From: vader@meryl.csd.uu.se ("]ke Eldberg")
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: The International Committee
Date: 7 Nov 92 18:31:59 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Greetings from William de Corbie.

Tibor wrote:

>It is called the International Committee, it exists, and I believe
>it has several overseas members.  The last Board meeting announced
>that little has been done in the last quarter, as the Board member
>who supervises the committee had just joined the Board, and was a
>little behind in familiarization.

I take the liberty of publishing here a letter from Mary Kay Buike,
chairman of the International Committee, which says a bit about what
they are doing. The letter came to me with words that I could print
it in the Barony newsletter, so I cannot imagine that Mary Kay would
mind having it published here.

------- Begin inserted letter -------

Mary Kay Buike, 8163 Laguna Court, Stanton, CA 90680-3916
 
September 29, 1992
 
Greetings unto the Various correspondents with the International Committee.

(...)

The July Board of Directors meeting was held near Hanau, Germany. It was
an enlightening experience for the Directors to visit an overseas group
and hear their concerns first hand. I think that meeting will have a
long ranging effect.

The Language Policy is still in progress. It is likely the policy will
be that documents and files which will be used by speakers of more than
one language will have to remain in English. That is, if the Principality
of Drachenwald Seneschal office transfers from an American to a Swede,
then the activity documented in the files of that office must remain in
English. However, the Seneschal of the Barony of Nordmark (Sweden) may
maintain files in Swedish.

A seneschal of the one of the branches in the Far West (Japan) wrote to
comment that she thought the primary language of the SCA should be Eng-
lish. She shared the fact that most Japanese do learn some English and
can usually at least read it. She also voiced the opinion that overseas
branches should be considered for a change in membership requirements
as the groups tend to be smaller.

Several people wrote about my question regarding foreign members receipt
of newsletters. Several solutions were proposed, including a "buddy
system" for mainland residents to help with the cost of membership for
overseas members in need.  Most people agreed that overseas members
should get the newsletter of their parent Kingdom but there is still the
difficulty of financing it. At this point, I think I will have to put
this issue on hold until the new Registry software is available to help
analyze the costs.

One of the issues raised at the Board meeting in Europe concerned
translation of SCA publications. This issue was also raised in 1989.
Tim Moran (Director who is ombudsman for the Chronicler) and I are
investigating that question. We are currently at the stage of identi-
fying the issues. One of the issues is copyright and the author's
permission to translate. If any of you have ideas about a translation
policy, please share them. I will keep you posted on our progress.

When the current branch requirements were developed, the thinking was
that if there were 5 subscribing members, there would probably be several
more associate members and some active participants who hadn't paid a
membership. A branch really needs more than 5 people to be viable. The
expectation was that for every subscribing member there would be several
more active participants. And it is the higher number that is considered
to reflect the needs of the branch. 

The Seneschal of Southron Gaard (New Zealand) has written concerning the
minimum numbers for the establishment of an SCA branch. He is of the
opinion that it will help them to also count associate members toward
the minimum. They find a subscribing (ie, Foreign) membership very
expensive. If this is done, then the minimum number will be higher than
five. Does the SCA need to make a blanket change to policy? Or would a
variance on a case- by-case basis be good enough.

The Seneschal of An Tir wrote to discuss Incorporation of the Society
in Canada. He explained that the Canadian government does not allow the
SCA local branches there to have bank accounts or conduct other business
without being incorporated. Thus, several local groups have established
their own corporations. Historically, this has caused some problems for
An Tir. Could those of you in other Kingdoms that incorporate Canada
(Middle, East) comment on how your groups have solved this problem.
Are their separate corporations set up by your local Canadian branches?
In the Kingdom Seneschal's Handbook, the Steward indicates that Ontario
has an agreement to recognize the Incorporation from the USA.

( closing section with questions put to overseas branches deleted )

Very Truly Yours,
Mary Kay Buike
Director, SCA Inc.
Ombudsman: An Tir, Middle
Chair: International Committee

------- end of inserted letter ------- 

William
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca