I already proposed a "house of representatives" earlier to represent the
stakeholders and take care of the diversity issue, appointing the BoT etc.
Regards,
Thyge
2016-02-25 10:14 GMT+01:00 Jens Best <best.jens(a)gmail.com>om>:
just very short input here on the list:
A community council or membership structure representing the diversity and
plurality of the movement in a democratic way would be great idea, in fact
it is a much needed idea to be realized.
BUT:
This structure would need to be a true counter-balance to WMF/BoT.
Therefore true power (decision-making, money etc.) would need to be
transfered in appropiate ways into the responsibility of this new
structure. If all the final decisionmaking would stay with the BoT and the
management of WMF any such more representative council would only be a
toothless thing.
Best,
Jens
2016-02-25 5:21 GMT+01:00 James Alexander <jamesofur(a)gmail.com>om>:
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 5:23 PM, Denny Vrandecic
<
dvrandecic(a)wikimedia.org
wrote:
I disagree very much with Dariusz on this topic
(as he knows).
I must say I also disagree with you ;).
That is not to say that a community council or membership structure of
some
sort might not be good (I think there are some
logistical challenges that
are so difficult that it may not be possible... I'd rather us try to deal
with things like global dispute resolution first before we try to think
about some governance council... but the idea is certainly intriguing)
but
I think the idea that that body is 100%
independent or that the board
itself should not/is not speaking for the movement too is missing some of
the point and being far too simplistic for the good of the org and the
movement. I know you don't really mean it this way but it can easily come
across as a bit of "don't look at me if this was bad for the movement I
had
to ignore that".
I think that
a body that is able to speak for the movement as a whole would be
extremely
beneficial in order to relieve the current Board
of Trustees of the
Wikimedia Foundation from that role. It simply cannot - and indeed,
legally
must not - fulfill this role.
> To make a few things about the Board of Trustees clear - things that
will
be true
now matter how much you reorganize it:
- the Board members have duties of care and loyalty to the Foundation -
not
> to the movement. If there is a decision to be made where there is a
> conflict between the Movement or one of the Communities with the
> Foundation, the Board members have to decide in favor of the
Foundation.
They are
not only trained to so, they have actually pledged to do so.
- the Board members have fiduciary responsibilities. No, we cannot just
talk about what we are doing. As said, the loyalty of a Board member is
towards the organization, not the movement.
Whether the board wants it or not it DOES end up serving a leadership
role
in the Movement and arguably the top leadership
role. Yes it has a
fiduciary responsibility to the org but part of that is it also has a
"duty
of obedience". That duty of obedience
includes, ensuring the board
members
"have a responsibility to be faithful to the
organization’s stated
mission
and not to act or use its resources in
incompatible ways or purposes" in
addition to ensuring the org follows applicable laws. [1] So if we don't
think that the Foundation has to do what's best for the movement as well
then perhaps we should be reevaluating the wording of that mission.
I would say a non-profit has an obligation to wind itself down if its
mission (and remaining money) is better served elsewhere (as an extreme
example, but one I've certainly seen) or to transfer the copyrights out
of
country if that was the right move etc. A duty to
the organization does
not
meant that you do not have a duty to the movement
and so I think it is
wrong to try and side step that under the umbrella of fiduciary
responsibility which is much more then just money and personnel.
[Could say a lot more but probably not useful here and now :) I feel
like I
either need to do that over drinks or have a bit
more distance between
the
current crisis & time to write it all down in
a more coherent fashion ]
[1]
http://www.trusteemag.com/display/TRU-news-article.dhtml?dcrPath=/templated…
(among many other sites)
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