From: IFCSS HQ <ifcss@WAM.UMD.EDU>
Subject:      Forword: IFCSS-SVC Resolution 4004
Reply-To: IFCSS HQ <ifcss@WAM.UMD.EDU>
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 22:45:40 GMT
Comments: To: china-nt@uga.cc.uga.edu

This is a forward for IFCSS Supervisory Committee
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For more information, please contact
Mr. Liu Zhendong, member of IFCSS-SVC
    liu@cae.wisc.edu


         IFCSS Supervisory Committee Resolution
                On Mr. Li, Zuofeng's Appeal


Log No: S4004
Date: September 8, 1992

        On Mr. Zuofeng Li's appeal regarding the legitimacy of
the first e-mail conference by the Council, the SVC has reached
the following consensus.

	The SVC has noticed that it has been an established
convention that the Council should announce its agenda, proposed
resolutions, and voting results of its meetings to its constituents
via some information network widely available to general public,
such as China-Net and CND, with certain time-frame constraints.
Although the Constitution of the IFCSS and the Bylaws of the Council
do not explicitly specify the particular means of publicizing the
forementioned information in letter, the convention has been
followed and practiced, and has been proven to be an effective
means not only to keep the constituents of IFCSS informed, but
also to provide a specific procedure for the elected representatives
to listen to their constituents.

	As a point of information, we would like to review some
historical facts. The relevant constitutional amendment (Article IV,
Section 18 in the current version of the Bylaws of the IFCSS) was
adopted on the Second Congress of the IFCSS. The practice of this
constitutional requirement was fully established by the third term
Council, largely due to the diligent efforts of Mr. Xun Ge, his
colleagues in the Council, and the concerned public who have been
constantly scrutinizing the activities of the Council. During the
third term Council, China-Net had been used as a medium to publicize
the relevant information in order for the Council to comply with the
constitutional requirement, while the Council-Net had been used
mainly as an internal communication network among the Council members.

	It took a few years to shape the form of this practice,
which bears the precious experiences of the past. The SVC
would like to emphasize its view that the convention based on
the Constitution and the previously recognized practices should
be respected and be observed as much as possible, unless changes
are made explicitly otherwise. It is a common wisdom that no
written document could specify every possible aspect of
a particular matter. Therefore, no constitution or bylaw
could be of any use unless it is put into practice within certain
context of conventions. Although breaking a well-recognized
convention does not necessarily constitute breaching the Constitution
by itself, neglecting such a convention can diminish the
essence of the constitutional framework.

	Based upon forementioned arguments and other relevant
information, the SVC concludes that the action of conducting the
first e-mail conference by the Council does not constitute a
violation of the Constitution of IFCSS. However, it does represent
an act of negligence by the Council, given the fact that the readership of
the Council-Net is much more limited than a public network
such as China-Net. The seriousness of this matter lies upon the
rationale that the legitimacy of the IFCSS' representation
would be in doubt, if the Council does not fully realize the importance
of the interaction with its constituents, and thus cannot reflect their
viewpoint properly.

	The SVC sincerely hopes that the Council would pay more
attention to such matters in the future. The SVC would also like
to express its appreciation and admiration to those who brought
our attention to this matter, especially Mr. Zuofeng Li. We firmly
believe that the genuine concerns from, and the participation in
the decision making processes by the general public are
the most crucial support to our organization, the IFCSS.