Hearing Process amendment proposal

Amend Article IX Sections 5-7 by deleting the current language and replacing it with the following Sections 5-8 (NB: current Section 7 is turning into Section 8 and current language that permits continuing a hearing after someone's resignation from AML would be deleted; the current text after "jurisdiction" would be deleted and replaced with the text that appears below in Section 8 after "jurisdiction"):

(5) A member may be suspended from specific activities, offices, positions or functions, for a specified time, or suspended from membership for a specified time, or expelled from membership, for acts inimical to the society. No member shall be suspended or expelled from American Mensa, Ltd. except following a fair and impartial hearing by the Hearings Committee at which hearing the member shall have the right to present his/her case. A decision by the Hearings Committee to impose sanctions upon a member of American Mensa, Ltd., shall require the concurrence of the American Mensa Committee.

(a) The Hearings Committee shall comprise three members of American Mensa, Ltd. who meet the following criteria:

i) they have indicated their willingness to serve on such hearings committees via the Personal Data Questionnaire or other similar mechanism available to the full membership,

ii) they are not members of the same Local Group as the accused or accuser(s) (the parties), nor family members of any of these parties in question, and

iii) they are not members of the American Mensa Committee.

(b) The following procedure will be undertaken to determine the composition of the Hearings Committee:

i) Within two weeks of the Advocate filing charges, or one or more members filing charges of act inimical, with the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and sending a copy of those charges to the accused member(s), the Chairman will direct the National Office to generate a randomized list of members who meet the criteria laid out in (5)(a).

ii) Within two weeks after the National Office has been duly notified, the first fifty (50) members on that list will be contacted by the National Office to see if they are still willing to serve on a hearing committee and ask if they feel they need to recuse themselves from the upcoming hearing, providing only the name and cities of the parties in question to assist in their determination. If there are fewer than thirty (30) members from this list who remain eligible for the committee within two weeks after such contact from the National Office, additional members who meet the criteria laid out in (5)(a) will be contacted until there is a list of at least thirty (30) qualifying members.

iii) The list of qualifying members and their cities will be sent to the parties and the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee. The parties will have two weeks to then send to the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and the other parties in question any objections they may have related to one or more individuals on the qualifying list of possible Hearings Committee members. The Chairman of the American Mensa Committee will then send a reduced list of qualifying members to the National Office and each of the parties in question.

iv) From this remaining list of qualifying members, the National Office will randomize them and send this list out to the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee, the parties in question, and each of the members on this list of qualifying members. The first three members on this list will make up the Hearings Committee, with the additional remaining qualifying members, in order, being alternates should a seated member of the Hearings Committee be unavailable or need to step down.

v) Within two weeks of the members of the Hearings Committee being determined, the Hearings Committee will select its chairman in a manner of its own choosing from among its number. The Hearings Committee Chairman will notify the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and the parties in question about their selection as the chairman. Hereafter, all communications with the Hearings Committee for a particular hearing will go through the Hearings Committee Chairman.

c) Within two weeks of the parties in question being notified of who the Hearings Committee Chairman is, the complainant(s) need to send the full complaint to the Hearings Committee Chairman who will disseminate it to the other members of the committee. Within 60 days from receipt of the complaint, the Hearings Committee shall decide if the alleged acts inimical to the society warrant having a hearing, and establish the date and time of the hearing if so warranted. There shall be a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 120 days between the receipt of the notification for a hearing and the date of the hearing.

(d) Summary reports of Hearing Committee actions shall be available to the membership.

(6) A member whose recurring conduct has been demonstrably harmful to a local group or to individual members, to the extent that it may be considered inimical to the society, may also be suspended from office in that group, or barred from its functions, or suspended from the group itself by the American Mensa Committee upon recommendation of a Regional Hearings Committee. Such recommendations shall be made only after the member has been given a fair and impartial hearing.

(a) If good-faith efforts to end the harmful conduct have failed, officers and/or members of the local group may request their Regional Vice-Chairman to convene a Regional Hearings Committee to consider charges against the member. The request shall be in writing, shall describe fully the conduct deemed harmful, and shall be signed by officers and/or members of the local group numbering no less than 150% of the number of elective officers of the local group.

(b) The Regional Vice-Chairman shall then initiate a process identical to that laid out in (5), above, with the following differences:

i) Members to be chosen for the Regional Hearings Committee must be members from the same region(s) as the parties but may not be members of the same Local Group as any of the parties in question.

ii) Initial communications will be through the Regional Vice-Chairman instead of the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee.

iii) Once the composition of the Regional Hearings Committee has been determined and if a determination that a hearing is warranted has been made, the chairman of the Regional Hearings Committee will notify the parties in question, the Regional Vice-Chairman, and the Local Secretary of the Local Group(s) of the accused member(s) of the date and location of the upcoming hearing.

(c) A member's violation of sanctions imposed by the American Mensa Committee following a regional hearing shall constitute an act inimical to Mensa for which further sanctions may be imposed by the national Hearings Committee.

(7) The accused member or the complainant may file a written protest with the National Ombudsman if either feels that a regional or national Hearings Committee hearing was conducted unfairly or with prejudice. The National Ombudsman shall investigate the protest and report to the American Mensa Committee, and send a copy of his report to the parties to the hearing.

(8) If national or regional charges have been filed against a member in accordance with section (5)

or (6) of this Article, and the member actively resigns or does not renew membership before the hearings process is completed, the body having jurisdiction at that point in time may complete the hearings process if it feels such action is appropriate, according the accused the same due process as if the resignation or non-renewal had not occurred. If the body chooses not to continue the hearings process upon the accused's resignation or failure to renew, and the accused rejoins, the accused shall face the same charges and hearings. shall cease consideration of the charges, with the option to reinstate the charges if/when the member rejoins.