From: Gregory Wonderwheel
Date: Sat Jan 25, 2003 7:35 pm
Subject: Proposal for Diversity in Bylaws and Affirmative Action Plan in Policy

Here is my proposal on the question of diversity in the bylaws and affirmative action in the policies. I believe that this plan is legally defensible from all directions.

Gregory Wonderwheel

[The following Article is for the bylaws.]

ARTICLE ___. DIVERSITY OF PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION.

The Foundation categorically condemns any and all practices that place people into castes, i.e., social divisions based on group identities, and then treats one caste has having a higher position or value in society than another. The Foundation emphatically endeavors to actualize fair and equal access in the diversity of membership and in the rights and privileges of membership, including representation on boards and committees as well as equal opportunity in employment. The Foundation also upholds the public interest of prohibiting discriminatory practices that may exclude or diminish full and equal participation in any program or activity on the basis of ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, color, or a physical or mental disability. To balance these important but sometimes seemingly conflicting interests, the Foundation shall not fail to make substantial efforts to achieve representative diversity at all levels of the organization while at the same time avoiding creating a rigid quota system. To make this dedicated intention a reality, the Foundation shall, insofar as practical and consistent with the purposes of the Foundation, promote demographic diversity throughout the Foundation, by assuring fair representation of persons who have been historically under represented in society or treated as if they were in lower social castes, so that the Members, volunteers, and employees as well as the Delegates, Directors, boards, and committees of the Foundation shall fairly represent the demographic diversity of the populations that each station broadcast area serves. To implement this Article the Board shall adopt a policy that includes an affirmative action plan for diversity and assigns to a specific committee of the Board the overall responsibility for the implementation and monitoring of compliance, to the fullest extent permissible, subject to applicable federal and state laws and regulations, with the affirmative action policy .

[This is for a proposed policy as an Affirmative Action Plan to be adopted to establish the policy.]

POLICY # ___.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLAN FOR FAIR AND FULL ACCESS AND REPRESENTATION

1. Intent: To balance the important but sometimes seemingly conflicting concerns of the public policy for fair and equal access in diversity of membership and the rights and privileges of membership, including representation on boards and committees as well as equal opportunity in employment, with the public policy that prohibits discriminatory practices such as quotas or mandatory percentages that result in the deterioration of full and equal participation in any program or activity on the basis of ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, color, or a physical or mental disability.

2. Scope: This policy applies to the Members, volunteers, and employees as well as the Delegates, Directors, boards, and committees of the Foundation.

3. Application: The Personnel [A.K.A. Human Resources? Affirmative Action Compliance?] Committee is authorized to implement this policy and to report to the Board of Directors any significant violations of the policy.

4. Data Gathering, Reporting, and Annual Review: The Personnel Committee shall prepare an annual report to the Board of Directors that describes the attainment, or lack thereof, of the goals of this policy. The report shall include data of the following kind.

A. For each group or assembly of members to be analyzed a list, table, or grid showing of the following:

1.) African-Ancestry men/women
2.) Latino-Ancestry men/women
3.) Asian/Pacific Islander-Ancestry men/women
4.) Native American -Ancestry men/women
5.) European-Ancestry men/women
6.) North African, Arab, Palestinian, Turkish, Persian, etc. -Ancestry men/women
7.) Other people of various ancestry men/women
8.) Men/women with disability
9.) Lesbian/Gay men (by self identification only)
10.) Involuntarily confined in prisons or hospitals men/women
11.) Age by four categories: age 20 or less, 21 to 40, 41 to 60, and 61 and above, men/women
12.) Total men
13.) Total women
14.) Grand total.

In addition, each station area shall be divided by its Local Station Board, for reporting purposes, into distinct, relatively large, geographic sectors, not numbering more than six (6), and unless the Personnel Committee finds it inappropriate for the analysis, the list shall report:

15.) the geographic sector men/women

To protect the privacy of the people involved, data shall be collected by self identification, visual observations, or membership application only.

B. The groups or assemblies of Members to be analyzed shall include:

1.) The Pacifica Board of Directors.
2.) Local Station Boards of Delegates
3.) Membership by each station and as a whole
4.) Employees by each station and as a whole
5.) Regular on-air broadcasters by each station and as a whole
6.) Other committees or groups as the Board of Directors or the Personnel Committee directs from time to time.

C. Reporting Cycles.

Items 1.) and 2.) of subsection B. shall be reported annually within two months of the elections of the bodies.
Items 4.) and 5.) of subsection B. shall be reported annually at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors.
Item 3.) of subsection B shall be reported triennially at the annual meeting in years evenly divided by three. Each Local Station Board shall be responsible for providing demographic information for their station broadcast area to the Personnel Committee in a timely manner for preparation of the triennial membership report. The station broadcast area is the geographic area in which the station's broadcast signal may be regularly heard. The demographic data in the triennial membership reports from each Local station Board shall be appended to this policy. Reports made pursuant to item 6.) of subsection B shall be reported as designated in the directive creating the report.

5. Goals and Target Values for Diversity of Participation and Representation

A. The following goals and target values reflect neither the minimum nor the maximum percentages that should come from the targeted group categories. Rather they are approximations of the comparative composition that the Foundation uses to promote diversity and assure fair participation and representation of traditionally under-represented segments of society we seek to serve in radio broadcasting operations.

1.) The percentages for the goals for Board of Directors composition are:

a) At least 50% people of non-European-Ancestry (Within this category, the Board shall endeavor to assure meaningful representation of all the categories of ancestry listed in section 4.A.) [See Note #1.]
b) At least 50% women.
c) At least 20% gay men and lesbians.
d) At least 10% persons with disabilities.
e.) At least one from each age category.

2.) The percentages for the goals for Local Station Boards of Delegates composition are:

a) At least 50% people of non-European-Ancestry (or as part of the triennial Membership report each Local Station Board shall determine the demographics of the station broadcast area and shall endeavor to assure meaningful representation of all the categories of ancestry listed in section 4.A. according to their percentages of distribution in the station broadcast area )
b) At least 50% women.c) At least 20% gay men and lesbians.
d) At least 10% persons with disabilities.
e.) At least 40% not in the age category of 41 to 60, with at least one from each age category.
f.) Reasonably representative percentages from each geographic sector.

3.) The percentages for the goals for Membership composition are:

a) As part of the triennial Membership report each Local Station Board shall determine the demographics of the station broadcast area and shall endeavor to assure meaningful participation in and representation of all the categories of ancestry listed in section 4.A. according to their percentages of distribution in the station broadcast area
b) At least 50% women.
c) At least 20% gay men and lesbians.
d) At least 10% persons with disabilities.
e.) At least 20 % in either the youngest or oldest age categories with reasonably equal participation by and representative of each of the other age categories.
f.) Reasonably representative percentages from each geographic sector.

4.) The percentages for the goals for employee composition are:

a) All the categories of ancestry listed in section 4.A. according to their percentages of distribution in the station broadcast area
b) At least 50% women.
c) At least 20% gay men and lesbians.
d) At least 10% persons with disabilities.
e.) At least 20% in either the youngest or oldest age categories.

5.) The percentages for the goals for on-air broadcaster composition are: the same as the Local Station Board composition for the radio station area.

a) At least 50% people of non-European-Ancestry (or as reasonably representing all the categories of ancestry listed in section 4.A. according to their percentages of distribution in the station broadcast area )
b) At least 50% women.
c) At least 20% gay men and lesbians.
d) At least 10% persons with disabilities.
e.) At least 40% not in the age category of 41 to 60, with at least one from each age category.

6.) The percentages for the goals for composition of the bodies reported pursuant to item 6.) of Section 4.B shall be as designated in the directive creating the report.

B.. The Board of Directors shall review these target percentages every three years in conjunction with the triennial membership report.

6. Election for Local Station Board Delegates

A. The Local Station Boards shall cooperate and work with the Personnel Committee in order to comply with these diversity and representation goals. The Local Station Boards shall each appoint a candidate search committee in order to ensure that the candidate pools for election of Delegates will comply with these diversity target goals. If the candidate pools are significantly (e.g., more than 20% short of the goals) not in balance with these diversity target goals, the candidate search committees shall focus their search and recruitment efforts to maximize interest in and candidate applications from members of the under-represented target groups.

B. If the candidate pools do not reasonably fulfill the diversity target goals, as determined by the Election Committee of the LSB, then the election of Delegates in that station area shall be postponed for at least one period of 14 days. If after the first 14-day period of postponement the diversity target goals are still not met, then the Election Committee or the Local Station Board may either postpone the election for another 14-day period, if it is determined that such postponement will likely produce results, or proceed with the election. A decision of the Local Station Board will prevail over a decision of the station Election Committee.

C. Postponement pursuant to this section of an election of Delegates for one station area shall not affect the elections at the other station areas unless the Board of Directors otherwise specifically directs.

D. No Member's vote for a Delegate shall not be counted because of the candidate's ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, color, or a physical or mental disability.

7. Other Provisions [Reserved]

-----------------------
Note #1:

Even though, as of the 2000 census, the US population is currently distributed as set forth in the following table, the Foundation acknowledges that the urban areas it serves has higher percentages population of non-European ancestry and therefore adopts the figure of "not less than 50%" as a reasonable percentage considering the historical and present tendencies to treat persons of non-European ancestry as though they are members of lower castes.

Total - % of pop.
Total population 281,421,906 - 100.0%
White 211,460,626 - 75.1%
Black or African American 34,658,190 - 12.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native 2,475,956 - 0.9%
Asian 10,242,998 - 3.6%
Native Hawaiian & other Pacific Islander 398,835 - 0.1%
Some other race 15,359,073 - 5.5%
Two or more races 6,826,228 - 2.4%
Hispanic or Latino 35,305,818 - 12.5%

NOTE: Percentages add up to more than 100% because Hispanics may be of any race and are therefore counted under more than one category. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

**END POLICY # ____ **

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