Cancellation of Meetings

[Guest Sam]

Some background: My Residence Hall Association is comprised of an Executive Board and a General Assembly.

 

The Issue: Members of the General Assembly (GA) received an email from the President today saying that the Executive Board had decided to cancel our GA meeting on this Thursday. We had already agreed on dates for all of our regular meetings and a schedule had been posted. This upcoming meeting was a regularly scheduled meeting. Our Bylaws do not give authority to anyone to cancel meetings.

 

Questions: Can the Executive Board make this decision for everyone else? Wouldn't we have to hold a meeting and then move to postpone if we wanted to do what the Executive Board wants? How should I proceed? 

[Gary Novosielski]

Answers:

• No, it can't.  The executive board cannot do anything that conflicts with decisions already made by the GA.  You don't say explicitly that it was the GA who set the schedule, but I'm assuming that's the case.  The executive board is subordinate to the GA.  Unless your bylaws grant unusual powers to the board, they have no more power to cancel meetings than I do.  And I don't.  But if your bylaws give the board the power to set the schedule, I'd have to revise my opinion.
• Yes, the GA would have to meet and either adjourn to another time (or place), or change the schedule of regular meetings, if the bylaws permit.
• I would proceed by holding the meeting as scheduled, since in spite of what the board may think, it has not been cancelled.  If the President and VIce President choose not to attend, elect a president-pro-tem and go on with the meeting.

[Richard Brown]

Under RONR, no one has the authority to cancel meetings unless that authority is granted in the bylaws or some superior rule, such as a university regulation.  (I assume that you are talking about a college residence hall).  Under the rules in RONR, those who show up can still hold a meeting.  However, without a quorum, their options are extremely limited when it comes to conducting business. They essentially cannot conduct any business other than to take measures to obtain a quorum (calling absent members), recess, adjourn, and fix the time to which to adjourn (set an adjourned meeting).  If a quorum is present, then can have a meeting without those restrictions by electing a chairman pro tem (and a secretary pro tem if necessary) and proceeding with the business at hand.

 

It is possible for those who do show up, even if only one or two members, to call the meeting to order and then set an adjourned meeting date by adjourning to another date and time (called "fix the time to which to adjourn" in RONR).  A quorum is not necessary to set an adjourned meeting.

[Josh Martin]

Some background: My Residence Hall Association is comprised of an Executive Board and a General Assembly.

 

The Issue: Members of the General Assembly (GA) received an email from the President today saying that the Executive Board had decided to cancel our GA meeting on this Thursday. We had already agreed on dates for all of our regular meetings and a schedule had been posted. This upcoming meeting was a regularly scheduled meeting. Our Bylaws do not give authority to anyone to cancel meetings.

 

Questions: Can the Executive Board make this decision for everyone else? Wouldn't we have to hold a meeting and then move to postpone if we wanted to do what the Executive Board wants? How should I proceed?

How do your bylaws provide that meetings of the General Assembly are scheduled in the first place? You say that "We had already agreed on dates for all of our regular meetings," but it's not entirely clear who "we" is. If the Executive Board is authorized to set the schedule for General Assembly meetings, it also has the authority to amend that schedule.

On the other hand, if the General Assembly itself scheduled the meetings, only the General Assembly would have the power to change that schedule, unless the bylaws provide otherwise. If that is the situation, I would first try to see if the Executive Board will see reason and correct its error. If they will not, you should contact your fellow members and inform them that the Executive Board lacks the authority to cancel the meeting and that it shall continue as scheduled. The General Assembly may wish to look into disciplining some or all of the members of the Executive Board for presuming it has the authority to cancel a meeting of a superior body.

Under RONR, no one has the authority to cancel meetings unless that authority is granted in the bylaws or some superior rule, such as a university regulation.

If the meetings are scheduled by resolution (which appears to be the case here), a meeting may be canceled by amending or rescinding the resolution which scheduled it.