Archive:2005-12-18

Yay Core team Meetings!

Agenda
Basically we're going to repeat the agenda from 2005-12-04 since none of it was really resolved last time due to low attendance. Hopefully this will be better attended since people are generally done with finals.

Minutes
Chatlog is also available on the discussion page.

Attendance: Gavin, Nelson, Andy Scudder, Erek, Karen Rustad, Sahal Ansari, Fred

New Board of Directors

 * Now features: Nelson, Gavin, Karen, and Elizabeth
 * Fred is being considered for a seat on the board as well

What this means

 * The Board of Directors is the new decision-making body, instead of the core team
 * A majority of its members must approve any course of action before it can be taken
 * This makes a smaller body that is accountable and makes binding decisions, and that can easily be consulted to communicate the intent behind their decisions
 * An even number of members of the board introduces the possibility of tied votes, but this is acceptable for now.
 * Fred may join the board if he is able to stay involved on the national level.

Things for the Board to Do

 * Write the policy documents (mission statement, etc.) that we need.
 * Formalize how new chapters are registered and recognized, including criteria for recognizing chapters.
 * Formalize the rules for choosing board members
 * Hold the first in-person board meeting January 4-7 at Harvard
 * Final drafts for crucial documents will be completed by the end of this meeting

Chapter Registration

 * We have a list of chapters from the registration form
 * ...but Joe is no longer working on the database, so we'll have to update the chapters list by hand now (or someone else will have to develop an automated method)
 * Volunteers for updating the list should e-mail: [mailto:freedom@freeculture.org]

Shipping Stuff

 * We need volunteers for this as well: [mailto:freedom@freeculture.org]
 * Someone needs to talk to the EFF and Public Knowledge to let them know what to ship where.
 * T-shirts still need to be re-ordered
 * Karen volunteered to work on this with Fred.
 * Then we need to talk to Downhill Battle to get access to their store so that we can add our t-shirts
 * We need someone with PHP experience to work on this
 * Fred volunteered to work on this, but not until after Christmas.

Responding to Chapter's Needs

 * Collecting chapter status
 * Could be a checklist or evaluation of the chapter's status, e.g. if it's a recognized organization on campus, how close it is to getting funding, etc.
 * Having each chapter write a paragraphs or two about how the chapter is doing or what their needs are and how the national organization can help them.
 * Summarize what chapters have done over the semester and send it out on the announce list
 * We have to stay in contact with the chapters to find out what they're doing
 * The news of what other chapters are doing can help inspire chapter activities