[Foundation-l] Board statement of responsibility

[Samuel Klein]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 7:57 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>
wrote:

> "Trustees agree that that, during their terms on the Board and for
> three years thereafter, they shall not, in any communications with the
> press or other media or any customer, client or supplier of the
> Foundation, or any of the Foundation's affiliates, or in discussions
> on community mailing lists, blogs, or other community forums,
> personally criticize, ridicule or make any statement that personally
> disparages or is personally derogatory of the Foundation or its
> affiliates or any of their respective directors, trustees, or senior
> officers."
>
> That explicitly bans all public criticism. Criticism is good,
> criticism is how things improve. Sometimes that criticism has to be
> public to be effective - for example, how can we make an informed vote
> for board members if we're not allowed to know that they've done
> various things wrong during their previous term in office (of course,
> I would expect anyone making such accusations to provide evidence to
> support them)?
>

Agreed.  Some of this depends on who is evaluating what is derogatory or
critical, or perhaps what constitutes "personal" criticism.  Nevertheless,
it seems difficult for board members who have a responsibility to
communicate actively and openly with the community, particularly about
controversial issues, to do so without running afoul of this paragraph.

It is also extraordinarily broad, in every way:  "...affiliates or any of
their respective directors, trustees, or senior officers...", "3 years
after"  being on the board, &c.  Can someone who thinks this statement is a
good idea point to an existing document used/signed by organizational boards
of directors that includes a similar anti-criticism clause?

SJ