FULL POLICY HERE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kee4k67Q332VgAPqlEb2DktnaEb1VTwmfKR9ZxLDUEg/edit
Membership Review Policy
A Membership Review is a public review at a house meeting of a member's actions or behavior. The meeting should be at the regularly scheduled meeting time unless a different time is deemed necessary to increase meeting attendance. Meeting must meet quorum. A Membership Review can result in a vote to remove a member from the house.
A Trustee from either of our two houses will run the membership review portion of the meeting while the scheduled meeting facilitator will run the rest of the regular meeting. An effort will be made to have the Trustee from the other house facilitate the membership review process but they are NOT required to accept. The membership review will be the first item on the agenda to allow adequate time to do the review. If the Trustee is the one being member reviewed, a special membership review facilitator will be elected by a simple majority at the beginning of the meeting.
Any three members of the house [See Note 1] may call a Membership Review of any member. A Membership Review is called by writing it on the meeting agenda and publicly posting the reasons for the review AND posting the membership review policy procedures(this document) 7 days in advance of the meeting. The Trustee will ensure that the meeting discussion adheres to the publicly posted reasons for the review.
The member being reviewed has a right to address fully all of the reasons for the review.
After discussing all of the reasons for the review, the Trustee will ask the member in question to leave the room while the meeting discusses whether to call for a vote to remove them from the house [See Note 2]. While the member is out of the room, no new issues will be brought up. If any new issues are brought up, then the member will be called back into the room and given the chance to address those issues. A single member may call for a vote to remove the member in question from the house. The vote will take place while the member is out of the room. The member being reviewed can vote before leaving the room.
The vote will be a secret, written vote, tallied by the regular Meeting Facilitator and the Trustee. [See Note 2.] The vote can be taken on paper ballots.
The member being reviewed does not have to be in attendance at the meeting to be removed from the house or to have their membership revoked [See Note 3]. The member being reviewed may write a response, which will be presented at the meeting, if they are unable/unwilling to attend the meeting.
A simple majority vote is required to remove someone from the house. If the meeting votes to remove the member from the house, then the member's membership will be revoked and removal proceedings will begin.
Notes:
[1] 3 members are required to call for a Membership Review at ICC (Austin's Inter-Cooperative Council student co-ops). This ensures that Membership Reviews are not frivolous.
[2] This allows members to vote freely without fear of retribution. This is especially important if the member is being reviewed for violent or abusive behavior.
[3] If a member had to be in attendance at the Membership Review to be removed, they could just keep skipping the meeting so they would never be removed.