[MCFA Int] Re: How the MCFA is governed by the Adimistrative Board

[Norbert Glaser <Norbert.Glaser@DROPMEsophia.inria.fr>]

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Dear Meinhard,

I have read your message with great attention and I am writing to you 
as an individual member of the MCFA who is somehow surprised by your 
reaction, as we had achieved a compromise between the participants : 
set up a working group on the very discussed topics. 

As a member of the governing board I should react as well.

It is always a crucial question to set the statutes of an association.
They have to be pragmatic, draw the lines of the association and give
us a framework to accomplish our ambitious objectives. This is not an
easy job to find the correct formulations and to forsee all situations
(by the way this is the reason of the existance of "internal procedures"
who have the same legal validity as statutes). As a founding member of a
German Federation and another European Association (I could add that I've
drafted the statutes for a French federation), I've assisted in day-long 
discussions about statutes. We have always worked out a compromise which
was nevertheless critizised months later by some new members.

I think the compromise that we have achieved at the meeting on Friday
is a good one. I have seen the various proposals which address important 
issues of the statutes. My priority was that we abolished the distinction
between active and associate fellows : associate fellows will have the same
rights and obligations as the "active" ones. We have done that and I am very
happy with this decision. The other proposals concern the relationship between
the governing board and the national groups, as I have perceived. My feeling
from the discussion on Friday is that this point needs more time to be 
discussed. I think that our decision to create a working group on this topic
is a good compromise to allow everyone to discuss the benefits and drawbacks 
of his/her proposal and to achieve a common view if possible ... if there will
be two proposals at the end, ok that's only democratic.

We are focussing within the next six months very important issues which
are setting the future of our association. The Commission will vote in 
October on the funding to be assigned to the MCFA in 1999. The decision
will be based on our number of members, sponsorship, and the evolution
of each local group. This is a big issue for our survival !! We have to 
meet it. Frankly speaking, I do not want that the MCFA disappears; thus 
we had to set priorities. 

We have given the same rights/obligations to all fellows which was very
discussed. Let's now leave the work on "statutes/internal procedures" to 
the new working group AND LET'S FOCUS on the results that the Commission 
and all other members expect from us. I am convinced that the working group 
will come up with an excellent proposal which will make - hopefully - everyone
happy.

Regards, Norbert

P.S. A final and very general word : very tight statutes may not prevent
     any association from mismanagement but restrain the day-to-day work
     such that people get tired from contributing on a volonteer basis
     to a great project. We are a very young association who still needs 
     time and space to grow up. The decisive body within an association 
     is the general assembly who discharges the board of directors ...

     Internal procedures define the day-to-day work of an association and
     implement the statutes. Internal procedures are a legal document and
     can be consulted by everyone. There may be internal procedures about
     financial control, voting procedures, sponsorship, etc. etc.

     Take the AAAI as example that not everything needs to be specified
     in the bylaws (=statutes). They depend very on scientific subgroups, 
     a notion which is not even mentioned in the bylaws.
     http://www.aaai.org/Organization/bylaws.html

Not for personal publicity, but ONLY to underline the items cited above :

1. Representative of the Computer Science Association at the constitutional 
   committee for creating a Federation of Associations, University Erlangen-
   Nurenberg, 1989.
2. Founding member and vice-president of "l'association federative de
   Lorraine (AFLOR)", since 1996.
3. Founding and governing board member of Euroscience, since 1997.

+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- +
+ Dr.-ing. Norbert Glaser                   Ingenieur Expert            +
+ INRIA Sophia Antipolis - Projet ACACIA    Tel (+33) (0) 492 387 920   + 
+ 2004, route des Lucioles, BP 93           FAX (+33) (0) 492 387 783   +
+ F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex            http://www.loria.fr/~glaser +
+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- +
+ Levantense y gocen que la vida es corta. Renovemos la pasion pues la  + 
+ vida es muy corta. - G.E. 94                                          +
+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- +




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