[QCWA Hotlist] A Change for QCWA?

[Bob Roske]

This has been on the website (http://www.qcwa.org/guest-policy.htm) since 
June of 2005.

QCWA GUEST POLICY REVISITED
W3BE, President, QCWA - October 22, 2004

The matter of non-QCWA member participation, as an associate, in QCWA 
activities was discussed at the 2001 Meeting of your Board of Directors. 
Your Board has expended considerable effort toward resolving this persistent 
matter through letters, e-mail and personal contacts at Chapter meetings, 
conventions and hamfests. The majority consensus was that an associate 
category is not desired by QCWA membership.
For various reasons, however, your Chapter may want to allow guests of its 
members to participate in its activities. To provide guidance to those 
Chapters that do so, your Board developed the following statement of policy 
on non-member participation in Chapter activities. This policy was 
reaffirmed today at the 2004 Meeting of your Board of Directors.
One difficulty to resolving this long-standing matter may arise from the use 
of the unofficial term "associate." Although this A-word can be used as a 
noun, there is a tendency to use it more as an adjective modifying the word 
"member." That appears to make it a hot-button issue to those members who 
oppose any attempt to compromise the very purpose of the QCWA. For this 
reason, your Board recommends that all references to the A-word be avoided.


POLICY ON NON-MEMBER PARTICIPATION IN CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
Adopted October 2001 - Published in our QCWA Journal - Spring 2002, Page 7

The Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. (QCWA) has as its fundamental 
purpose the promotion of friendship and cooperation among those very 
distinguished amateur radio operators who were licensed at least one-quarter 
century ago. The commitment to the pursuit of this purpose is codified in 
Article II, Section 2 of its Constitution: QCWA memberships are reserved to 
those currently licensed amateur operators who can prove that they were 
licensed at least twenty-five years ago. Further, Article VII, Section 2 of 
the By Laws upholds this obligation by requiring each member of a Chapter to 
be a member in good standing in the QCWA.

A QCWA Chapter is, of course, free to welcome to its activities guests 
invited by its members. When there is more than occasional participation by 
a non-member, however, the Chapter must make clear to all concerned that the 
person's participation can be only as the guest of a Chapter member. This 
differentiation is important to honoring the long-term dedication of our 
extraordinary members to the amateur service -- as well as to maintaining 
the very credibility of the QCWA as the unique organization comprised of 
amateur operators licensed at least 25 year ago. Moreover, a regularly 
participating non-member should be expected to apply promptly for membership 
in the QCWA and the Chapter when the twenty-five year eligibility 
requirement is fulfilled.

Where it is necessary for a Chapter to designate by titles the participation 
of it members' guests, the titles used must be such as to avoid implying any 
category of membership in either the QCWA or the Chapter. Each title should 
describe the type of participation. Suggestions: Chapter #__ Guest; Friend 
of Chapter #__; Chapter #__ Newsletter Subscriber; Chapter #__ Supporter.

By the Board of Directors

73,
Bob Roske, NØUF
Webmaster QCWA 



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