As far as I can tell, no one alleges Doc James did anything wrong - if there were serious allegations of wrongdoing then, for one thing, I have trouble seeing Dariusz as having supported James staying on the board. The board *can* remove members for any reason, but if you're removing one member elected - and generally quite trusted - from the board, and that removal is opposed by *another* community elected board member, there better be a damned good reason behind it - board *can* ignore the will of two of the three directly elected trustees, but doing so without a damn good reason is a significant error. To be honest, since the motion to remove James was clearly prepared in advance, I'm pretty surprising that board didn't ask WMF comms for help preparig to deal with the fall-out. I've been told by multiple sets of people that this doesn't involve allegations of wrongdoing against James - but if it does, that needs to be quickly communicated, as James holds multiple other positions of trust in the Wikimedia movement. And if doesn't involve allegations of wrongdoing by James... well to be honest, I have a hard time seeing a situation where the removal of James (a community elected trustee) which was opposed by Dariusz (another community elected trustee) is reasonably justifiable. Without more details about the situation, it really reads like a board out of touch with the community it is intended to serve.
Unless an extraordinarily good reason is produced (like James regularly shouting things Cluebot would censor in the middle of meetings,) I would hope that the board would consider reinstating James... and spending the time to learn how to work with with a respected and accomplished Wikipedian. Doc James is one of the most active contributors to Wikiproject Medicine, is a long time former president of Wikimedia Canada and the Wiki Project Med Foundation, and has done a ton of other wiki-stuff. It's hard to see him as a detriment to the WMF board, and it's concerning that the first time the WMF board has ever felt the need to remove a member it was a member as awesome a human being and Wikimedian as James.
Best, KG -sent from mobile.
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 3:25 PM, olatunde isaac reachout2isaac@gmail.com wrote:
I'm very disappointed to know that the board meeting was still ongoing as at the time James revealed that he was ejected from the board. It is a silly idea! Perhaps he felt the community can stop the meeting or
override
the decision of the board of trustee. The WMF BoT is not a parliament
where
the house do not have the veto power to remove an elected member. Section 7 (remover) of the WMF's bylaws clearly stipulated that “Any Trustee may be removed, with or without cause, by a majority vote of the Trustees then in office in accordance with the procedures set forth
in
Section 617.0808(1), or other relevant provisions of the Act”. Based on this bylaw, James remover is justified! I understand that majority of the community members who elected James are likely not to be aware of this provisions but James is aware of it and
will
probably have an answer to (1) the reason for his remover (2) why his remover was supported by eight members and (3) why the third community-elected trustee, Denny Vrandečić, lost confidence supported his removal. The fact that James never stated the reasons why he was ejected from the board as at the time he disclosed his remover is worrisome. James, I'm sorry if I'm too factual here.
Best,
Olatunde Isaac. Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
He didn't use his phone to mail to the list while sitting in a meeting... He was dismissed from the board and then ejected from the board meeting. After he left the room as ordered, he posted the notification. We don't know all the precise circumstances, but I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't have done the same in his place. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe