Archive talk:Constitution/Proposed

The membership fees section needs to be updated. Scott Nelson 14:01, 12 March 2008 (PDT)

Done, though now it is a little weird, since the alumni still have the option to pay $45, not the new $52.50 for associate. Should have updated that last time I guess. Need to add other members in there too. Scott Webster 14:30, 13 March 2008 (PDT)

Simplification of membership classes

Last year we introduced "other" members, making membership open to non-students at the discretion of the membership chair. I like the idea of simplifying things by changing this to an eligibility clause under "associate" members, however this leads to a problem: at the moment, "other" members need to pay for 4 years before being eligible for alumni status. If "others" are rolled in with associates, then they become eligible for alumni membership after one year. I'm thinking about ways to fix this, but wanted to post the concern, so it's on record and will hopefully be addressed before any new proposals are put to the membership. --Matthew 16:04, 5 January 2009 (PST)

See below. Scott Webster 16:27, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Alumni eligibility

1.3. Alumni Members

1.3.1. Eligibility

1.3.1.1. Must have been members of the VOC previously either as Student Members or as Associate Members or must have been an Other Member for at least four years.

1.3.1.2. Must not be eligible for Student or Associate Membership. *** this needs to be fixed, problematic ***

Why is this problematic? --Matthew 16:10, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Because if anyone can be an associate member, then everyone is eligible for that class and therefore ineligible for alumni membership. Actually, the "fix" tag is supposed to apply to 1.3.1.1 as well, since it still references "other" members, which should no longer exist, and the 4 year thing you mentioned above, which I have also thought about and have not yet solved. We could have some long winded clause about how you have to have been a member for 4 years if you weren't a spouse or staff faculty, but it seems that it would be confusing and lame. Scott Webster 16:27, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Maybe if we want different criteria to apply to other members and associate members, it would be easier to keep it as fully separate membership categories, although that defeats the purpose of trying to simplify things --Matthew 17:19, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Perhaps make alumni membership only available to former student members who no longer meet the eligibility for student membership. I don't think this would exclude any existing alumni members who wish to remain as Alumni members. Alumni members could still "upgrade" to associate members by paying the membership fee. Scott Nelson 18:19, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Possibly, though this is "lame" for certain associate members. It's not so much that I think they have some sort of god given right to alumni status, but consider the following scenario: Bob is a UBC student and joins the VOC. Alice, his wife is working hard to support his studies, but also likes the outdoors so joins the VOC as an associate member. Then Bob graduates. Bob and Alice move to Onterrible because of the greater employment opportunities. Bob is now an alumni member and can check the message board and post inane comments. Alice would also like to post inane comments but since she wasn't a student member she can't be an alumni, and she doesn't want to keep paying $52.50 per year just for inane comment posting access. So she just doesn't renew, and the VOC is denied the pleasure of reading her hilarious commentary.

I guess what I'm really saying is that it is nice for alumni who aren't really active in the club to be able to stay in touch through the message board, member list, and VOCene if they want. They don't really "cost" us anything, and that is why we have free alumni membership. Scott Webster 10:43, 6 January 2009 (PST)

This description is actually not so far from my situation, as Elissa is about to graduate, although I'll probably continue paying the fee anyway to support the club, it would make sense - the way I see it - for those who have supported the club as associate members to be eligible for alumni status. I do think there needs to be a minimum number of years "other" members join for before getting alumni status (the 4 years a typical student would be at UBC seems more than reasonable), I'm not sure if 4 years for associate members is good though, as many won't meet that requirement, and like you say, it doesn't really cost the VOC to enable these people to keep in touch. If they want to borrow gear or something then they have to pay the membership fee anyway. --Matthew 15:29, 6 January 2009 (PST)