One thing that several states do, which seems like a good idea, is to keep all the documentation and the Records Committee comments and votes in a file that is archived and open for public inspection in a secure location. For example, New York archives their committee records at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. If MOU were to do this, I'd presume the Bell Museum would be the right place for maintaining the archives. Of course, for all I know, this may already be the protocol.
But again, as someone who is utterly burned out after serving on various boards and committees, I do not see any value in adding to the workload of people on MOURC. And I think it's both unkind and destructive of a cohesive birding community to engage a whole listserv in criticizing an important committee, and specifically questioning one person's vote on that committee, when we never seem to engage the listserv in pointing out the huge contribution that this committee makes in maintaining our state, national, and international ornithological standing. I would much rather see the committee members feeling free to vote their concerns on a record than be pressured into making votes unanimous when legitimate questions may exist about a particular record. Laura Erickson Duluth, MN For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. —Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html