draft bill

Grosseschnauzer

Grosseschnauzer

TNPer
We need to submit a draft bill to the RA with the report. I'm wanting to have both items to the RA by the 28th (the end of next week) so they can vote in the bill after New Years.

Outline - rought draft

Section 1. Creation.
The North Pacific University is created as an autonomous, independent institution of learning, scholarship and knowledge of The North Pacific. The University shall hsve standing to be a party in a proceeding in The Court of The North Pacific. The University may contain one or more special institutes or schools for the training of personnel to be used in the diplomatic, security, law enforcement, judicial, and military functions of the Regional Government.

Section 2. Mission Statement
(based on final report language.)

Section 3. The Board of Regents.

A - The Board of Regents of The North Pacific University is created as the governing body of the University. It shall consist of a chair and five elected members. The elected members shal serve six month terms.
B - The Minister of Culture and Education shall serve as the chair of the Board of Regents and shall vote on any matter before the Board in case of a tie vote among the Regents. Further, the chair may refer any appropriate matter to the Cabinet or the Regional Assembly, when in the chair's judgment, such a referral is warranted.
C - The Board shall be elected in the first week of March and September by an election in the Regional Assembly. Regents shall be members of the Regional Assembly in good standing during their term. The Board of Regents shall be elected by plurality vote of the Regional Assembly in the manner prescribed by law. Vacancies on the board shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies on the Security Council.
D - The Board shall have power to adopt and modify rules and policies concerning student admissions, course offerings, general faculty procedures, and degree certifications, as well as any other appropriate statements of rules and policy. The Board may adopt procedures for its business. The rules shall include provisions for who shall preside at deliberations of the board in case of the absence of its chair, and who will act as the chancellor in case of the Chancellor's absence or inactivity at any time during the chancellor's term.

Section 4. Chancellor.

A- The chief administrator of the University is the Chancellor. The Chancellor shall be appointed by the Board of Regents during the first week of the months of June and December of each year, and shall serve a six month-term. The Chancellor shall be a ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board of Regents. The Chancellor shall be a member of the Regional Assembly during their term of office.
B - The Chacellor shall be accountable to the Board of Regents for the administrative and operational functions of the University.
C - The Board of Regents shall have power to remove the Chancellor for cause, and that removal may be reviewed by appeal to the Court of The North Pacific.

Section 5. Effective Date and Implementation.
A - This law shall be effective upon adoption.
B - During the first week following the adoption of this law, the Speaker shall organize an election of the initial Board of Regents, who shall serve until a Board of Regents is normally elected in September.
C - Within a week thereafter, the initially elected Board of Regents shall appoint the initial Chancellor of the University, who shall serve until the first week of December, at which time a Chancellor shall be appointed for a normal six-month term.
D - The Board of Regents and the Chancellor shall expeditiously arrange for iis initial course offerings to begin as soon as possible.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?
 
This is what I threw together from the 'collecting our thoughts' thread. Sorry it took so long in coming:

The goal of the TNPU is to create an environment where members’ experience and lessons learned may be shared in an instructional setting for the betterment of all players of Nationstates and the game itself. We also envision a role of the University to commission original research covering any section of gameplay.

To accomplish this the university will offer courses of study leading to certification for beginning and advanced courses. The university would also serve as the host for the discussion of topics of either a general or specialized nature in a disciplined, academic setting.  In general, this would include:
    * Courses on beginner NS issues, such as how the UN works, how issues work, etc.
    * Advanced courses for players who understand the game. Subjects such as complex invader/defender, history of NS regions, interregional politics, etc.
    * Technical courses to give an introduction to management of offsite forums.
    * Certifications for those who have taken a set of courses and passed a short examination or made a academic rigorous presentation on a relevant area of academic value;
    * Lectures by veteran NS players on various issues;
    * Discussions on in-depth and advanced NS issues;
    * A library of NS documents, posts, forum addresses, etc. that are normally hard to find, including an in-depth archive of documents relating to TNP history.

The University would be set up as an independent corporation, enjoying the relevant rights of citizens of TNP. The administration of this corporation would be done through a chancellor and a board of regents. The board of regents would consist of six members, to serve a six-month term and elected by the members of the Regional Assembly as representatives of the nations contained within The North Pacific on a non-partisan basis. The election would be conducted in the same manner used for the Security Council. The Minister of Culture and Education would serve as the chair of the board of regents on an ex-officio basis, voting in cases of a tie.

The chancellor would be elected by the board of regents for a six month term, at the half-way point of the regents’ term. The chancellor would be an ex-officio member of the board of regents, and be the day-to-day head of the university. The chancellor will organize the curriculum and selecting the faculty and other officials of the University. The board and the chancellor would set the policies of the University.
Click to expand...

This section isn't entirely clear to me how this works with the University as an independent entity. I think that my definition of corporation (even though it probably isn't entirely right) would give TNPU access to the Judiciary. I think I would rather have a constructive vote of no confidence be the way the Regents could deal with either an inactive or irresponsible Chancellor. Would we bar the Regents from being Chancellor?

In the event of an emergency, or where action is necessary or appropriate, then the Minister of Culture and Education as chairman of the board of regents, could take an issue to the Cabinet or to the Regional Assembly. The board of regents will provide for who would act as chancellor in the event the chancellor is unavailable or resigns until a new chancellor is put in place. The university would have access to the judiciary as a distinct entity.
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I've dealt with the University's access to the Court in section one of the draft bill:
Section 1. Creation.
The North Pacific University is created as an autonomous, independent institution of learning, scholarship and knowledge of The North Pacific. The University shall have standing to be a party in a proceeding in The Court of The North Pacific.
Click to expand...

We probably could simply permit the board to remove the Chancellor "for cause" and allow the Court to review the matter.

ANd I think we should include Ator's ideas for courses and classifications of the courses, as an example of what the Commission has in mind, but that the final decisions should be made by the Regents and Chancellor once they are in place.
 
Grosseschnauzer:
ANd I think we should include Ator's ideas for courses and classifications of the courses, as an example of what the Commission has in mind, but that the final decisions should be made by the Regents and Chancellor once they are in place.
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That shouldn't be in the bill, should it? That would be in the statement released at the same time, da?
 
Haor Chall:
Grosseschnauzer:
And I think we should include Ator's ideas for courses and classifications of the courses, as an example of what the Commission has in mind, but that the final decisions should be made by the Regents and Chancellor once they are in place.
Click to expand...

That shouldn't be in the bill, should it? That would be in the statement released at the same time, da?
Click to expand...
Yes, it would be in the report. (Unter posted a cleaning up of the report draft in this thread; so at the moment both items are in this thread.
 
Grosseschnauzer:
(Unter posted a cleaning up of the report draft in this thread; so at the moment both items are in this thread.
Click to expand...
d'oh, my mistake. For whatever reason I thought this was the next iteration of what report we wanted to submit. Schnauzer, if you want to swap it back over to the 'collecting thoughts' thread I would be perfectly happy.

I can understand how the granting of standing to TNPU gives basically the same rights as corporation, but to me (and likely many others) it is a more confusing way of putting it.
 
As long as everyone else can tell the difference, it is not a problem for me.

Both the report and the bill will go to the RA, so one way or other they will have to deal with it!
:lol:
 
Ah, np I wasn't sure t'was all. So how long till we move this out then, are we nearly there yet?

The certification plan would go in with the report as a recommendation I would imagine.
 
Ator People:
Will the certification plan be included in one of the two?
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Ator, as I suggested in the certification thread, the recommendation would be included in the report. We should also have a paragraph included that the recommendations as a whole are the road map we are laying out for the University, and that we intend that the board of regents and the chancellor be able to update and refine the road map as they proceed.

I probably should also include language that sets the opening date for classes to begin. Any suggestios? Hopefully the board and chancellor can be in place by 1 February 2007, so how much more time would they need to set up?

And Haor, depending on how fast we finish these last few details, we will be rady to post the report and the draft bill in the public thread contained in the Prime Minister's office. A few days after that I'll send everyone on to the Regional Assemby. So our work as a commission is almost completed.

@Unter, to refer to the University as a corporation would then mean we would need a business organizations law adopted first. While OOC and RL, I'm probaby as qualified as anyone to do it, it's a lot of work at this point that the region doesn't need. I think its just easier to say that TNPU has standing to be a party in a proceeding in the Court, and take it from there.
 
Sounds good. I'd say the start of March would be a great time to start classes. The previous month would be spent finding professors, planning the curriculum, etc. and students could begin registration for courses in the second half of Feb.
 
Here is an updated draft of the bill. We now need a updated draft of the commission's final report and recommendations.

Section 1. Creation.
A - The North Pacific University is created as an autonomous, independent  institution of learning, scholarship and knowledge of The North Pacific.
B - The University may contain one or more special institutes or schools for the training of personnel to be used in the diplomatic, security, law enforcement, judicial, military, or other functions of the Regional Government.
C - The University shall hsve standing to be a party in a proceeding in The Court of The North Pacific.

Section 2. Mission Statement
A - The goal of the University includes, but is not limited to, the creation of an environment where members’ experience and lessons learned may be shared in an instructional setting for the betterment of all players of Nationstates and the game itself. Further, the University may commission original research which includes, but is not limited to, any aspect of gameplay and the history of Nationstates and The North Pacific.

Section 3. The Board of Regents.
A - The Board of Regents of The North Pacific University is created as the governing body of the University. It shall consist of a chair and five elected members. The elected members shal serve six month terms.
B - The Minister of Culture and Education shall serve as the chair of the Board of Regents and shall vote on any matter before the Board in case of a tie vote among the Regents.
C - In the event of an emergency, or where such an action is necessary or appropriate, the chair may refer an appropriate matter to the Cabinet or the Regional Assembly, when in the chair's judgment, such a referral is warranted.
D - The Board shall be elected in the first week of March and September by an election in the Regional Assembly. Regents shall be members of the Regional Assembly in good standing during their term. The Board of Regents shall be elected by plurality vote of the Regional Assembly in the manner prescribed by law for Security Council elections. Vacancies on the board shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies on the Security Council.
E - The Board shall have power to adopt and modify rules and policies concerning student admissions, course offerings, general faculty procedures, and degree certifications, as well as any other appropriate statements of rules and policy. The Board may adopt procedures for its business. The rules shall provisde for who shall preside at deliberations of the board in case of the absence of its chair, and who may serve as Acting Chancellor in case of the Chancellor's absence or inactivity at any time during the chancellor's term.

Section 4. Chancellor.
A- The chief administrator of the University is the Chancellor. The Chancellor shall be appointed by the Board of Regents during the first week of the months of June and December of each year, and shall serve a six month-term.
B - The Chancellor shall be a ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board of Regents. The Chancellor shall be a member of the Regional Assembly during their term of office.
C - The Chacellor shall be accountable to the Board of Regents for the administrative and operational functions of the University.
D - The Board of Regents shall have power to remove the Chancellor for cause, and that removal may be reviewed by appeal to the Court of The North Pacific.

Section 5. Effective Date and Implementation.
A - This law shall be effective upon adoption.
B - During the first week following the adoption of this law, the Speaker shall organize an election of the initial Board of Regents, who shall serve until a Board of Regents is normally elected in September.
C - Within a week thereafter, the initially elected Board of Regents shall appoint the initial Chancellor of the University, who shall serve until the first week of December, at which time a Chancellor shall be appointed for a normal six-month term.
D - The Board of Regents and the Chancellor shall expeditiously arrange for iis initial course offerings to begin as soon as practicable, within 30 days after the initial Board of Regents and the intial Chancellor are installed in their positions.
Click to expand...

Any other nikpiks to correct?

We're almost there, folks.
 
Section 1. Creation.
A - The North Pacific University is created as an autonomous, independent institution of learning, scholarship and knowledge of The North Pacific.
B - The University may contain one or more special institutes or schools for the training of personnel to be used in the diplomatic, security, law enforcement, judicial, military, or other functions of the Regional Government.
C - The University shall have standing to be a party in a proceeding in The Court of The North Pacific.

Section 2. Mission Statement
A - The goal of the University includes, but is not limited to, the creation of an environment where members’ experience and lessons learned may be shared in an instructional setting for the betterment of all players of Nationstates and the game itself. Further, the University may commission original research which includes, but is not limited to, any aspect of gameplay and the history of Nationstates and The North Pacific.

Section 3. The Board of Regents.
A - The Board of Regents of The North Pacific University is created as the governing body of the University. It shall consist of a chair and five elected members. The elected members shall serve six month terms.
B - The Minister of Culture and Education shall serve as the chair of the Board of Regents and shall vote on any matter before the Board in case of a tie vote among the Regents.
C - In the event of an emergency, or where such an action is necessary or appropriate, the chair may refer an appropriate matter to the Cabinet or the Regional Assembly, when in the chair's judgment, such a referral is warranted.
D - The Board shall be elected in the first week of March and September by an election in the Regional Assembly. Regents shall be members of the Regional Assembly in good standing during their term. The Board of Regents shall be elected by plurality vote of the Regional Assembly in the manner prescribed by law for Security Council elections. Vacancies on the board shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies on the Security Council.
E - The Board shall have power to adopt and modify rules and policies concerning student admissions, course offerings, general faculty procedures, and degree certifications, as well as any other appropriate statements of rules and policy. The Board may adopt procedures for its business. The rules shall provisde for who shall preside at deliberations of the board in case of the absence of its chair, and who may serve as Acting Chancellor in case of the Chancellor's absence or inactivity at any time during the Chancellor's term.

Section 4. Chancellor.
A- The chief administrator of the University is the Chancellor. The Chancellor shall be appointed by the Board of Regents during the first week of the months of June and December of each year, and shall serve a six month-term.
B - The Chancellor shall be a ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board of Regents. The Chancellor shall be a member of the Regional Assembly during their term of office.
C - The Chancellor shall be accountable to the Board of Regents for the administrative and operational functions of the University.
D - The Board of Regents shall have power to remove the Chancellor for cause, and that removal may be reviewed by appeal to the Court of The North Pacific.

Section 5. Effective Date and Implementation.
A - This law shall be effective upon adoption.
B - During the first week following the adoption of this law, the Speaker shall organize an election of the initial Board of Regents, who shall serve until a Board of Regents is normally elected in September.
C - Within a week thereafter, the initially elected Board of Regents shall appoint the initial Chancellor of the University, who shall serve until the first week of December, at which time a Chancellor shall be appointed for a normal six-month term.
D - The Board of Regents and the Chancellor shall expeditiously arrange for iis initial course offerings to begin as soon as practicable, within 30 days after the initial Board of Regents and the intial Chancellor are installed in their positions.
Click to expand...

I think it looks great. I fixed a few typos, but couldn't figure out what the bolded text (in 5D) should be. One more question: may the Board of Regents select a member of their own as Chancellor?
 
The word in 5D is "its" (possessive form).

The Chancellor is already a non-voting member of the Board of Regents (that's is what ex-officio means, that whoever is chancellor has a seat while they hold that position). oversight by the board wouldn't be enhanced if the Chancellor is a voting member of the board.

Unter or Ator or Byard, can one of you please finish up the report and recommendatons that go with the bill?

Thanks.
 
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