MenTally - The Newsletter of Tallahassee Area Mensa
RVC Columns
By Mel Dahl, RVC10
rvc10@us.mensa.org
As this is being written, I am preparing to attend the AMC's quarterly meeting in Hurst, Texas the last weekend in September. We have a very full plate and I expect to have a lot to talk about in my next column. For now, though, it's time to start thinking about who will be the next RVC-10. We have national elections in the Spring of 2027 and I do not expect to be a candidate for re-election. We have some amazing local leaders in Region 10 and I can think of several who would make great RVCs. So, please consider running.
Ideally, I would like to spend the next several months getting my successor ready to hit the ground running. I'd like to take him/her with me to visit local groups, do some of the administrative stuff that I do, discuss in detail what is going on at the national level so that person will have no surprises when they attend their first AMC meeting, introduce them around to the people they'll be working with. In other words, I want them to be ready for national leadership from Day 1. And if ten people run, the more the merrier; there's no harm in having more than one person ready for the job.
But that requires planning ahead, so I would urge you to come forward now rather than later. If you are thinking about it but still undecided, reach out to me. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Mensa is, I believe, currently in a state of flux, and I mean that in a good way. This is a very exciting time to step into leadership. Be the person who does it.
By Mel Dahl, RVC10
rvc10@us.mensa.org
I'm getting back from my trip August 15 and will start visiting local groups again after that. One of the things I want to discuss with the membership is a bylaws proposal which I'm currently petitioning. I need to get 250 signatures by October 5 and I hope those of you who have not already signed will do so. The petition may be found here:
https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/election/referendum-petitions/?election=2&petition=5
My proposal would change the presumption from confidentiality to transparency with our hearings committees. Currently when someone is brought up on charges, most of the process is confidential. This proposal would require that when charges are sustained and a member is sanctioned, a report be made to the membership with enough detail that they know what the charges were, the factual basis for them, and the sanction imposed. This way, the members can have confidence in the process, and spreading false information will be more difficult.
The impetus for this proposal is the situation regarding 10 former board members who lost their seats following a hearing committee decision that they had violated the bylaws. Much false information was spread and Mensa was unable to respond because of our confidentiality rules. This proposal would guarantee that that never happens again.
Of course there are some things that need to remain confidential. If for example a complaint involves sexual harassment, those details needn't and shouldn't be made public. But we need to get enough accurate information out to ensure that people know what has happened and why.
So please sign my petition and support my proposal. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to me. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing many of you again soon.
By Mel Dahl, RVC10
rvc10@us.mensa.org
Following last year's kerfuffle, I wanted to talk about a couple of motions I'm bringing to the AMC to fix what I believe to be problems with our hearings process. As of now they are on the agenda for the July meeting but may be pushed off to September. One of them may require a bylaws amendment, so I may be gathering petition signatures later this month. Here they are.
I think one of the reasons the hearing involving the 10 went down as badly as it did was there is too much secrecy in our hearings proceedings. At the same time, there needs to be a balance so that if someone is falsely accused, their reputations aren't ruined and we don't get sued for defamation. So I'm trying to strike a balance between the two with two separate motions.
The first would provide that if a complaint is dismissed, the whole thing stays confidential. That way, anyone who is falsely accused won't be dragged through the mud. However, if a hearing committee finds misconduct, a report would be released to the membership giving basic details and the sanction imposed. That way someone who emphatically was not falsely accused will not be able to put a spin on it that Mensa can't respond to because of confidentiality. The presumption would be in favor of transparency and to the extent the hearing relied on confidential information the hearing committee would in good faith release as much detail as it could.
That is one prong. The second prong is to recognize that sometimes vindictive people bring complaints is bad faith. My second motion would authorize the hearings committee to impose sanctions on people who bring complaints in bad faith. Of course, just because a complaint ultimately is unsuccessful does not necessarily mean it was brought in bad faith, but sometimes complaints are.
As it stands now, bringing a bad faith complaint can result in the victim of a bad faith complaint bringing a new complaint against the original plaintiff, but the hearing committee lacks authorization to impose sanctions as part of the original complaint. I suspect it would not do so often, but I would hope that the possibility would deter genuinely frivolous complaints.
I hope to see many of you at the AG. I am leaving directly from the AG for a road trip all the way to Alaska, and returning to Florida by way of Newfoundland, so I won't be back in town until late August. If you need me, send me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
See our new proposed by-laws (PDF format).
See our current local by-laws (PDF format), and the
national minimum standards for bylaws (PDF format).
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