American Go Association Controversy, October-November, 2003
Other sources of information.
This page is now largely unnecessary; those who want to find out more about this controversy, from a more informed source, should visit the AGA recall page which posts up-to-date information regarding the recent actions of the AGA board.
Background: replacement of the President
The big news (October 17) was that the American Go Association President, Chris Kirschner, was replaced by the Board of Directors in a suprise move for reasons that were undisclosed at the time. The new president is Deedee Eckles. The reasons for this have now been discussed by email on the AGAchapters email list. I have not had the time to follow all of the disputes. If you like, I can send any one of you all of the emails. I have put some up here (links below). What is clear is that some members of the board of directors did not get along with the President and some other volunteers. These board members have been accused of micromanagement of AGA activities. Whether that is true, it is certainly the case that they felt that it was somehow better to make decisions in secret (they say so). The vote to remove the President was made by a 4 of 7 majority of the Board; the other three had not been informed of the agenda (but had agreed to the policy of secrecy earlier in the year). The attitude of the board, particularly the lack of openness and accountability, outraged many people. Over 35 chapter representatives have signed an open letter protesting this action and calling for a reversal of the decision.
Recall of the Board members involved
A vote for the recall of four AGA dirctors is required as stipulated in the AGA bylaws because of the petitions received from six or more chapter representatives. The four directors are
David Dinhofer
Chendao Lin
Robert O'Malley
John Stephenson
I don't know the actual number of chapter representatives calling for a recall. In general, the attitude of chapter representatives is that the process by which Chris Kirschner was removed was inappropriate. I have posted a typical email from Rob Muldowney of the Highland Park Go Club. I have posted statements from the four board members, CD Lin (Word), David Dinhofer, Robert O'Malley and John Stephenson (pdf). The position of Chris Kirschner, the outgoing President is available as Word files, CK-general.doc, CK-details.doc, CK-briefly.doc.
(Nov. 18) There is now a question about whether the recall vote will occur at all. A question was raised regarding who is qualified to authorize the recall and whether there is "cause" in the legal sense. The failure of the board members -- who are elected as regional representatives -- to represent, or even consult, their constituents is clearly a dereliction of duty, but it was unfortunate that this had to be spelled out. Another excellent point is that the behavior generally regarded as most offensive -- making decisions in secret and actively avoiding the input of constituents -- was agreed to by all of the Board members. Last weekend (Nov. 8-9), email on the agachapters web site reached the point where specific controversies were being rehashed and people were calling each other names. Recent news is summarized in this week's American Go Association E Journal, which I've placed here. Two of the representives subject to recall, CD Lin and Dave Dinhofer, have resigned. Another, John Stephenson, has only six weeks left in his term, and his successor Allan Abramson will be taking office January 1, 2004. Some of the chapters that originally asked for a recall have talked about withdrawing their request. While the recall is in many ways a moot point (in view of the outcry and new members, those who defied the recall would just be dead stones left on the Board), many feel that the recall is necessary to establish that AGA Board members have an obligation to represent their constituents. This is not resolved. Once again, the AGA is likely to continue to provide updated information here. .
(Nov. 25) The recall was suspended. Once again, this news is summarized in this week's American Go Association E Journal, which I've placed here. I expect the AGA to continue to provide updated information here. .
(Jan. 6) At the AGA'S Board meeting on January 2, Chris Kirschner was reinstated as President of the American Go Association (Go Journal report, Jan. 6, 2004). I expect the AGA to continue to provide updated information here. .
page by Steve Mount
GMT