James,
We’ve never spoken. I don’t know you personally, but I do know your
reputation throughout the movement. It is stellar. You are reported to be a
man of coherent and consistent principles.
I am writing to thank you for your years of service and your amazing
contributions to the projects thus far. I was so impressed with the work
that you've done on "ebola content" and translating it for the languages in
the geographies most impacted.
I don’t know what happened, but this has to be difficult for you. My
thoughts are with you.
Warmly,
/a
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 3:48 PM, Kevin Gorman <kgorman(a)gmail.com> wrote:
"For cause" can mean a lot of things -
everything from getting drunk and
plowing in to a crowd to embezzling money, to simply holding consistently
different opinions than the rest of the board and continually voicing them.
We won't know much more until the board statement (although, again, I'm
surprised comms weren't pre-prepped,) but this is a really surprising
situation, and I really hope the board makes a clear statement that
justifies the removal beyond a shadow of a doubt.
On Wednesday, December 30, 2015, Robert Rohde <rarohde(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Jimbo, on his talk page, says this was a removal
"for cause", and that he
expects the whole Board will provide a further statement.
-Robert Rohde
On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 12:03 AM, Kevin Gorman <kgorman(a)gmail.com
<javascript:;>> wrote:
> 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(a)gmail.com
<javascript:;>> wrote:
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 3:25 PM, olatunde isaac
<
reachout2isaac(a)gmail.com <javascript:;>>
> 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.
> > _______________________________________________
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