The Model Articles give the Directors the power to refuse membership or to revoke
membership where they consider
"it is in the best interests of the charity to refuse the application" or
"that his or her membership is terminated"
(Arts 2.3(a) and 4.4 of
http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/AoA&oldid…)
There are some safeguards in terms of giving the applicant/member a right to make
representations and some time limits.
In addition, the Articles give Directors the power to create a new class of member, and
the new class could have different voting rights. So theroretically the Directors could
by-pass the safeguards by simply creating a new class (say one which had 0.001 vote each)
and accepting an applicant into that class of membership.
My questions:
First, are we happy in principle that the directors should be able to refuse or revoke
membership rights. I could imagine it being used, say, for a persistent vandal or someone
who is tryign to undermine the chapter.
Second, are we happy that the directors should be able to create a new class of members.
The alternative, I guess, is to put this power in the hands of the membership.