[SFDXA] ARRL - A Note to Members from ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR

[Bill]

    A Note to Members from ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR

01/15/2018

In the last few weeks, the ARRL’s Board of Directors has been the 
subject of an organized misinformation campaign. It is being 
orchestrated by a group of hams, some of whom are well-intentioned but 
have been misled. This effort, which consists of a series of 
mischaracterizations, initially dealt with (1) the ARRL Board’s censure 
of an ARRL Director, and (2) some proposed revisions to ARRL’s 
*/Articles of Association 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-articles-of-association>/* and */Bylaws 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-by-laws>/* that are likely to be considered at 
the upcoming ARRL Board meeting and which were circulated by a member of 
the Board. None of the proposed /Article/ and /Bylaw/ changes has yet 
been addressed by the Board of Directors. More recently, other equally 
erroneous and false statements have been made with respect to completely 
unrelated issues, in an effort to draw into question ARRL’s 
decision-making processes. The principal suggestion is that ARRL 
operates under some “cloak of secrecy.” The criticism is unfair and 
undeserved.

ARRL’s representative system of governance, which has worked 
exceptionally well in the advocacy and promotion of Amateur Radio and 
the interests of ARRL members for more than 100 years, is unchanged. And 
the legislative and other advocacy positions currently being pursued are 
critical to the long-term survivability of the Amateur Radio Service.

The ARRL Board does seek thoughtful, informed input on policy issues 
concerning Amateur Radio from its roughly 150,000 members. ARRL’s 
governance structure provides that regionally elected, volunteer 
directors will represent the interests of the members in their 
respective Divisions, working collectively and collegially within our 
Board to make policy and to advocate their constituents’ interests. 
ARRL’s Board members hold cabinet meetings and forums at hamfests and 
conventions, and they staff ARRL booths at hamfests and conventions in 
order to find out what interests and concerns you have as ARRL members. 
They take this feedback from you, and they come to Board meetings twice 
a year to make policy for the organization. They work together 
collegially to develop the best policy decisions. This structure 
presumes that the Board’s collective wisdom is far greater than that of 
any one Board member, and each Board member is obligated by our 
/Articles/ and /Bylaws/ to come to meetings with a good idea of what the 
members need and what is best for Amateur Radio as a whole.

As is the case with most large, national non-profit associations, ARRL 
Board meetings are not open to the public. It has always been that way, 
as a matter of necessity. That is because, at all such meetings, 
confidential issues such as spectrum protection, employee compensation, 
financial information, and FCC submissions are candidly discussed, and 
the members’ interests at those meetings are advocated by the Directors 
on a representative basis.

Unfortunately, it was necessary for the Board to take the highly unusual 
action of publicly censuring one of its members recently. The Board 
heard the allegations made by an ARRL member of what transpired at an 
Amateur Radio event; it heard reports from other amateurs who were 
there, and it heard all the information that the Director involved chose 
to present. Everyone had a chance to speak and to evaluate the 
presentations. The Board, in an 11 to 3 vote with one abstention, took 
action to protect the organization’s integrity based on the information 
presented. This process and procedure are what nonprofit associations 
have to be prepared to employ, and do employ, to maintain order within 
their organizations and to ensure that the interests of the affected 
Director are protected as well. This is not a procedure that any 
nonprofit organization would conduct publicly.

The ARRL */Policy on Board Governance and Conduct of Members of the 
Board of Directors and Vice Directors/* 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ODV/ARRL20of%20Conduct.pdf> has been 
drawn into question, probably as the result of the fact that the Board’s 
censure decision was based upon aviolation of that policy by the 
Director involved. The Policy is intended to protect the democratic 
decision-making processes by which ARRL has operated effectively for so 
long, and to set forth principles to guide an organization’s decision 
making and the behavior of individual board members when acting on 
behalf of ARRL. When it was adopted by the Board a year ago, it was 
posted for ARRL members to read. The policy calls for honesty, 
integrity, transparency, confidentiality, and equity. The purpose of 
adopting such a statement formally is to provide employees, volunteers, 
and board members with guidelines for making ethical choices and to 
ensure that there is accountability for those choices.

When board members of a nonprofit adopt a code of ethics, they are 
expressing their commitment to ethical behavior. It is intended to 
protect the Board’s deliberations and to protect the staff from 
inappropriate actions by Board members. It seeks to preclude precisely 
the type of selective disclosures and unilateral and subjective 
characterizations of proposed Board actions that have happened recently. 
There is nothing at all insidious about the policy, which is subject to 
regular review and modification, as are all other ARRL organizational 
documents.

As to the criticism of the proposed /Articles/ and /Bylaws/ changes, the 
Board has not yet considered them. It may or may not adopt some or all 
of the changes recommended by its Executive Committee or by an 
individual Director. Any responsible Board of Directors regularly 
reviews, amends and updates its /Articles/ and /Bylaws/. And ARRL member 
input is welcome on all such subjects. Indeed, the recommended /Article/ 
/and Bylaw/ changes were not considered to be Board confidential. The 
problem, however, is that it is not fair to members, or to the 
representative Directors who have yet to evaluate them collectively, to 
have the proposals mischaracterized or misrepresented.

ARRL Directors are volunteers. They are smart, dedicated radio amateurs 
who each devote thousands of hours per year of their own time to 
representing you as best they can.

To those who try to suggest that the Board has abandoned its obligation 
to the members in favor of the organization — you draw a distinction 
that doesn’t exist. The Board absolutely understands that the members 
are the organization. The members of ARRL are always best served by an 
informed Board that works together to make policy that is in the best 
interests of the organization. The divisive tactics that are being used 
now, commenced through disinformation and a lack of candor, are harmful 
not only to the organization, but to Amateur Radio operators everywhere, 
the good work of the ARRL staff, and the Service that we love so much.

*Rick Roderick, K5UR, President*

*ARRL — the national association for Amateur Radio*