Chair Responsible to Correct

[Guest Loren Stacy]

What, if anything, should the Chair say or do when a member makes a false or mistaken statement?

[jstackpo]

Nothing.  

 

The chair, being impartial in debate, can only hope that some other member will jump in with a correction.

 

But if this a small board meeting, the chair is free to jump in him/herself.

[Josh Martin]

What, if anything, should the Chair say or do when a member makes a false or mistaken statement?

 

I concur with Dr. Stackpole, and would add that whoever makes the correction, he should not refer to the statement as "false."

 

"If a member disagrees with a statement by another in regard to an event that both witnessed, he cannot state in debate that the other's statement 'is false.' But he might say, 'I believe there is strong evidence that the member is mistaken.'" (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 392)

[Shmuel Gerber]

I concur with Dr. Stackpole, and would add that whoever makes the correction, he should not refer to the statement as "false."

 

"If a member disagrees with a statement by another in regard to an event that both witnessed, he cannot state in debate that the other's statement 'is false.' But he might say, 'I believe there is strong evidence that the member is mistaken.'" (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 392)

 

I don't read that quote as a blanket rule that a member may not ever say that another member's statement is false. In reference to something that a member claims to have witnessed, saying that the statement is false is to practically call the member a liar. But if a member says that 2+2=5, it might not be the gentlest manner of debate to say that the statement is false, but clearly it is false, and that fact can be pointed out without calling the member's integrity into question.

(And please let's not have any debate about whether there is some mathematical system in which 2+2=5.)