Using social media to disparage the organization and it's officers

[Guest NTNG]

We have a 120 member volunteer EMS unit. Several of our members, including a past VP/President are using a social media web page to disparage the organization, including mentioning the current adminstration by name. Does RONR address members behavior putting the organization in a bad light?

[jstackpo]

Yeah... but not via "Social Media" in the current meanings of the term.

See (or at least begin with) p. 649. You have a long row to hoe. Free speech is a tough thing to find fault with.

[Guest Edgar]

See (or at least begin with) p. 649. You have a long row to hoe. Free speech is a tough thing to find fault with.

You might want to begin with p.643, paying particular attention to where it says, "an organization . . . has the ultimate right . . . to require that its members refrain from conduct injurious to the association or its purposes. No one should be allowed to remain a member if his retention will do this kind of harm."

[Guest Jason]

You might want to begin with p.643, paying particular attention to where it says, "an organization . . . has the ultimate right . . . to require that its members refrain from conduct injurious to the association or its purposes. No one should be allowed to remain a member if his retention will do this kind of harm."

Does p.643 authorize an organization to impose sanctions, up to and including expulsion, if those sanctions are not specifically provided for in the bylaws?

In other words, if a society's By Laws provide only for "expulsion by majority vote of membership at a general meeting"....can the society or its governing body impose probation or temporary suspension of membership....or any other sanction that's not in the By Laws?

Thank you for your answers...

[Guest Edgar]

In other words, if a society's By Laws provide only for "expulsion by majority vote of membership at a general meeting"....can the society or its governing body impose probation or temporary suspension of membership....or any other sanction that's not in the By Laws?

Well, one of RONR's "principles of interpretation" says that if certain items of a class are specified, all other items in that class are thereby prohibited (or words to that effect), so I suppose it could be argued that, in the class of disciplinary sanctions, if only expulsion is specified, all other sanctions are prohibited. But I'm not entirely comfortable with the application of that principle in this instance. And yet there it is. So stay tuned for other opinions.

By the way, and for future reference, this forum works best if you post a new question as a new topic, even if you find an existing topic that's similar (this assumes you're not the original poster).