stds-802-16: clarification of membership rules

["Roger B. Marks" <r.b.marks@ieee.org>]

I received the following inquiry and would like to reply to the 
reflector in case others have the same question. The issue involves 
someone who became an 802.16 Member by virtue of participation at 
Session #1 but who has not participated in any 802.16 sessions since. 
Based on the 802 Rules, I have removed such people from the "Member" 
list and placed them on the "Prospective Potential Members" list. 
Below I explain my rationale. First, though, here is the note I 
received:

>Roger, I would like to receive clarification of your email. It contains the
>following statement.
>
>"All persons participating in the initial meeting of the Working
>Group become voting members of the Working Group. Thereafter, voting
>membership in a Working Group is established by participating in the
>meetings of the Working Group at two out of the last four Plenary
>sessions, and (optionally) a letter of intent to the Chair of the
>Working Group. Membership starts at the third Plenary session
>attended by the participant. One duly constituted interim Working
>Group or task group meeting may be substituted for the Working Group
>meetings at one of the two Plenary sessions (See 5.1.3.5 Meetings and
>Participation)."
>
>"Membership is retained by participating in at least two of the last
>four Plenary session meetings. One duly constituted interim Working
>Group meeting may be substituted for one of the two Plenary meetings.
>Participation is defined as at least 75% presence at a meeting.
>Membership may be declared at the discretion of the Working Group
>Chair (for contributors by correspondence or other significant
>contributions to the Working Group). Membership belongs to the
>individual, not an organization, and may not be transferred."
>
>There seems to be two types of members in the first paragraph above. One is a
>voting member who gains membership by participating in the initial meeting and
>one is a member who gains membership subsequently by participating 
>in two of the
>last four plenaries.
>
>The first sentence clearly states that all persons particpating in the initial
>meeting of the working group become voting members.
>
>There is no statement that says a person who gains membership by 
>participating in
>the initial meeting (which I will call plenary session #1) loses 
>voting rights by
>not attending plenary session #2.
>
>My interpretation of  paragraph 2 is that I, having obtained voting rights at
>plenary session #1, but having missed plenary session #2  will 
>retain my voting
>rights by attending plenary session #3 or plenary session #4, or attending
>another interim meeting. This will mean that I have attended two of the last 4
>plenaries which is what is required to retain voting rights.
>
>Therefore I do not understand why you have listed me as a 
>prospective potential
>member. As far as I am aware I am a voting member and have full voting rights
>unless I attend no meetings up to and including plenary #4.
>
>Would you please clarify the above issue.
>
>Thank you


First of all, in the 802 rules I quoted, the term "membership" refers 
to voting membership, not to some other type of membership. [The 
rules do mention a kind of non-voting membership ("Members of the 
Working Group who have not achieved voting status are known as 
observers"), but this is clearly not what the quoted paragraphs are 
referring to. Anyway, 802.16 does not call observers "members", since 
this just adds to the confusion. Instead, we always use the terms 
"member" and "voting member" interchangeably.]

Following the 802 rules, participants of Session #1 became "Charter" 
Members." However, membership is not permanent. In fact, "Membership 
is retained by participating in at least two of the last four Plenary 
session meetings. One duly constituted interim Working Group meeting 
may be substituted for one of the two Plenary meetings." {What the 
802 Rules call "Plenary Meetings" are 802.16 Sessions held with 802 
Plenary Sessions; i.e., the March, July, and November sessions.} I 
have counted Sessions #2 and #3 as "duly constituted." Therefore, any 
Charter Member who participated in Session #2, #3, or #4 has retained 
membership. By virtue of the rules, such people have sufficient 
participation credit to remain members at least through Session #10 
(November 2000). If they don't participate again, they will lose 
membership after Session #10 (because then Session #1 won't be one of 
the last four Plenaries).

On the other hand, Charter members who have participated in _no_ 
802.16 meetings since the first one cannot claim to have participated 
in "two of the last four" since they have participated in only one. 
Therefore, they are no longer classified as members.

"Potential Members" are nonmembers have participated in at least two 
sessions, one of which was a Plenary (in this case, Session #4). They 
are therefore eligible to be members if they show up at the next 
Plenary (Session #6). {They don't need to wait until the end of 
Session #6 to vote.}

At this point, what I have called "Prospective Potential Members" 
have participated in one Plenary but no other Sessions. Therefore, 
they are one session short of qualifying as a Potential Member. If 
they participate at Session #5, they will fulfill this requirement 
and become a Potential Member. Charter members who have not 
participated since Session #1 are in this category. If they 
participate in Session #5, they will be restored to membership as 
soon as they attend another Plenary Session.

I have studied the 802 rules extensively and have consulted 
extensively with the 802 Executive Committee on their interpretation. 
I have concluded that, on this issue, the rules take a lot of study 
to interpret but are actually unambiguous. I have written a simple 
interpretation of them, which I have included on the 802.16 web site 
<http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/membership.html> and attach 
below.

I hope this fully explains membership acquisition and retention. 
Please feel free to contact me with any additional concerns.

Regards,

Roger
--------------------------------------------------------

*Acquiring Membership by Participation
Membership is granted at each _802.16 LMSC Plenary Session_ to those 
in attendance who have _participated_ in at least two _recent 802.16 
Sessions_, one of which was an _802.16 LMSC Plenary Session_. At that 
time, full membership rights begin immediately upon the request of 
the qualifying potential member.

*Retention and Loss of Membership
At the end of each _802 LMSC Plenary Session_, membership is lost by 
those who have not _participated_ in at least two _recent 802 
Sessions_, one of which was an _802 LMSC Plenary Session_.

Membership shall be lost if two consecutive, or two of any three 
consecutive, Working Group letter ballots are not returned or are 
returned with an abstention other than for "lack of technical 
expertise."

*Explanation of underlined terms:

-An individual is generally considered to have participated in an 
802.16 Session by virtue of having attended at least 75% of the 
meetings held during that Session. [Specific procedures involving 
attendance sign-in are used to determine participation.]
-An 802.16 LMSC Plenary Session is an 802.16 Session coinciding with 
an 802 LMSC Plenary Session, held each March, July, and November.
-A recent 802.16 Session is one of the previous four 802.16 LMSC 
Plenary Sessions, excluding the current one, or another 802.16 
Session that took place with the period of time spanned by those four 
sessions.

*Membership at Chair's Discretion
Membership may be granted by the Chair to any individual, normally 
for significant contributions to the Working Group.