Question on Decorum

[Guest Nick Hinojosa]

I am the advisor for a college fraternity.  The Chapter President, on my recommendation, banned the use of cell phones during meetings.  I had told the chapter that the Chairman had authority over decorum in meetings, and had the right to restrict the use of cell phone unless someone wished to overturn his decision.

 

It was brought to my attention today that Robert's Rules of Order only explicitly grants the chairman the power to enforce decorum during meetings.  I looked around and saw that most parliamentary bodies actually have legislation (standing rules or rules of order) that dictates what decorum will be for meetings.

 

The fraternity currently has a dress code, but no standing rules or rules of order.  Does anyone know what the standard protocol is for decorum when the organization has no written legislation on decorum?  

 

Does the chairman usually decide decorum until a policy is written?  Is it decided by custom/tradition?  Is it something else entirely?

[George Mervosh]

I am the advisor for a college fraternity.  The Chapter President, on my recommendation, banned the use of cell phones during meetings.  I had told the chapter that the Chairman had authority over decorum in meetings, and had the right to restrict the use of cell phone unless someone wished to overturn his decision.

 

It was brought to my attention today that Robert's Rules of Order only explicitly grants the chairman the power to enforce decorum during meetings.  I looked around and saw that most parliamentary bodies actually have legislation (standing rules or rules of order) that dictates what decorum will be for meetings.

 

The fraternity currently has a dress code, but no standing rules or rules of order.  Does anyone know what the standard protocol is for decorum when the organization has no written legislation on decorum?  

 

Does the chairman usually decide decorum until a policy is written?  Is it decided by custom/tradition?  Is it something else entirely?

 

A standing rule, adopted by majority vote, is used for this type of situation.  RONR (11th ed.), p. 18  If a case of cell phone useage was disrupting the proceedings, the chair could have made a ruling stating as much, subject to appeal. 

[Josh Martin]

Does anyone know what the standard protocol is for decorum when the organization has no written legislation on decorum?  

 

RONR has rules on decorum in RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 391-394, but these rules do not include any rules on cell phone use specifically. The assembly is free to adopt a rule on the subject if it wishes.

 

Does the chairman usually decide decorum until a policy is written? Is it decided by custom/tradition? 

 

The basic rules of decorum are covered in RONR. Custom could be used for other subjects until formal rules are adopted by the assembly. The chair can't decide it on his own.

[Guest Guest]

Thanks for the input you guys.  I feel pretty lousy about giving the bad advice - I need to brush up on my RR before I give out any more.

 

If any of you have any tips for brushing up I would love to hear it.

[Guest Edgar]

If any of you have any tips for brushing up I would love to hear it.

http://www.robertsrules.com/inbrief.html

[Guest Nancy N.]

Some of this depends.  The key matter is, decorum is observed when the meeting is not disturbed.  When Robert (probably a major or colonel at the time, you can look it up) first wrote the book, nobody minded people's using cell phones in meetings.  We're much prissier here in the 20th Century.

 

(Oho, I see illegible-to-the-relevant-cagetories.  Almost drives a woman to join up.)

[Gary Novosielski]

 

The fraternity currently has a dress code, but no standing rules or rules of order.  Does anyone know what the standard protocol is for decorum when the organization has no written legislation on decorum?  

 

Does the chairman usually decide decorum until a policy is written?  Is it decided by custom/tradition?  Is it something else entirely?

 

The assembly should probably adopt a rule on cell phone use, but the chairman does have some latitude here, even without one.

 

If the "use" of the cell phone involved talking into it, that's certainly something the chair could enforce, since conversation that interferes with business is already against the rules.

If the phone rang, interrupting the proceedings, that's another thing the chair could act against, on his own initiative.

 

But if someone is sitting there silently texting, or checking their e-mail, that might be a case where a rule would be required to quash the practice.

[Gary c Tesser]

I probably agree with Gary Novosielski, but nobody listens to me anyway.

[Sean Hunt]

I probably agree with Gary Novosielski, but nobody listens to me anyway.

 

I've never heard you speak!

[George Mervosh]

I've never heard you speak!

 

It gets more interesting the more you fill him with beer and pizza, or tamales if you're in San Antonio. :-)