ejecting disruptive members

[charity chief]

Can anyone tell me if I have a legal way to remove members of a private club or society that continually post lies and dissension on social media and forums about our club and the members and BOD.  The By-laws have an ethics rule stating that members cannot provide or pass on false information, also give thoughtful consideration to comments of others , encourage members and non members and conduct with proper decorum. These individuals, about 10-20 of them break all of these rule, continually. They are upsetting the vast majority of the rest of the members and I would like to get them out of the club. But I want to do it properly and legally. The board are all with me in this regard. The only article in the by-laws about removal is about removing a director or officer.

Thanks for any help

[Joshua Katz]

We cannot tell you anything about legally, but so far as parliamentary procedure is concerned, if your bylaws are silent on discipline of members, and RONR is your parliamentary authority, see Chapter XX.

[Richard Brown]

The current 11th edition of RONR contains an entire chapter of 26 pages on discipline. I suggest you get a copy if you don't already have one. If you have an older edition, please get the 11th Edition as that chapter underwent significant changes in the 11th Edition. Unless prohibited by your bylaws, you absolutely have the right to discipline and even expel members who are doing harm to the good name or the work of the organization.

Edited to add: the discipline and especially the expulsion of members is a tricky area. If you have that many members causing problems, I suggest you consult with a professional parliamentarian regarding your options and possible amendments to your bylaws. Both the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) and the American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP)  have referral services.

Edited August 22, 2018 at 01:26 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Josh Martin]

4 hours ago, charity chief said:

Can anyone tell me if I have a legal way to remove members of a private club or society that continually post lies and dissension on social media and forums about our club and the members and BOD.  The By-laws have an ethics rule stating that members cannot provide or pass on false information, also give thoughtful consideration to comments of others , encourage members and non members and conduct with proper decorum. These individuals, about 10-20 of them break all of these rule, continually. They are upsetting the vast majority of the rest of the members and I would like to get them out of the club. But I want to do it properly and legally. The board are all with me in this regard. The only article in the by-laws about removal is about removing a director or officer.

I concur with my colleagues, but since you state that “The board are all with me in this regard,” which seems to imply an intention for the board to take action in this matter, I would note that only the membership has the authority to discipline members of the society, unless your bylaws provide otherwise.