SCA politics

[cellio]

Last month, the officers of my local SCA group proposed changing the way we hold elections to restrict who can vote. The proposal was controversial and they had to have know that. I wrote then about why I thought this was a bad idea.

Last night was the next officers' meeting, where these changes were to be ratified. As it turns out (I'm failing to surpress cries of "I told you so"), the notion that these restrictions were now required by the kingdom and/or corporation was baseless. Someone got a ruling from the kingdom seneschal that our open policies, as they stand, are fine.

In addition, many officers (and other people) present spoke in favor of retaining our current policy on this point. Almost everyone in fact voted that way. One officer voted to restrict voting anyway.

My estimation of a couple people who were involved in this has dropped (not surprising). One of them is probably saying the same about me, but that's not my problem. At least that bit of ugliness is over now. (And hey, my estimation of some other people has risen, so it all balances out I guess.)

Now, onward to getting the officers to agree to structure events in such a way that the new, objectionable corporate tax can be avoided. (Early signs on the group email list are leaning positive, but there is also correlation between those who support the corporation in this matter and those who are email-averse, so that doesn't necessarily mean much.)

Comments

[jducoeur]

(Grr. Did you know that it only takes one faulty keystroke to close your IE window, and wipe out twenty minutes of writing? Surely it must be possible to use Semagic for editing comments. All right, having lost the first draft of this, let's see if I can be calmer and more organized in the second...)

There are a bunch of problems with the NMS. Here are a few:

-- I think you underestimate the effect that it has on recruiting, especially for younger members. Carolingia is fundamentally dependent on our colleges for much of our new blood; we recruit a couple dozen new members each year. But college students are choosing from among many potential activities, all seeking to chew up their time. If you put barriers to entry (such as the NMS) in place, you cripple your ability to attract them, because they just go do other things instead. A number of our younger hardcore members (including my own apprentice) have told me that they simply wouldn't have gotten started if the NMS had been in place. Now that they're heavily involved, it wouldn't change their involvement, but they wouldn't have joined in the first place.

-- Even worse, it's very hard on the fringes. Carolingia has an enormous fringe of people at all levels, from Old Used Peers to newbies who hang around for a few years before getting really involved. This fringe is deathly critical: it provides both an experience and knowledge base, and a fertile recruiting ground. But the NMS sends exactly the wrong message to these people -- it says that they are outsiders, and makes them feel unwelcome. The cost is high enough to make many of them drop their activity level from "low" to "out", and at that point we usually don't hear from them again.

-- Worst of all, it's dreadful on an economic and philosophical level. It essentially says that paying money to Milpitas is the single most important way to contribute to the Society -- after all, it's the only thing we actually require. But that's flatly untrue: the most important contributions are helping out with events. Events depend on a vast amount of free labor in order to function at all. Unfortunately, the Corporation simply doesn't grasp that the students who are being driven away by the NMS are also the same ones who are helping out in the kitchen, or cleaning up after the event.

-- It's also a betrayal of one of the basic principles of the Society, its welcoming and open nature. Did you know that the first version of Corpora explicitly stated that all participants at events were by definition "members"? The NMS is the end result of a gradual (and IMO harmful) turning away from that viewpoint.

-- Finally, this whole thing is the result of the mis-structure of the Corporation. I mean, the whole stated reason for the NMS was a sudden dramatic revelation that we're about to be $75K in the hole financially. Now, it's come out that that was wrong: we're probably going to turn a profit next year, but that hasn't provoked any rethinking of the need for dramatic measures to raise money. The reality is that the Corporation is dreadful at controlling costs, because it can just keep turning the thumbscrews for more money. Until we have procedures in place for making the Board actually make hard choices, we shouldn't be abetting their bad habits.

There's quite a bit more than this. I've been arguing on this point for ten years now, and there's a lot more to say than can fit into an LJ posting. But this is a summary of a few high points.

BTW, the above comments are not simply drawn out of a hat. Unlike the Board, I chose to actually get some facts here: several months ago, I conducted a formal (if unofficial) survey of the participants in this area, to see what the actual impact of the NMS was going to be. The results proved to be quite a bit scarier than I expected -- fully a quarter of the participants in the Barony said that they would be reducing their involvement in the SCA because of it. That alone indicates that the NMS is going to do far more damage than good. (The survey was sent on to the Board shortly afterwards; I never got any response to it, despite it being, as far as I know, the only empirical data that has been gathered to date.)

-- Justin

[alienor.livejournal.com]

A few random comments (I'm meeting with my advisor in a few minutes).

I guess I don't understand the NMS/membership cost as a barrier to entry in the SCA because I've been a college student for 4.5 years now, and only in the SCA for 3 years (last weekend in October is my anniversary). I bought a membership in April, after I went to my third event and decided that the SCA was really neat and something that I wanted to do more of. The biggest barrier that I had entering the SCA was dealing with my local group (I don't play with them anymore, go to the next town over) and there were NEVER any financial difficulties. I said, perhaps it's a difference in dynamics between here and there, but the majority of college students I know will spend $40 on dinner and drinks for an evening without a thought. A $20 membership or extra $3 a weekend is next to nothing.

Even worse, it's very hard on the fringes.

This is probably another difference between our groups: we don't have much of a fringe. The old used peers by and large don't exist (I can think of 3) and the new comers don't sit in the fringe long, they either join us or leave within a year. And for those that want to stay, they view the NMS as 'normal operating procedure for clubs' and use it as incentive to join.

Worst of all, it's dreadful on an economic and philosophical level. It essentially says that paying money to Milpitas is the single most important way to contribute to the Society -- after all, it's the only thing we actually require.

That's not true. We REQUIRE that attendees wear garb to events (and this has been the source of our local drama, the NMS has mostly gone by unremarked). By making a big deal of this and ignoring the NMS we seem to be telling our newcomers that the single most important thing that they do is contribute to the atmosphere of events (or fail to detract, either way).

I do agree that the Board isn't handling things well, so won't remark on those points ::grin::

Our groups seem to be structured differently, and that may be the source of our different views on the subject. Nearly all of our active members are officers, and so they must be members. This is because we have 2 cantons within an hour of each other, a barony over us (and two other cantons), and just enough active people to fulfill the offices.

Thanks for taking the time to explain you're views on the matter to me, I do appreciate it.

[jducoeur]

This is probably another difference between our groups: we don't have much of a fringe.

Yes, definitely different -- the social circle that surrounds the Barony is large and rather vague. I mean, consider my monthly poker circle. It includes myself, a relatively senior and active Knight, a semi-active Count who attends an event or two a year, a former Baronial Seneschal who went to only very slightly active while his kids were small but has now come back in a big way, and another former Baronial Seneschal who claims to have dropped out entirely but still shows up at occasional events. Folks drop in and out all the time...

Nearly all of our active members are officers, and so they must be members.

Yeah, again quite different. Carolingia is both old (30+ years) and big (anywhere from 150-300 participants, depending on your definitions). Turnover is quite high, on the order of a couple dozen people a year. So we are quite passionately concerned with anything that affects recruiting negatively...

[reasdream.livejournal.com]

"But college students are choosing from among many potential activities, all seeking to chew up their time. If you put barriers to entry (such as the NMS) in place, you cripple your ability to attract them, because they just go do other things instead. A number of our younger hardcore members (including my own apprentice) have told me that they simply wouldn't have gotten started if the NMS had been in place. Now that they're heavily involved, it wouldn't change their involvement, but they wouldn't have joined in the first place."

Well, as a college student who is fin aid and work study and all those fine things, it's not as bad as you make it out to be. really. I mean, almost every event on campus charges. And, like Alienor said, most people Expect that non-members get a surcharge of some kind. Not saying it's great, it's just not a new idea either. Besides, many people here who have expressed interest in the SCA also go to cons, larps, and such things. A single larp weekend can cost $50. I get a year membership for less than that. And it's not like events cost that much anyway. $12 vs $8 isn't a huge amount ot a college student - it's the difference between a medium and a large pizza, and we almost always get larges (leftovers!). Actually, the main reason I've had trouble getting people to events has been that there's NOTHING anywhere nearby, and while they don't mind driving half an hour to see a movie, they somehow object to driving an hour for a daytriped event. Weirdos.

[cellio]

Have things changed that much since I was in college? I guess so. I remember a few campus events that had differential pricing for members/non-members of the campus group -- but these were cases where it cost you something like $5 to join, say, the computer club for the year, and then you got a buck off at parties. I don't remember any cases where you had to join the group's associated national organization with something much closer to real money. (Caveat: I was never part of the Greek system and don't know how that works.)

Maybe I went to school in the backwoods or something. The idea of spending $50 for a weekend of LARP wouldn't have seemed feasible to me, either. (I went to my first con the year after I graduated, when I had a job.) I was working about 10-15 hours a week (during the school year) at about $5 an hour; I spent that money in much smaller chunks than you're talking about.

I am curious about college freshmen who are new to the SCA (and not yet influenced by its politics) think about joining the national corporation or paying extra at events.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I am curious about college freshmen who are new to the SCA (and not yet influenced by its politics) think about joining the national corporation or paying extra at events.

I found the SCA as a college sophomore and used to go to retreats and camps for band and counseling stuff (was a peer counselor). I had to pay probably about $100 for the weekend and remember being surprised that the SCA was so cheap. The difference between $16 and $19 (our prices for the event this weekend) I don't think would have seemed to be ANYTHING since I was expecting $100 or so.

Why are you curious about college FRESHMEN? My experience was that I had less money as a college senior than as a freshman (since tuition increases but scholarships tend to stay the same over a 4 year period).

[cellio]

Why are you curious about college FRESHMEN?

Arbitrary -- I'm curious about college students who haven't yet formed opinions of the SCA and who, if they join us, will play with us for at least a couple years while "poor".

Our college experiences were very different; aside from Pennsic, I don't think I ever spent as much as $30, let alone $50 or $100, on a recreational activity. I didn't come from a particularly poor family (nor a rich one); it was just understood that the money I spent on such things had to come from the money I earned during the school year that wasn't already being spent on books.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

(Caveat: I was never part of the Greek system and don't know how that works.)

Was speaking to one of the undergrads here at work today and she was complaining about a (greek) party she was sort of obligated to go to this weekend. The entrance fee is $80. Not sure if that's just for her or for her and a date... Apparently that's one of the cheaper functions because it's just a party and not an overnight trip (like they have coming up in a few weeks).

Reminded me of this conversation and thought to throw it in.