new president violating by-laws

[Guest Wendy]

We have a new board (3 new members elected yearly, total of 9) and the new president (newly elected and new member) has already violated several by-laws such as overturning decisions by the previous board, removing a new SOP from a website, and several others. Our by-laws explicitely do not give the president such powers. The membership is aware of what is going on and want answers. The first meeting of the board has yet to take place, so no orders or powers were given him.

This president is known to not let others talk during a meeting and the new VP is on his side, so what is the best way to handle the situation? Both are skilled in politics and procedure and the rest of the board is not except for maybe one who is probably on their side as well. There may be a majority to do a number of things but what is the best course of action to handle the situation?

[Rev Ed]

Chapter XX of RONR comes to mind - however this might be overkill at this point (or see FAQ #20.)

If permitted by the By-laws, the members may be able to call a special meeting to discuss the issue. Just because the VP is on the President's side does not mean that the rest of the Board, and/or the general membership, have to accept what is occurring.

[Chris Harrison]

Perhaps an opening salvo could be raising a Point of Order (RONR pp. 240-247) when the President is breaking the rules and being prepared to Appeal any adverse ruling (RONR pp. 247-252). The vote on an Appeal could give you somewhat of an idea of how many people would be willing to stand up to the President. If there is 2/3 of the members who are willing to stand up for their rights the next step (if the President doesn't change his ways-or even if he does) could be to Suspend the Rules and have someone else preside. See Official Interpretation 2006-2 and this script for details on how to do this.