The North Pacific University Act

Tsomayim hereby sponsors the following legislation, proposed in the North pacific Regional Assembly on May 5, 2024:

The North Pacific University Act:

Chapter 9 of the Legal Code shall be amended as follows:

Section 9.5: The North Pacific University
23. A "The North Pacific University" (also referred to as TNPU) shall be established in the "Community Center" section of the forums.
24. The WA Delegate shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Regional Assembly, a Chancellor of The North Pacific University ("The Chancellor"), who shall, along with 2 Vice Chancellors, be responsible for the day-to-day administration of TNPU. The Chancellor can be dismissed by the Regional Assembly by majority vote.
25. The Chancellor shall appoint up to 2 Vice Chancellors, with the advice and consent of the Regional Assembly, to assist in the operations of TNPU. All three shall compose the Board of Chancellors, which shall, by majority vote, make all decisions regarding the University, including but not limited to, it's organizational structure, faculty, student body, and curricula. In the absence of the two Vice Chancellors, the Chancellor shall serve as the primary decision-maker. In the absence of the Chancellor, the seniormost Vice Chancellor, in order of appointment, shall act as Chancellor until a replacement can be made. They shall ascertain the fitness of each faculty member to teach with regards to their field of study. All classes and curricula shall be approved by the Board of Chancellors.
26. Each University Session shall, unless otherwise decided by the Board of Chancellors, last for 6 weeks. Each class shall meet at least once per week.

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There is no need for TNPU to be regulated by law. It is a cultural forum activity, much like roleplaying. If anything, the Delegate could give a prospective Chancellor their blessing and the Chancellor can set how things run as they see fit. Besides, we really don't have set classes and a schedule for them..

Sil Dorsett:

There is no need for TNPU to be regulated by law. It is a cultural forum activity, much like roleplaying. If anything, the Delegate could give a prospective Chancellor their blessing and the Chancellor can set how things run as they see fit. Besides, we really don't have set classes and a schedule for them..

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I understand your position, but I respectfully disagree. I'd like to establish a more formalized institution; not so much regulated by law as much as the law simply providing for the establishment of it, with structure to be largely decided by the Board of Chancellors. I'd like members to have the opportunity to share their knowledge and for members to acquire knowledge, without irregularity.

If we did enshrine the TNPU into law, I still think proposed 9.5.26 is completely unnecessary and unreasonable. Why make someone who has something to share split their content into six sections when one post could do?

A couple things:

1) It's legally the Delegate, not "WA Delegate" who is the head of state and head of government of TNP. See Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution.
2) Why does the appointment of the Chancellor and two Vice Chancellors need the consent of the Regional Assembly? The Delegate can appoint Ministers, who are far more important in the government than TNPU Chancellors, without the RA's consent.
3) Classes and a formal cirriculum isn't really necessary. This isn't a real-world university with a full staff.
4) Why the mandate for a University Session to last for 6 weeks unless decided otherwise by the Board?

I don’t think that I would be likely to support this proposal if it were to proceed to a vote. I think, as has been suggested, this is something that really can be left to the executive. However, I include below some comments and suggestions for amendments to the draft.

23. A "The North Pacific University" (also referred to as TNPU) shall be established in the "Community Center" section of the forums.

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I don’t see that the location of the University has to be prescribed. Most of the regional government does not have its location set out in the Code and this would seem to me to reduce the ability of the University to determine such matters itself.

24. The WA Delegate shall appoint, with the advice and consent of subject to confirmation by the Regional Assembly, a Chancellor of The North Pacific University ("The Chancellor"), who shall, along with 2 Vice Chancellors, be responsible for the day-to-day administration of TNPU. The Chancellor can be dismissed by the Regional Assembly by majority vote.

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The Delegate and the WA Delegate are distinct concepts in the Code, the former being the holder of the legal office and the latter the holder of the in-game delegacy. While most of the time the two ought to be the same nation, the power to appoint officials should clearly rest with the former. The language of advice and consent is not generally used in our law, rather the Assembly confirms nominations or appointments. In relation to dismissal, while I have not fully mulled it over, I do wonder if allowing dismissal by majority vote may be unconstitutional, as the Assembly’s constitutional power is to recall officials by two-thirds majority and it would seem odd if the Assembly could by law empower itself to remove an official by a lesser majority.

25. The Chancellor shall appoint up to 2 Vice Chancellors, with the advice and consent of the Regional Assembly, to assist in the operations of TNPU. All three shall compose the Board of Chancellors, which shall, by majority vote, make all decisions regarding the University, including but not limited to, it's organizational structure, faculty, student body, and curricula. In the absence of the two Vice Chancellors, the Chancellor shall serve as the primary decision-maker. In the absence of the Chancellor, the seniormost Vice Chancellor, in order of appointment, shall act as Chancellor until a replacement can be made. They shall ascertain the fitness of each faculty member to teach with regards to their field of study. All classes and curricula shall be approved by the Board of Chancellors.

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This clause is very long and would probably be better broken up, perhaps into one clause addressing the composition of the Board and another addressing its powers. In relation to the Vice Chancellors, this structure of having them be appointed by the Chancellor would cause them not to be government officials as defined in the Constitution (as they are not appointed by a Constitutionally-mandated Elected Official (the Delegate, Vice Delegate, Speaker, or Justices)) and so, on the face of it, there is no power to remove them as the Assembly would not be entitled to recall them and no entity is empowered by the Section to do so.

26. Each University Session shall, unless otherwise decided by the Board of Chancellors, last for 6 weeks. Each class shall meet at least once per week.

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This clause feels quite unnecessary, if the courses are determined by the Board, surely the Board will be best placed to determine length and frequency under its general powers.

EDIT: I see Pitcairn beat me to the punch on some of these

Zyvetskistaahn:

EDIT: I see Pitcairn beat me to the punch on some of these

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No worries, your post is much more comprehensive than mine.

Ok so as the person responsible for the transformation of the old TNPU to the current Community Centre, I'm not going to offer any feedback on the precise legislation laid out here, though I find Zyvet's feedback sufficient if you wanted to pursue it.

What instead I'm going to do is ask a few questions.

1. Do you seriously think anyone is interested in coming up with a school curriculum in an online text based nation sim game? And do you think they're interested in doing that for free? We have more than a few teachers or student-teachers in this region who could do it, but that's precisely why they wouldn't want to do it.

2. Given that there are zero examples of NS universities with sustained success and activity, what makes you think a revived TNPU would be successful?

3. Are you willing to serve as TNPU's first chancellor?

St George:

1. Do you seriously think anyone is interested in coming up with a school curriculum in an online text based nation sim game? And do you think they're interested in doing that for free? We have more than a few teachers or student-teachers in this region who could do it, but that's precisely why they wouldn't want to do it.

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Same reason I tend not to want to work in TNP Court matters because it duplicates with my work life.

Tsomayim:

I understand your position, but I respectfully disagree. I'd like to establish a more formalized institution; not so much regulated by law as much as the law simply providing for the establishment of it, with structure to be largely decided by the Board of Chancellors. I'd like members to have the opportunity to share their knowledge and for members to acquire knowledge, without irregularity.

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I have no plans at this stage to go a more formalized approach to TNPU. The last time we tried a few years it was not popular. Let's see what happens with the informal approach first.

These things should be the perogative of the Executive. Fully opposed to any codification that isn't purely symbolic.