE AGENDA 

1. The meeting announcement must contain the preliminary agenda for the meeting.

2. Any member may suggest items to be added to the agenda in the time between the initial announcement and the actual meeting. 

3. Proposed additions will be published by the Dean/Chair in an amended agenda.

4. The order of items on the agenda will be decided by the Dean/Chair in a manner that will ensure that agenda items that are time-sensitive will be addressed before administrative matters. 

5. Ordinary meetings of the SC should take no longer than 2 hours and each agenda item will be given a time allotment based on this. If the Dean/Chair expects an ordinary meeting to take longer, he or she will make note of this fact on the agenda.

6. Each item on the preliminary agenda must be classified by the Dean according to the taxonomy set forth in D.1  Members of the SC may request a change to the classification of an item prior to the start of a meeting. Where the Dean/Chair disagrees with the change in classification, said change will be put to a vote of the members of the SC in attendance before the agenda is adopted for the meeting.

C. QUORUM & TIME MANAGEMENT 

1. The SC has a quorum on a duly announced meeting when three members are present. One of the three members must be the Dean/Chair or Dean/Chair pro tempore.

2. Members unable to attend the meeting may forward one or more notecards giving their opinion regarding items on the agenda that allow discussion. No vote will be counted for members not in attendance, but the opinion given will be entered into the journal of the meeting. 

2. As the first action of the meeting the Dean will ask the SC to approve the agenda as published 

3. Changes may be made to the time allotted an item if a majority of members present agree. 

4. Members may suggest changes to the order of the agenda, which will be adopted if a majority of those present agree. 

5. Items requiring a vote may not be added to the agenda at the meeting.  Administrative or discussion matters may be added at the discretion of the Dean/Chair, where time allows.

6. Items may be struck from the agenda if a majority of members present decide that the time that can be allocated to it is insufficient for a satisfactory treatment of it. 

7. Any items struck from the agenda of a meeting must be carried over to the agenda of the next ordinary meeting. 

D. AGENDA ITEMS, SPEAKING AND VOTING 

1. An item on the agenda may be classified as one of the following types: 
- No discussion (ND) 
- Structured discussion (SD) 
- Unstructured discussion (UD) 
-Administrative (ADMIN)

2. Each item is introduced by the Dean or another SC member chosen by the Dean, who summarizes what the item is about and outlines the alternative solutions or decisions that may be taken by the SC in regard to the item. If a member has submitted their opinions by notecard the Dean will enter these opinions into the record at this time.

3. For a "no discussion" item members of the SC will only be asked for their preference in relation to the alternatives outlined and a brief justification for preferring this alternative. Members will be asked in an order chosen by the Dean and all statements and votes will be recorded into the journal of the meeting. 

4. For a "structured discussion" item the Dean/Chair will call on each member to indicate their preference and explain their rationale for that choice. When all members present have been heard the Dean/Chair shall ask each member, in the same order that they spoke, if they wish to speak to amend their original position, rebut the statements of other SC members or provide additional commentary to support their preference, before calling for a vote. The Dean/Chair will choose the order of debate. 

5. For an "unstructured discussion" the Dean/Chair will allot a period of time after D.2, during which any member of the SC may speak freely in relation to the agenda item under discussion. Cross-talk is allowed and any member may speak at any time.  At the end of the allotted time the Dean/Chair will summarize the points made by the members before calling for a vote.

6. For an "administrative" item the Dean/Chair , or a member designated by him or her, will provide any information necessary to the discussion. The Dean/Chair will invite members to comment using either the structured or unstructured discussion model. Where necessary the Dean/Chair will call for a vote after members have been heard.

7. Members will give a brief rationale for all votes, including abstentions.

8. The Dean/Chair, at his or her discretion, may invite citizens in attendance to ask questions or speak to an agenda item. Such participation will occur after all members of the SC have been heard, except in circumstances where information is required from an attending citizen to ensure informed discussion.

E. THE JOURNAL AND ARCHIVIST

1. A journal will be kept for each meeting of the SC. 

2. The journal will record the agenda as adopted at the start of the meeting and will summarize the motions and the outcomes of any item voted on, followed by a full transcript of the meeting.

3. It is the responsibility of the Dean/Chair that this journal is produced and will do so by appointing a volunteer member of the SC as Archivist. Where no member of the SC is willing to perform this task, a civil servant may be appointed to perform as SC archivist

4. The Archivist will ensure that the journal is archived on the Web portal, and published on the SC announcements forum. 

F. SANCTIONS 

1. If a citizen believes that this Code of Procedure is not being followed they may make a complaint to the Dean/Chair by notecard.  The Dean/Chair will notify the members of the SC of this complaint and will add it as an agenda item at the next meeting.

2. Where the complaint is brought forward by a member of the SC, it shall be considered a point of order and moved for immediate consideration at the earliest possible duly-notified meeting of the SC, taking priority over any pre-existing agenda. 

3. Failure to follow this Code of Procedure and the extent of any possible sanction must be decided by a majority of the SC, in accordance with the provisions in the Constitution for this event. 

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd
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