Constitution

[Vector]

Hey guys, I drafted a proposal for a modified constitution. Mojo and I went over it and discussed it, and we're thinking what we've got is pretty good. I'm going to post what we've got so far and we're looking for feedback for what might be added or changed, or your general thoughts on the matter.

Since it's kinda long, I'm going to post the Articles in separate posts for comments, so please put your comments there. But I'm going to put the whole thing here so you don't have to jump around to the different threads to read the thing.

Here goes:

Article I. Name and Purpose

The philosophy and intent of The Society is the foundation of the system, of which The Constitution is only a part. However, I believe philosophy and opinions do not belong in The Constitution itself, because the constitution serves to describe the rules as they are. It does not exist to give life advice or philosophize, and doing so weakens it because it becomes a personal opinion. The structure and rules of the society are not a matter of opinion, they are a matter of fact.

Section 1. The name of this organization shall be The Dallas PUA Society, herein referred to as The Society.
Section 2. The purpose of The Society shall be to pursue the objectives and uphold the standards contained in The Principles of The Dallas PUA Society. The Principles are non-binding declarations of purpose and philosophy, but they shall be considered part of The Constitution for purposes of potential amendment.

Article II. Organization of The Society

The structure I have in mind, has Directors as decision makers and policy setters, while the Officers are executioners that take action and perform the functions. I have not made a requirement that the Officers also be Directors, because I can envision cases (e.g. instructors) where the flexibility may be a benefit. Officers are like employees in the sense that they need only to be able to carry out the function. They may not be good candidates for steering The Society in general.
The hierarchy has the Board of Directors at the top. The Chairman of the Board is one of the Directors but his role is an adminitrative one, not an authoritative one. The vote of the Chairman has no more weight than any other Director, but by pacing the meetings he may have more influence. Next come the President and Treasurer, who are peers. Below are other officers who all report to the President or to the Board of Directors.
The General Members are not "below" the Officers or Directors per se, since the Officers and Directors do not have the authority to make the General Members do anything (besides abide by the terms of service). The General Members should be considered "customers" whereas the Officers are "employees" (unpaid) and the Directors are vaguely like "shareholders".

Section 1. There shall be a Board of Directors, the purpose of which is to set policy and guide the direction of The Society.
Section 2. There shall be Officers of The Society, whose duty is to oversee the operations of The Society and carry out its laws. Officers answer directly or indirectly to the Board of Directors.
Section 3. Members of The Society who are not Officers or Directors shall be referred to as General Members. General Members do not have any direct influence on the operation of The Society.

Article III. Board of Directors

The "Inner Circle" is ambiguous in its purpose. It may be interpreted as a group of the most skilled or the most dedicated PUAs, or a select group of friends, or those who care about a smoothly functioning organization, or those who hold views consistent with The Principles. It is important to specify the function of the group, so that it does not evolve into something detrimental to the organization. In particular if the IC were to become a group of buddies who use the IC to share stories and FRs and pictures, etc. then a person who is part of the social circle but not helpful in guiding The Society may be inducted, just because he is a friend. Conversely, someone who can be an asset to The Society may not be considered if he is not part of the social circle.
In order to keep The Dallas PUA Society organized with regard to the Principles and Constitution, it is very important that the function of the Directors is clearly defined. The individual Directors may form friendly relationships and may become a circle of friends, but they must all recognize that this is NOT the reason for the Board of Directors.
Since the purpose of the Board of Directors is to guide The Dallas PUA Society in accordance with The Principles and Constitution, I believe the requirements for Directors should reflect their alignment with the Principles of The Society.

Section 1. A person eligible for Director may become a Director only by unanimous approval of existing voting Directors.
Section 2. There shall be voting and non-voting directors. To be eligible to be a non-voting Director, a candidate must meet the requirements for General Membership and must also be male, and must also accept principles consistent with those of The Society.
Section 3. To be eligible to be a voting Director, a candidate must meet the requirements of non-voting Director and must also have no "substantial" commercial interest in pick-up oriented businesses.
Section 4. All Directors, voting and non-voting, must disclose all their pick-up oriented commercial activities and interests. In the case of a voting Director, such activities shall be considered "not substantial" only by unanimous agreement of all other voting Directors. If a voting Director's commercial activities and interests are found to be "substantial", he automatically becomes a non-voting Director.

Article IV. Officers

Eligibility requirements for Officers is somewhat complex. In general I feel it should be more permissive than Directors, since their roles and powers are circumscribed, and they therefore need not be 100% aligned with the principles of the society. For example, an instructor may have commercial interests on the side, but as an instructor he has very little influence on the spirit and direction of The Society.
On the other hand, President and Treasurer (and perhaps other Officer positions) are very powerful and must follow the principles of The Society in carrying out their functions. For this reason, the President and Treasurer must either have the same requirements as Directors (must be aligned with The Principles) or another way to accomplish the same thing is for them to simply be Directors. I think the latter is preferable because Directors require unanimous approval.
But I don't want to require all Officers to be Directors, because I think there is value in flexibility.

Section 1. There shall be a Treasurer, whose duty is to account for all assets of The Society and to ensure that all uses of assets comply with applicable Laws.
Section 2. There shall be a Chairman of the Board, who is responsible for calling meetings of the Board of Directors and running the meetings.
Section 3. There shall be a President, who bears responsibility for performing or delegating all other operational functions of The Society.
Section 4. Additional Officer positions may be created by law, to manage other functions of The Society.
Section 5. Only voting Directors are eligible for the office of Treasurer, Chairman, and President. Eligibility for other Offices shall be specified by law.
Section 6. All Officers shall be chosen by majority a vote of Directors. The Board of Directors may call for a vote for any Officer at any time.
Section 7. A single person may act in multiple roles and hold multiple offices, except where prohibited by law.

Article V. General Members

The General Membership is designed to be very inclusive. Women are permitted. Younger (17 and older) persons are permitted. Non-local persons are permitted.
I would like for The Society to not place undue restrictions or burdens on the General Members. For instance, I would prefer if there were no membership fees. But I'm not sure how to constrain the requirements that can be put on General Members, without making them too specific.

Section 1. Any person 17 years of age or older who is interested in the art of pick-up is eligible for General Membership.
Section 2. (Limitation on member obligations?)

Article VI. Laws and Amendments
Section 1. Board of Directors shall meet regularly, on a schedule to be determined by law.
Section 2. The Board of Directors has the sole authority to enact laws and amend this Constitution.
Section 3. All votes cast by Directors, including those of Officers, shall carry equal weight.
Section 4. Laws shall be passed by simple majority (greater than 50%) of voting Directors.
Section 5. Amendments to The Constitution and shall be made by unanimous approval of all voting Directors.

Article VII. Allowable use of Assets

Disbursement of assets for events needs to be in a way that is "fair". For example a "party" for Directors, or for "certain members" would be an abuse of assets and would weaken good-will with our General Members. However, a clause that would require all events to be open to all General Members may be troublesome because there may be good reason to limit an event to only men, or to limit an event to only members 21 and up.

Section 1. Officers and Directors may not receive disbursements from the treasury.
Section 2. Any gains that result from operations of The Society must become assets of The Society and may not go to Officers or Directors.
Section 3. The Treasurer must make regular reports to the Board of Directors on the status of Society assets.
Section 4. Disbursement of assets must be for functions that General Members are eligible to benefit from.

Article VIII. Member Discipline
Section 1. (TBD: General Members, violating respective rules, spam, advertising, flaming, violating privacy, etc.)
Section 2. (TBD: Officers, failing to execute their functions)
Section 3. (TBD: Directors in a conflict-of-interest situation or loss of faith in their attitude toward The Principles)
Section 4. (TBD: Terms of Probation)
Section 5. (TBD: Terms of Suspension)