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

[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.