# Robert's Rules of Order/Wright State University Lake Campus

Two great beacons of hope for the human race are education and democracy. For this and other reasons, all faculty senates should have a deep understanding of rules of order. A strong disincentive against learning Robert's Rules of Order (RRO) are the facts that they (1) are rarely needed if members of the assembly act in good faith, and (2) cannot rescue a completely dysfunctional assembly. The purpose of this essay is to explore how a faculty senate can informally incorporate rules of order in order to gain a deeper understanding of how parliamentary democracy. History shows that the culture of democracy cannot be transplanted by simply focusing on the rules. Perhaps an effort by this faculty sentate to develop informal rules can lead to insights that might make it easier to disseminate knowledge about how democratic assemblies should function.

## Is it OK to modify Robert's Rules by making them less formal?

Absolutly!
The great flexibility already built into RRO suggests that the best way to understand and incorporate RRO might be to completely ignore Robert's Rules and instead focus on making the meetings more efficient. After that one can easily make RRO conform to the chosen set of rules.
A number of methods can permit an organization to achieve a workable democracy before attempting to follow RRO:
* The simplest is to actually break the rules! In almost all cases, bad decisions resulting from a breakdown of democratic procedures are best reversed by by acting within the scope of the rules to rescind the decision. Judgements can be reversed due to technical flaws in our legal system, but not under RRO.
* Another way to avoid the rules is to hold discussions before or the meeting (see for example this straw poll ). It is also possible to halt formal procedures during a meeting. This approach is important even for organizations that have mastered the intricacies of RRO. These rules are for debating and deciding, not for discussing, analyzing, or finding compromises.
* Once an organization has found a comfortable set of procedures, a suspension of the rules can be achieved (without debate) by a 2/3 majority. It should be noted that a senate that cannot find this 2/3 supermajority regarding the rules would be in trouble even if Robert's Rules were fully understood and in effect.
* After a set of rules has been agreed upon, they can be placed in the bylaws. Robert's Rules are intended to serve not as a universal set of rules, but instead as an almost arbitrary set of default parameters that can facilitate the expression of whatever rules best suit a given organization.
Other essays from Wright State Lake Campus (by the same author): Special:Prefixindex/Robert's Rules of Order/Wright State University Lake Campus/
* ↑ As evidence, note how often meetings have gone well without using RRO, and also how often televised assemblies of professional politicians are seen to break down completely.
* ↑ Parlimentarian James Sayers at WSU-Lake once stated that worst way to introduce Robert's rules is to bring in a copy of the manual
* ↑ Robert's Rules of Order/North American Federation of Temple Youth
* ↑ "Some organizations require a strict enforcement of parliamentary rules, while with others the best results are oabtained by being informal. It is important that the presiding officer have tact and common sense, especially with a very intelligent assembly." http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/roberts_rules/chap16.html
* ↑ http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-relax-roberts-rules.html
* ↑ http://www.davis-stirling.com/ParliamentaryProcedure/tabid/1291/Default.aspx#axzz3qumNSpZ8
* ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parliamentary_procedure&oldid=686688260#Organizations_and_civic_groups
* ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order&oldid=688469741#Partial_lists_of_changes_between_editions
* ↑ Even a straw poll can be viewed as a means to seek compromise in an organization dedicated to maintaining unity because knowledge of the size of the "losing" side of an issue will guide centrists who wish to sustain this unity.