ISOC Governance

[Mike Roberts <mmr () darwin ptvy ca us>]

Several people have approached me recently on the subject of whether
Educom would consider changing its opposition to the proposal to
seat Advisory Council members on the Board of Trustees.


The short answer is no.


The longer answer is that this is an expedient scheme that does not
address the underlying issues, of which the most important is 
the alignment of the economic support of the Society with its
governance.


As you know from my notes of last fall, Educom believes that the 
growth of the Internet makes an individual membership organization'
not very useful.  At least useful in the sense of doing those things
that are essential for the long term health of the community and
that no other organization is equipped to accomplish.  Thus our
proposal to convert ISOC into a federated organziation, with 
voting membership vesting in the hands of organizational reps.


We would, however, consider a compromise alternative, in which
voting control was divided in proportion to the percentage of
economic support of ISOC provided by the individual members 
versus the chapters and organizational members.  For instance,
if organizational membership support was 80% of the budget, thjen
80 percent of the Board seats would go to organizations.


- M.