THATCamp Council Charter
final draft, 3/11/14

(see http://j.mp/1eXcdOP for 1st & 2nd drafts)
(see http://j.mp/1fpi4N1 for 3rd draft)

This document outlines a structure and process for the THATCamp Council, which will take over the general governance of THATCamp after Dr. Amanda French completes her four-year term as THATCamp Coordinator on March 31, 2014.

Responsibilities of the Council

• Supporting THATCamp organizers, participants, and would-be participants, especially by

• answering questions on the THATCamp forums
• creating and revising help documents on thatcamp.org
• managing THATCamp social media accounts
• attending and/or organizing THATCamps

• Upholding core THATCamp values
• Setting the long-term direction of the THATCamp project
• Creating and revising community processes, policies, and governance documents
• Resolving community conflicts

Structure of the Council

• The Council will have seven (7) members.
• One member of the Council must be a current employee of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM), which holds the trademark for the term “THATCamp” and which has committed to providing long-term hosting for the thatcamp.org website network. 
• RRCHNM will appoint a representative to the Council, chosen through an internal process of their determination. Others affiliated with RRCHNM may run for the Council through the regular process. (See Elections of the Council below.)
• The Council will appoint a Chair from among its members at its first meeting of the year. (See Responsibilities of the Council Chair below.)
• Council members will be granted Super Admin privileges on thatcamp.org, which will enable them to create, edit, and delete THATCamp sites, users, and forums, as well as to manage plugins and themes on the network.
• Council terms (including the term of the Chair and the RRCHNM representative) are two years long, but members can hold an unlimited number of terms if they are reelected or reappointed.
• Each year in March, the Council must hold an election of Council members. (See Elections of the Council below.)
• Any THATCamp Council member or community member can propose amendments to the Charter or the dissolution of the THATCamp Council at any time. Such a proposal must be placed on an openly available agenda that is submitted to the THATCamp community for comment at least one week before a Council meeting. (See Meetings of the Council below.) Five Council member votes in favor are required in order to amend the Charter or dissolve the Council.

Meetings of the Council

• The Council will meet at least three times per year for the purpose of discussing and (if necessary) voting on issues of interest to the THATCamp Community. In general, meetings can take place online, via conference call, or in person. Meetings must by default be open to the THATCamp community.
• When the Council meets, an agenda must be posted on the open web at least one week beforehand. (See Responsibilities of the Council Chair below.) The THATCamp community should easily be able to comment on the agenda, and the Chair should add community-suggested items to the meeting agenda at least one day before the meeting.
• The Council will in general govern by rough consensus. When rough consensus fails, any Council member can call for a vote on any issue at any time, but the majority of the Council must agree that there has been sufficient discussion and must consent to put the issue to a vote. At least five Council members must be present and at least five votes cast in order for the Council to be quorate and the vote to be valid and binding. All present members of the Council may vote, including the Chair and the RRCHNM representative. In the event of a tied vote, the Chair has the power to decide the issue.
• By default, meetings can be blogged, twittered, photographed, recorded, and posted online by any Council member. The votes of individual Council members are also by default public.
• Notes from each meeting and the outcome of any vote taken must be posted on the open web within one week after the meeting.
• The Chair will have the power to convene a private meeting whose internal debates are not shared with the THATCamp community, but private meetings must still have a public agenda and public notes that report the outcome of any vote taken, though not the votes of individual Council members.
• Agendas for and notes from all meetings, including private meetings, will be retained according to the Commonwealth of Virginia retention schedule for “Agendas, Schedules, and Informational Documentation for Meetings” (series 10035). 
• Current Council members will be granted access by the Chair to the private, restricted mailing list council@thatcamp.org for as long as they remain Council members.
• The THATCamp community can communicate with the THATCamp Council via the THATCamp forums, the @thatcamp Twitter account, and any other means provided by the Council.
• If the Chair refuses to convene a meeting in a timely manner, any member of the Council may convene a meeting.

Eligibility for the Council

• Anyone who has helped organize a THATCamp will be eligible to serve on the Council.
• Each member of the Council is expected to be actively, collegially, and reliably engaged with the THATCamp community and with the other members of the THATCamp Council during her or his term on the Council.
• If any Council member misses two scheduled Council meetings in a row, that member may be asked to resign his or her seat on the Council.

First Election of the Council

• Dr. Amanda French, Dr. Tom Scheinfeldt, and Dr. Patrick Murray-John will be appointed to one-year terms on the first Council in March 2014.
• The first Council election will be held in March 2014. Subsequent elections will be held every year in March. The election in March of 2015 will replace Drs. French, Scheinfeldt, and Murray-John with members who will serve two-year terms. (See Elections of the Council below.)
• Anyone who is eligible may run for one of the 4 open council seats: the election ballot has no maximum number of candidates. Candidates must inform Dr. French of their intent to run by writing info@thatcamp.org by March 15th, 2014. (See Eligibility for the Council.)
• Elections will be conducted in two rounds when necessary. Both rounds will be conducted by partial bloc voting, in which each member of the THATCamp community may vote once each for 3 candidates for the 4 open seats. In the first round of voting, the THATCamp community will vote on a ballot with a minimum of 4 candidates and no maximum number of candidates. To ameliorate the effects of vote splitting, if 12 or more candidates stand for election, a second round of voting will be held in which the slate will consist of the 8 candidates who received the most votes in the first round of voting. If two or more candidates tie for 8th place in the first round, the second-round ballot will include all 8th place candidates.
• Elections will be conducted using the YOP Polls WordPress plugin, which will be configured thus:

• Voters must log in to thatcamp.org to cast a vote.
• Each voter must vote only once for exactly 3 candidates for the 4 open Council seats.
• Each voting period will remain open for one week.
• The 4 candidates earning the highest number of votes at the end of the second voting period (if any) will serve on the Council.
• Results of the election will not be displayed until after each election period.

• Voters will be encouraged to elect a Council whose members are of diverse countries, ranks, fields, ethnicities, and genders.
• In the event of a tie for the last open seat after the second round of voting (if any), a runoff election will be held between the tied candidates. Such an election will be conducted by the simple plurality system, in which each voter votes once for one candidate.
• Dr. Amanda French will serve as Chair pro tem until the first Council meeting. At the first Council meeting, the Council will appoint a Chair.
• Dr. French, Dr. Scheinfeldt, Dr. Murray-John, and an additional Council member to be chosen at the first Council meeting will serve one-year terms. The remaining 3 Council members will serve two-year terms.

Elections of the Council

• Each year in March, the Council must hold an election of Council members. Since the RRCHNM representative is appointed, and since the 2-year Council terms are staggered, each year there will be 3 open Council seats.
• Current Council members may run again for their own seats.
• Anyone who is eligible may run for a Council seat: the initial election ballot has no maximum number of candidates. Candidates must inform the Chair of the Council of their intent to run by the last day of February. (See Eligibility for the Council.)
• Elections will be conducted in two rounds when necessary. Both rounds will be conducted by partial bloc voting, in which each member of the THATCamp community may vote once each for 2 candidates for the 3 open seats. In the first round of voting, the THATCamp community will vote on a ballot with a minimum of 3 candidates and no maximum number of candidates. To ameliorate the effects of vote splitting, if 9 or more candidates stand for election, a second round of voting will be held in which the slate will consist of the 6 candidates who received the most votes in the first round of voting. If two or more candidates tie for 6th place in the first round, the second-round ballot will include all 6th place candidates.
• Elections will be conducted using the YOP Polls WordPress plugin, which will be configured thus:

• Voters must log in to thatcamp.org to cast a vote.
• Each voter must vote only once for exactly 2 candidates for the 3 open Council seats.
• Each voting period will remain open for one week.
• The 3 candidates earning the highest number of votes at the end of the second voting period (if any) will serve on the Council.
• Results of the election will not be displayed until after each election period.

• Voters will be encouraged to elect a Council whose members are of diverse countries, ranks, fields, ethnicities, and genders.
• In the event of a tie for the last open seat after the second round of voting (if any), a runoff election will be held between the tied candidates. Such an election will be conducted by the simple plurality system, in which each voter votes once for one candidate.
• If a member of the Council leaves the Council before the end of her/his term, a simple plurality election must be held to fill the vacant seat. If the RRCHNM representative leaves her/his employment at RRCHNM before the end of her/his term, s/he must also leave the Council, and RRCHNM must appoint a new representative to serve the remainder of the term.
• If the Chair leaves the Council or resigns her/his position as Chair, either mid-term or at the expiration of her/his term, the Council must appoint a new Chair at its first meeting following the Chair’s departure. The outgoing Chair should coordinate the date and place for this meeting as her/his last act as Chair, and the meeting should take place no more than one month following the Chair’s departure.
• Changes to the election process must be discussed with the THATCamp community and voted on and approved by a quorate Council. (See Meetings of the Council.)

Responsibilities of the Council Chair

• Coordinating the date, time, and place (or online “place”) of Council meetings, with every effort to choose times and technologies that enable all members of the Council to be present
• Ensuring that a draft agenda is available for comment at least one week before any Council meeting
• Incorporating community comments on meeting agendas into revised agendas
• Finalizing Council meeting agendas no less than one day before the scheduled date
• Determining whether a Council meeting should be private (see Meetings of the Council)
• Deciding issues in the event of a tied vote
• Posting required notes from meetings within one week of the meeting
• Determining whether to record meetings and, when meetings are recorded, determining whether to post the recording on the open web
• Taking primary responsibility for managing access and permissions to THATCamp.org and council@thatcamp.org for incoming and outgoing Council members