IAPT - Ballot

[Meredith A. Lane]

Drs Ceska and Wilson,

The list of candidates you cite is not completely balanced for world-wide
coverage (where are the Asian candidates, for instance?). However:

You've both missed the point:  the language spoken by the individual(s) in
question is not the question.  It is the *behavior* of the individual that
is at the crux. For most of us who live and work in the democratic world of
science, it is difficult to understand why one individual should hold more
than one office in a professional organization (most such organizations
have rules against that very thing).  To make matters worse, said
individual (the very same one!) has decided to make nominations for other
offices, and expected the (complacent, cow-like) menbership to just go
along.  The "alternative" slate of candidates copied in your messages is a
great deal better than the "mainstream" group that is nominated (apparently
in isolation and without consultation) by the individual in question.
Though the slate could be improved by the addition of African, Asian and
South American representatives (not to mention some from the Balkan
countries and Russia), it is still much better than has appeared in the
past.

Please use your indignation to reform the constitution/bylaws of the IAPT
such that no one individual (from any  country) can ever again hold such
power over an international organization or its good name (which, of
course, reflects on all of us as scientists).  Press for reforms that
require broad representation, and ban the possibility that one individual
can "autocratize" the organization (which is what we are dealing with now).

Correcting the underlying governance of the organization is far more
important than worrying about  cradle languages.

Regards,

Meredith A. Lane
Curator, Division of Botany, KU Natural History Museum
      and
Professor, Dept. of Botany, Division of Biological Sciences
c/o Bridwell Botanical Laboratory
2045 Constant Ave., Campus West
University of Kansas
Lawrence  KS  66047-3279

785-864-4493 or -7364, fax: -5093 or -5294
MLANE at UKANS.EDU