Suspended Meetings

[Guest Nancy C]

Is there a provision to suspend a meeting for bad behavior instead of adjourning it to another time?

[Richard Brown]

I’m not sure what you mean by “suspending” the meeting. Can you elaborate?

  The meeting can always be ended early by adopting a motion to adjourn. A recess may also be ordered by the assembly. The chair might also ask the assembly to stand at ease for a few minutes.

Please tell us what you mean by suspending the meeting and maybe we can help you more.

[Atul Kapur]

You could recess for a while, in the hope that something happens or someone intervenes to resolve the situation.

Another option is to start disciplinary procedures against the miscreant.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:56 PM, Guest Nancy C said:

Is there a provision to suspend a meeting for bad behavior instead of adjourning it to another time?

Awaiting the return of Guest Nancy C...

I'm also not sure what "suspend a meeting" means.  Is it the same as a Recess [12th RONR §20]?

I know that many people will recommend that when a meeting gets out of hand, the remedy is to recess or Adjourn to a Future Time.  However the latter, as a qualified motion to Adjourn, is not privileged and cannot interrupt pending business.  It probably won't be in order when debate on some other question becomes hostile.

The privileged motion to Recess does take precedence over a pending main motion, but cannot interrupt a speaker and requires a second. Still, at least it's a possibility

The problem is that when a meeting gets so out of control that it requires a recess, it has already passed several boundaries that should never have been crossed in the first place.  It's usually the result of an inexperienced or ineffective presiding officer not nipping decorum breaches in the bud, shying away from the formalities that are designed to make inflammatory statements harder to deliver, and failing to call members to order when the rules of debate are flouted.  If a contentious topic is pending, the chair should be intervening the first time the word "You" is uttered, if you see what I mean.  It's much easier to insist on keeping decorum than it is to try to rein it is once it's escaped.

When bad behavior occurs, it is, in my view, more fruitful to stop and deal appropriately with that behavior, and then return to business, rather than having a recess that avoids but does not address the problem.

Edited October 30, 2022 at 05:42 PM by Gary Novosielski

[Rob Elsman]

On 10/30/2022 at 12:40 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

When bad behavior occurs, it is, in my view, more fruitful to stop and deal appropriately with that behavior, and then return to business, rather than having a recess that avoids but does not address the problem.

Taking a recess in the midst of a kerfuffle is like Marshall Dillon and his adversary leaving the Long Branch Saloon to have a gunfight in the street--somebody sometimes gets hurt.  It is much better for the chair to patiently, but firmly, bring the assembly back into good order.  After order has been established, it is possible to deal with the "bad behavior" by way of a disciplinary procedure, if necessary.  Usually, however, the chair can calm things down by informally asking the offender to withdraw his offending remarks (or apologize for his remarks) or retire from the meeting room.