[SCA] Can I say this?

[newman]

(This isn't going to mean a lot to you if you're not in the SCA. Even if you are, it may not mean a lot to you)

A short note came across the wires this morning from Hal Simon (Chairman of the BOD) regarding the invalidation of the reign of the current King and Queen of The Middle because of a 3-day lapse in membership due to some unusual circumstances. At the conclusion of the brief letter, Mr. Simon (as ever) indicates that "Questions, suggestions and comments can be sent to [email address snipped]". This is the note I'm considering sending; do I bother?



Dear Mr. Simon:

Upon reading your recent brief note concerning the invalidation of the reign of Lutr and Tessa, I was struck by the fact that The Board of Directors seems increasingly hidebound, interested in enforcing the letter of our laws, regardless of the cost or of the original intent of those laws. Interest in the S.C.A. from senior members (such as myself) is waning, and The S.C.A. has not been able to increase new member recruitment. My question, suggestion, and comment are

1) Why aren't the Board of Directors focused more on improving the S.C.A. and less on preserving some perceived status quo?

2) Please increase the transparency of our government. Much of the Board's actions are in a sealed Star Chamber.

3) If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It already has largely ceased to exist as an organization I wish to be part of.

Alternative text for #3: If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It is already well on its way to becoming an organization I would not wish to be part of.

Signed,

me, with all the titles and O.P. stuff that apparently makes me worth listening to ;-)

Comments

[new-man.livejournal.com]

And they are so adamantly convinced of their own rightness that they are not going to be persuaded otherwise by you or anyone else.

So, what does shake the BoD up? Where does one need to nail the 99 theses? And I'm not the one to do the nailing.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm largely indifferent as to whether the S.C.A. in it's current incarnation stays or goes. Both the S.C.A. and I have changed. I believe the S.C.A. can be an organization that I am passionate about and interested in while remaining true to its origins and mission statement — but I don't know how to make it so. It is a significantly bigger problem than I am.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

It takes something like the Great BoD Crisis of...when was that?...1992, I think. Significant change did come out of that. Significant I say, but not nearly enough. We can talk about what you and I might think "enough" would be -- and in fact I'd quite enjoy that -- but that isn't what you asked. The fact that it did take something as traumatic as the GBC to effect what little reform has occurred shows how entrenched the SCA's way of conducting its affairs really is. What is required, clearly, is a crisis so wide-reaching that (a) the very future of the organization -- the activity itself, not the Corporation that supports it -- is threatened to the extent that (b) the participants in the activity realize the depth of the threat. Given the traditional resilience of the activity, coupled with the traditional indifference of the participants toward effecting change (as opposed to inward-facing griping such as this very thread: mea maxima culpa), well, don't get your hopes up.

[jducoeur]

It takes something like the Great BoD Crisis of...when was that?...1992, I think.

1994. Third Saturday of January. The day msmemory received her Pelican. We heard about it as soon as we got home. (We were the first people in the East to find out, AFAIK, since our apprentices were at the Board meeting.)

Given the traditional resilience of the activity, coupled with the traditional indifference of the participants toward effecting change (as opposed to inward-facing griping such as this very thread: mea maxima culpa), well, don't get your hopes up.

Yep. Moreover, you have to keep in mind that much of the Society fundamentally disagrees with us. The point when I largely threw in the towel on rapid large-scale change was when Flieg finally got his SCA-wide poll, and something like 75% of the respondents took the other side.

I don't consider the SCA totally unreformable, but change is likely to be gradual at best. There just isn't the collective will to make dramatic reforms...