[Massachusetts-NFB] FW: [From The January 2014 Braille Monitor, Resolutions and the Way Policies are Made in the National Federation of the Blind
Al and Masha Sten-Clanton
sweeties2 at verizon.net
Mon Jun 26 22:42:54 UTC 2023
This is generally a very good article. In 1980, when I was a summer
intern at our headquarters, I learned much of what I did about
resolutions straight from Jim Gashel. I doubt very many of us had that
privilege.
One thing it does not discuss, though, is how to get a resolution before
the convention if the committee does not pass it. In the old days, the
sponsor of the resolution could still bring it to the convention session
for a vote. If I remember correctly, that now requires the support of
five affiliate delegates. Is this correct?
Best!
Al Sten-Clanton
On 6/26/23 16:22, Shara Winton via Massachusetts-NFB wrote:
>
> https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm14/bm1401/bm140108.htm
>
>
> Resolutions and the Way Policies are Made in the National
> Federation of the Blind
>
> *by Gary Wunder*
>
> In the August-September issue Sharon Maneki, the chairman of the
> Resolutions Committee, wrote an article discussing the policy
> statements the convention had adopted in July of 2013. Following
> that article are copies of each resolution as passed. Not long
> after this issue reached /Monitor/ readers, I began receiving
> suggestions about how we should talk about the importance of
> resolutions, how and why they should be drafted, and what happens
> to them once they are passed. This is a tall order, but let's at
> least start to answer these questions.
>
>
> *A resolution is divided into two parts.*
>
> In the first part a case is made that certain events have taken
> place that require action. The events are described in short
> statements that begin with the word WHEREAS, and they may speak to
> some wrong that must be righted or to some good deed that should
> be acknowledged. These statements should clearly set forth the
> reason a resolution is being written, without being so detailed
> that they make the reader wish the resolution had never happened.
>
> The second part of a resolution explains what will or should be
> done based on the argument laid out in the first section. Resolves
> are used to say what the NFB will do or what we will try to
> persuade others to do. Again this may be to condemn and deplore
> actions we find objectionable or to applaud actions we find
> meritorious. These, too, should be brief and to the point: long
> enough that they are not ambiguous and concise enough that they
> avoid repeating what has already been said. At the end of this
> article, when you’ve been convinced how important resolutions are
> and that you may want to write one yourself, we'll drop in a few
> guidelines prepared by Barbara Pierce, using her many years of
> experience in editing the final version of our policy statements.
>
>
> *Who writes resolutions?*
>
> The simple answer is that resolutions are written by anyone who
> believes that the National Federation of the Blind should take a
> position on something and who wishes us to make this position
> public. Resolutions may come from members of our Advocacy and
> Policy Department, from our national board of directors, from
> divisions or committees of the Federation, or from members who
> feel passionately enough about an issue to take up their device of
> choice and write. Resolutions are submitted to the chairman of the
> Resolutions Committee or to the president of the National
> Federation of the Blind at least two weeks before the meeting of
> the Resolutions Committee. They are reviewed to determine, as best
> we can, that they are factually and grammatically correct and are
> then presented to the Resolutions Committee on what is sometimes
> called Registration or Resolutions Day. If they are passed by the
> Resolutions Committee, they are then considered on the afternoon
> of the second day of the convention and, if approved, become
> official Federation policy.
>
> Like every system devised by man, this one has its problems.
> People who do not attend the meeting of the committee hear the
> resolutions for the first time that afternoon and are then asked
> to vote in favor of or in opposition to something they have had
> little time to consider. We have limited time for questions and
> discussion, and sometimes the volume of resolutions has meant we
> have had to read the resolve clause and have omitted the part of
> the resolution explaining the need for it.
>
> At the most recent meeting of the board of directors, a decision
> was made to post resolutions passed by the committee on our
> website, clearly labeling them as resolutions being considered by
> the convention. In this way those with devices capable of reading
> information from the web can see what is being proposed for
> consideration by the membership, can decide how they think and
> feel about the resolutions, can get to the right people to ask
> their questions, and can be in a better position to vote when the
> resolutions are considered.
>
>
> *So what happens to resolutions once they are passed by the
> convention?*
>
> To start with, all of them appear on our website and are available
> to those wanting to know if the Federation has a position on a
> given topic. They are published in the August-September issue of
> the /Braille/ /Monitor,/ along with an article explaining who
> introduced them and why they were introduced and describing
> similar resolutions passed in the current or previous years. As
> for implementation, some resolutions are sent to divisions of the
> Federation for action and follow-up. Others are sent by the
> president or his designee to the businesses and agencies they
> affect. Most are assigned to the director of policy and advocacy
> for action.
>
>
> *Do the resolutions passed really make a difference?*
>
> The answer is most assuredly yes. Our resolution on quiet cars
> culminated in legislation, and that legislation will someday soon
> be incorporated into binding regulations that will make travel
> safer for the blind and all pedestrians and cyclists. Our
> resolution about the continuing inaccessibility of the Kindle
> resulted in a protest at the headquarters of Amazon in December of
> 2012 and subsequent improvements in the software Amazon produces.
> Our resolution on the payment of subminimum wages caused the
> introduction of H.R. 831 by Congressman Gregg Harper of
> Mississippi and the publicity we have received on the NBC
> television network and other media outlets.
>
> Now that you know why we draft, discuss, and pass resolutions and
> what happens to them once they become Federation policy, here are
> some guidelines to use in creating them:
>
>
> *Guidelines for Resolution Writing*
>
> Writing resolutions is a specialized skill. The resolution is one
> very long sentence directing the organization to take a stand or
> engage in some action. It can also commend or take exception to
> actions of other entities. It cannot provide direct instructions
> to any group other than the NFB or its president and board of
> directors. However, it does call upon those entities to make
> changes. The actions or other recommendations are contained in the
> RESOLVED clauses at the close of the resolution. The argument for
> taking the action is laid out in a series of WHEREASes. Ideally
> each argument, and only one argument, should be placed in a single
> WHEREAS. These should be arranged in the most logical order.
>
> The most efficient way to write a resolution is to make a simple
> outline or list of premises which you will turn into the WHEREAS
> clauses and a similar simple list of phrases for the RESOLVED
> clauses. In fact, you should begin by determining what your
> RESOLVED clauses are, that is, how many there should be and what
> their basic thrust is. You will know how many by the number of
> entities we need to address or the number of problems we need to
> fix. After you decide specifically how you want the problem fixed,
> determine the smallest number of concepts you need to explain to a
> person unfamiliar with the problem that there is a problem. The
> best resolutions can be picked up by a person unfamiliar with the
> issue and hold that person's attention (in other words, they are
> as short as possible) while still actually explaining the problem
> and the solution or solutions. This method, deciding the ending
> first and then crafting the arguments to reach it, will result in
> the simplest and clearest resolution. Then, when you actually
> write the formal resolution, you can focus on the writing and the
> style, having already done the planning part.
>
> Here are the punctuation and layout rules for writing resolutions:
>
> 1. Each argument begins with the word WHEREAS, indented and all
> caps. BE IT RESOLVED and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, which
> introduce the RESOLVED sections, are also indented and written
> in all caps. Note that WHEREAS is followed by a comma, but the
> two versions of BE IT RESOLVED are not.
> 2. Each WHEREAS before the final one ends with a semicolon and
> the word "and." This is true of the word "RESOLVED" as well.
> 3. The final WHEREAS ends with a colon, the words "Now,
> therefore," and a hard return. Please note that “Now” is
> capitalized.
> 4. The final RESOLVED ends with a period. This reflects the fact
> that the entire resolution is a single sentence. Sometimes one
> is taxed to refrain from writing sentences within WHEREASes,
> but inserting a complete sentence is not playing the game fairly.
> 5. A blank line separates the elements of the resolution.
> 6. In the beginning of the first RESOLVED, surround the year and
> the state with commas. The formula looks like this: “BE IT
> RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind in
> Convention assembled this eighth day of July, 2000, in the
> city of Atlanta, Georgia,” Note also that the c in city is not
> capitalized.
>
> Remember that the resolves are couched in the subjunctive mood,
> which is rarely used in English. This means that the third person
> singular verbs look like plurals when they are actually singular:
> the organization urge, the NFB condemn and deplore, etc.
>
> The rather strained form of the resolution makes it sound
> unnatural and formal. Do not attempt to add to this effect by
> indulging in jargon and verbosity. Even though resolutions are
> frequently long, brevity is a virtue. Each argument should be made
> concisely but clearly. Jargon never helps this process.
> Substituting "utilize" for the short, vigorous word "use" and
> always referring to people as "persons" or "individuals" are good
> examples of counterproductive inflation of the pomposity quotient.
> On the other hand, because resolutions are formal statements of a
> policy position, you should avoid slang or informal words like
> "exams" instead of "examinations" or "quotes" for "quotations."
> Verb forms like "hunker down" or "get going" are also a bit too
> casual for use in resolutions.
>
> You will remember that the NFB is on record as opposing
> people-first language, except as it happens for some reason to
> sound euphonious. Despite this fact, we are increasingly saddled
> with awkward people-first language in our resolutions that serves
> no function but to lengthen the argument, sound pompous, and
> contradict our own policy. Remember that there is nothing wrong
> with the terms "blind people" or "blindness field." Yet
> increasingly our resolutions are cluttered with "persons who are
> blind" or “individuals with blindness or visual impairment."
>
> Capitalization should be consistent. Do not capitalize words for
> emphasis. Quotation marks should not be used for this purpose
> either. "Federal" is not capitalized unless it is part of an
> actual title or is the first word of a sentence. Since WHEREASes
> begin with capital letters, federal is almost never capitalized in
> resolutions. "Congress," on the other hand, is, as are "House of
> Representatives" and "Senate." Names of departments and
> organizations are capitalized, but terms like "departments of
> education" or "vocational rehabilitation agencies" are generic and
> should not be.
>
> Resolutions often pile up nouns as adjectives. When this happens,
> the terms should be hyphenated: access-program producers.
>
> Bill numbers are written H.R. 0000 or S. 0000.
>
> There you have Barbara Pierce’s sage advice about the content and
> format of resolutions. So now you know why we have resolutions,
> the process we go through to consider and pass them, what happens
> once they are passed, and the way you can author one. When
> resolutions are being considered in 2014, make sure you are a part
> of the process, and be sure to meet the deadlines.
>
>
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