[45] in APO News
Standing Policy? (Feed the poor or heal the lame?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (darford@Athena.MIT.EDU)
Sun Jul 19 14:57:49 1992
From: darford@Athena.MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 92 14:54:44 -0400
To: apo-news@Athena.MIT.EDU
Could someone please post relevant existing bylaws/standing
policies? Are we making a real change to the book, or reviving a
lapsed policy?
I think that it is a good idea to advocate some uniform
standards on project sign-ups. Crystal's suggested levels have the
strong advantage of different first letters. If we do this, I would
suggest posting an explanation by the project sign-ups. A second phone
calling for headcount and reminder is also a good idea.
Do you think this is realistic, though? You all remember how
many phone callings happened last term. I advocate encouraging PC's
to do phone callings, however how does one intend to insist? And does
the SVP get stuck if a PC cannot be found? We should at least amend
Crystal's idea to allow delegation of phone calling. Generally
policies are best written "Foo should ensure that bar is done.", not
"Foo must do bar." for obvious reasons.
I intuitively dislike the financial part of the policy as it
stands because it would be messy to implement it fairly. Some specific
concerns are listed below.
Do we wish to penalize brothers when the problem is not
entirely their fault? For instance, PC's sometimes pressure brothers
who really need to stay home to promise to attend a project. People
get sick, or decide they are too tired to handle tools safely. If two
people accidently buy lunch for the same project, should everyone else
be charged double for their carelessness?
The brothers whose behavior is altered by chapter financial
policy generally are the poor, not those who are lame about
commitment. The longer I am a brother, the less certain I am that
all, or even a majority of brothers understand the economic diversity
of the chapter. I don't want some brother who is about to collapse
handling a chain saw because he or she has only budgeted for one
chapter weekend that term.
If someone misses a project because they get sick, or some
personal emergency happens, isn't it more important to encourage them
to come on another project than to recover a few bucks? While I
realize that the chapter cannot afford to be vastly wasteful, we are
generally suffering more from the lack of manpower than of funds.
Does Crystal's proposal address the root problem? If not, what will?
Merely switching from wasting the chapter's funds to wasting brothers'
funds is unacceptable. If we implement this policy, we must continue
to work much harder on reducing food waste. For example, some of the
fruit I bought for Conclave was apparently never served. PC's should
be encouraged to buy as many storable supplies as possible. For
example, dried and canned foods can be saved for a future chapter
weekend. Any PC who shops without checking the supply cabinet
deserves a few lashes with a wet noodle (preferably from supply, not a
fresh wet noodle). I don't think no-shows should be required to pay
for food which will be eaten by others in the future.
BTW, is there any local charity which might be able to use
some of our left over perishables? If not, I like Elizabeth's Harvard
Square sandwich distribution idea.
We need to consider the diversity of needs and personalities a
chapter standing policy must accommodate. A brother may think that it
would be administratively convenient if all brothers instinctively did
everything his way. Unfortunately, the only possible scheme in which
this would be the case would require said brother to provide all of
the chapter's manpower. Hence we have, and deal with, diversity.
YiLFS,
Darlene
