[LUGSB] LUGSB constitution.

[Benjamin Kudria]

On Tuesday 01 April 2008 23:41:01 pm Ilya Sukhanov (dotCOMmie) wrote:
> Hello all.
>
> Please read this email and make any valuable comments you feel are
> appropriate. This is a time sensitive issue, so don't wait to make your
> voice heard.
>
> The USG government has deemed Article II (quoted below) of our
> constitution[1] as too technical. Our treasurer, Young, describes his
> interaction with a representative of the Special Services Council:
> 	The person I talked to (from the SSC office) noted that Article II -
> 	Purpose was too vague, and we should add more details, and explicitly
> 	explain terms hard to understand by non-technical people, such as
> 	"Open Source" and "Free Software."
>
> First of all I'd like to make it know that I think the fact the grievance
> made against our constitution is made at a particularly suspect timing.
> Just one week away from finalization of the USG budget, and thus the final
> approval date of our budget. Our constitution has been filed with USG for
> over a year and a half so they have had plenty of opportunities to voice
> any objections as to wording, purpose, or goal of our constitution.
>
> I disagree with the point of the hard to understand terminology. We are a
> special interests club, and as such, for the sake of brevity we do have to
> refer to the concepts which we embrace by their common names (within the
> field). The vast majority of our members come from computer backgrounds
> where the terms "Open Source" and "Free software" are well known and
> understood. Having to explain these terms in our constitution would make it
> unnecessarily verbose and cumbersome.
>
> As for the point of a vague purpose, I think that is something that should
> be addressed. Perhaps add something about what we do to promote Linux, Open
> Source and Free Software.
>
> Current Article II:
> The primary purpose of LUGSB is to promote the use of Linux, Open Source,
> and Free (as in freedom) Software among the members of the Stony Brook
> community. A second purpose is to provide an environment open to all who
> wish to learn how to use, and understand free software.
>
> Proposed Article II:
> The primary purpose of LUGSB is to raise awareness of the Linux operating
> system, Open Source technologies, and Free (as in Freedom) Software by
> conducting regular colloquia to members of the Stony Brook community. A
> second purpose is to provide an open and supportive environment to all who
> wish to understand, and learn how to use Free Software.
>
> I'm not sure if this is enough to make SSC/USG happy. Again, please send
> your comments.

Sounds good to me!

The timing is unfortunate, but I don't think we'll be able to change their 
minds.  Updating Article II, at least slighty, as above, will give us a 
better position: "you had complaints, we fixed them", as opposed to "you had 
complaints, but you were wrong, and we are right", so we did nothing".

Ben Kudria
-- 
http://ben.kudria.net | Jabber: ben at kudria.net