Disruptive/Hostile Members

[Guest Blank]

We have a member who is hostile, and is simply trying to go against the organization and make everything fail for no purpose. Beside saying he is out of order what else can we do

[Josh Martin]

49 minutes ago, Guest Blank said:

We have a member who is hostile, and is simply trying to go against the organization and make everything fail for no purpose. Beside saying he is out of order what else can we do

Check to see if your bylaws say anything regarding removing members, or other disciplinary measures. If they are silent, see Ch. XX of RONR.

[Guest Me again]

I think my biggest clarification is can members say anything they wish during debate, or is it limited. This member claims during debate, anything he says is privileged and acceptable, however he often resorts to personal attacks during debate. 

[Chris Harrison]

13 minutes ago, Guest Me again said:

I think my biggest clarification is can members say anything they wish during debate, or is it limited. This member claims during debate, anything he says is privileged and acceptable, however he often resorts to personal attacks during debate. 

Not true!  There are definitely limits to what can be said in debate and a member can be disciplined for violating decorum.  See RONR pp. 391-394 regarding decorum and pp. 644-648 for how to deal with violations of decorum.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Guest Me again said:

I think my biggest clarification is can members say anything they wish during debate, or is it limited. This member claims during debate, anything he says is privileged and acceptable, however he often resorts to personal attacks during debate. 

No, this is entirely false. Personal attacks are prohibited, and members may be disciplined for words spoken in debate, but only at the time of the infraction.

Indeed, the fact that the behavior in question occurs during a meeting actually makes the process much simpler.

[Chris Harrison]

1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

No, this is entirely false. Personal attacks are prohibited, and members may be disciplined for words spoken in debate, but only at the time of the infraction.

Agreed.  However, even if the assembly missed out in dealing with the infraction at the time it occurred couldn't they subject the member to a full fledged trial at a later point if they determined it was egregious enough?

[Dan Honemann]

49 minutes ago, Chris Harrison said:

Agreed.  However, even if the assembly missed out in dealing with the infraction at the time it occurred couldn't they subject the member to a full fledged trial at a later point if they determined it was egregious enough?

No. See page 649, lines 9-32.

 

[Josh Martin]

5 hours ago, Chris Harrison said:

Agreed.  However, even if the assembly missed out in dealing with the infraction at the time it occurred couldn't they subject the member to a full fledged trial at a later point if they determined it was egregious enough?

Generally, this is an option for misconduct at a meeting which is not addressed at the time, but in the case of words spoken in debate specifically, the member may be disciplined only at the time of the infraction.

In the OP’s case, I don’t expect this rule will pose any difficulty. Since the member in question appears to have a habitual disregard for the rules of decorum, there will likely be further opportunities for discipline,

Edited September 28, 2019 at 10:25 PM by Josh Martin