[Foundation-l] Call for nominations: chapter-appointed seats on the WMF Board of Trustees

[Nathan]

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Béria Lima <berialima at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> *Is there some threshold for participation beneath which the current Board
> > might refuse to certify the results? *
>



> I do really LOVE when you people ask questions that has already been
> answered by a document, but let's quote again (again from
>
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Bylaws_amendments_and_board_structure
> ):
>
>
> * Chapter-selected members must meet the requirements of applicable state
> or federal law for Board membership. In the event that a candidate is
> selected who does not meet the requirements of Subsection (A) or other
> requirements of these Bylaws, or of applicable state or federal law, the
> Board will (i) not approve the selected candidate, (ii) declare a vacancy
> on the Board, and (iii) request that the chapters select a new Trustee to
> fill the resulting vacancy, subject to this section and to Section 6
> below.*
>
>
>
I appreciate your always helpful tone. In this case, I didn't ask what
would happen if someone not legally qualified to be a Board member was
selected by the chapters. I asked a different question, linked a prior one
- if not all chapters participate, or if the "discussion" is dominated by a
few chapters, or if by some measure the Board determines that the selection
forwarded by the moderators does not sufficiently represent the Chapters,
is there any thought to refusing to certify under these circumstances?



>
> > *Are we really sure that the chapters represent enough Wikimedians to
> > merit two seats on the Board selected in such an opaque manner?*
> >
>
> We are representing *Chapters* here, not the community (always good to
> remember) and yes, there is enough people in chapters to make that a
> representative election.
>

Board members, however they are selected, represent the Wikimedia
Foundation and the whole "community" or movement. My question is - if the
38 chapters represent only a small portion of the whole of Wikimedia, and
their selections are being made in such a way (and concerns ridiculed, by
the way, as the product of "process-lovers"), is it really appropriate for
Chapters to continue to have a role in filling Board seats? This isn't
really a process question, per se, so I understand if you (Beria) decline
to weigh in directly.