Brian Uiga- Statement Thread

[awindowacrossall]

This thread is for Brian to answer questions in regard to his candidacy for the office of Castellan. Brian may also use this area to introduce himself and make any appropriate comments as he so chooses.

[toomanycars]

Hello everyone!

My name is Brian Uiga, and I'm currently the head of the Bad Wolf Sector (Southern California) in Order of Gallifrey.

For those of you who are going to TL:DR the long answers below, here's a quick overview of what I hope to achieve with Order of Gallifrey.

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Order of Gallifrey is a fantastic, supportive group and resource for Doctor Who costuming, and as it grows I believe it has some substantial growing pains which may be eased by my taking the position of Castillan.  

We are a strong and well-rounded presence at events, but for a group that has over 1000 members on facebook the number of active members we have involved in the club and/or interested in helping organize/govern the group is stagnant and far too low.  On several occasions where I've tried to recruit fellow DW costumers to become involved, or become more involved in OoG, the reply has been that the group is far too bureaucratic for them to want to spend time beyond photo shoots or convention tables.  I believe we have far too much bureaucracy to support the amount of content or participation currently coming from our members, and my main goal as member advocate with OoG would be to reduce that where possible to encourage more members to participate and grow as a large group together, rather than as a small sub-set of what appears to be a large group.

OoG as it stands is brilliant group of people with a functioning government and organization banding them together - I'd like to see a leaner approach towards a smaller, more functional leadership which is more inviting.

When I ran for lead of Bad Wolf Sector last year, there were three candidates.  The winner had five votes and had to decline the office, and I won with three votes over my opponent who had two.  We can't grow as a group unless we can grow those numbers substantially.

---

There are quite a few questions for the office of Castellan already posted, so let's get started!

1. Do you have an understanding of what the Castellan does, and what is expected of that individual? Please explain your understanding of the position.

1. Yes, of course I understand this position Alex.  This position has three basic purposes:
        A. Organize and manage fair member elections, including the minor elections for Costume Endorsement

        B. Organize and manage fair disciplinary hearings ('tribunals').  Also ensure that the findings of these hearings are followed.

        And, most importantly: C. Ensure that our Code of Conduct is being followed by everyone, and simultaneously act as a welcoming presence + advocate on behalf of the members ensure that these rules and codes represent the best interest of the group and its members.  I personally believe this is where most of the work remains to be done.

2. The Castellan is required to be quite active during the year, even though he/she may have long periods of time when they are virtually invisible to the average member. Can you adjust your schedule to meet this activity requirement?

2. Yes.  I would point to the over 100 hours I spent in September advocating and negotiating with the San Diego Who Con convention behind the scenes as an example of juggling my management position with OoG duties.

3. The Castellan holds a great deal of power under our system of self-governance, much of it still being defined. Are you able to execute this power responsibly and free of bias?

3. Yes.  I am well versed on the necessity of excusing myself from governing on issues based on bias (in fact, I excused myself from our only major tribunal to date because I thought it was a conflict of interest). 

4. One of the most important requirements is that the Castellan must not be political. What do you think this means for you if you were to be elected to this role?

4. I find it difficult to believe that an election where offices are settled three votes to two can truly be political, but as Castellan I would endeavor to stay updated with the opinions of the membership, and not let any small differences between leaders get in the way of discussing these view and advocating for them where necessary.  As an effective advocate, I believe my role would not be to try and 'get my own way', but bring up discussions in the leadership or with the general members (where appropriate) and abide by the consensus of the group.

5) Above all else I feel any cosplay group needs to be a safe place for all the members in it and the safety and well-being of said members is my top concern. If elected, would you be open to re-investigating rulings from prior administrations if you or another member felt that the ruling could potentially compromise the safety of the members of OoG? Additionally, how would you ensure that the comfort and safety of our membership is your top priority?

5. I would be open to re-investigating rulings if it is found to be appropriate after a discussion with the leadership and/or the membership. I don't believe my place as Castellan would be to re-open rulings even if I didn't agree with the findings, but if someone else had a case to make that they should be opened - I will argue on their behalf as much as necessary to make sure their views are given a fair hearing.

Regarding comfort and safety, I believe that moving forward we must be more transparent with any tribunal issues than we have been in the past - and I will make sure that any issues that arise under my watch are dealt with quickly and fairly to make sure that everyone can have a good time with us or at Order events.  We have a reputation for being a welcoming, inclusive group - I will fight to ensure that any bureaucracy that gets in the way of that mission will be removed immediately.

6) The role of Castellan has been described as “(a role) where you are specifically prohibited from even giving the appearance of being political” and one where you are “to work with the President to protect the rights of the Membership.” The current & outgoing Lord President of the Order as well as a current & outgoing Commander of Bad Wolf are the two candidates for this office. You’ve both been serving in positions where people may scrutinize and criticize your work. It’s been well documented that I have personally done that in the case of Alex during his time as Lord Commander. How will you be able to compartmentalize those types of interactions you’ve had in the past and govern without factoring political leanings or personal feelings from said interactions during your time in your current offices?

6. I believe I will act very similarly to the way that I have been dealing with any behind the scenes issues as head of Bad Wolf - I'm far more interested in a free and open discussion than I would be for opening old wounds, and as Castillan I feel my role is more to bring up these discussions and make sure that every viewpoint is heard rather than trying to push one particular point of view.  It's not usually the case, but like National politics I really prefer to hear intelligent arguments for every point of view - and believe that exposing yourself to the strongest counter-argument to your own view makes your case stronger, not weaker.

Most people reading this won't know it, but there has been a fair amount of drama behind the scenes and personality clashes with the current OoG leadership.  That will continue to happen with any new group of people that come in, and the only way to work through it is to create an environment where everyone is free to give their opinion and work issues out.  Silencing discussion only takes these issues and moves them internal to the people involved - to the point where you get serious problems like we've had this last year.  OoG membership and leadership needs to be able to speak their minds, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that they are given the opportunity to do so.  

Instead of compartmentalizing these issues, I'd rather see them dissolve naturally out in the open (if it's appropriate), or in a safe space for OoG leadership to discuss.

7) While the Order of Gallifrey has 805 members only 26 people voted for Lord Commander in the 2015 Elections. That means you could effectively win the Presidency with as few as 9 votes or 1.06% of the member base. Do you feel the group warrants so many elected officials when they end up out numbering the general active membership?

7. See above - I believe this is the biggest problem facing the Order of Gallifrey as it grows, and I am committed to trimming the fat where needed and adding officers (like the brilliant suggestion of Social Media Officer) to fill in the obvious gaps in our coverage.  

I believe we do have too many officers for the current participation in the group, but I also believe that if we work this year towards making an open and welcoming environment that we can 'grow into' the current officers by the time November of 2017 rolls around.  If not, we should take a long hard look at what this club actually accomplishes in a year - and adjust the officers to match what we're actually getting done.

8) The role of Castellan requires strict impartiality. Depending on the outcome of these elections, we could have a scenario where a married couple could concurrently hold the two most powerful offices (“Lady President” and “Castellan”) in the Order of Gallifrey. I would like each of you to speak not on the individual people, but rather whether having those two roles in the same household is in the best interest of the Order of Gallifrey given that there is inevitable negativity that arises from the role of Castellan and they might not always be on the side of the Lady President.

8. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have a supply of frozen Castellans available to defrost each year when necessary to make sure you have someone with no baggage taking on the role.  But we are pulling officers from a very small pool of members, and apparent conflicts of interest like this may arise.  I believe that whoever is voted in for Castellan would put impartiality above trying to 'take sides', even in the same household, because that's the purpose of the office.  If they can't do that, they're not suitable for the office - and would be voted out.

9) If you could only do one of your cosplays for the rest of your life – which would it be and why?

9. Probably my War Doctor - because it has lots of fun props to go with the outfit, and I never tire of aping John Hurt's voice by doing a bad impression of a hung over Paul McCartney.
 

10) At what point do which types of disciplinary actions become necessary? In a general sense, what I mean is, where do you draw the line between minor offenses and major offenses, between a letter of warning and a partial ban, between a partial ban and a full ban. And what other options are there?

10. If OoG is going to grow, we need to have zero tolerance for bullying, stalking, or other abuse.  The safe space we hold for old friends and new friends to dress up like Doctors and run about in custom clothing must be preserved at all costs, so in those cases we need to err on the conservative side of punishments.   With our group, we really only have three options: (1) a serious chat, (2) a partial ban, and (3) a full ban.  I'm hoping that most of my disciplinary needs can be met with (1), but I am preparing for more drastic action.

11) I don't think any single candidate for this office is unqualified for the role. But I do want to know your honest assessment of the hardest part of a hard job: dealing with the inevitable negativity that arises from it, even when people clearly see that you are doing your job in everyone's best interest. How would you handle such a situation? What if an issue strikes to close to home?Would you recuse yourself, or do you feel that you'd generally have the impartiality to judge fairly? (Assuming it's not something that the Charter would absolutely insist you recuse yourself from.)

11.  I would absolutely excuse myself from judgement over something that I feel is too close to home, or that any other member has brought up as a conflict of interest.  I hope to bring a more positive, member advocate approach to the job - but realize that there will be times when, as Castellan, I will have be the one who is the stick in the mud.  I'd like to think that anyone who speaks to me about the issues know that any minor disagreements between myself and any other member, like any disagreement I see between two other members, are little issues that can't distract from the overall goal that we all share.  We need to keep this club running and foster a larger group of active members who will allow us to grow into a bigger group.  

The purpose of this group is to enable Doctor Who costuming among friends.  Any administrative or disciplinary action that keeps enabling Doctor Who costuming among friends is welcome, and will be encouraged.  Any administrative or disciplinary action that does not enable Doctor Who costuming among friends will be struck down with extreme prejudice.  


All things considered, it's a pretty simple Occam's Razor to decide what should or should not make the cut - and I trust that as Castellan the membership will allow me to help them enable more Doctor Who costuming among friends.

--Brian

[toomanycars]

So, this isn't an easy topic to bring up - but that's a part of the Castellan's job, isn't it?

Out of the eleven questions so far submitted to the Castellan office, two of them strike me as needlessly politically motivated and pointed at a particular candidate.  

I'm glad the questions were asked, because I think I had something interesting to say on both counts, and my opponent Alex has something interesting to say on both counts - but to the 805 members of Order of Gallifrey, the political shimmying they both represent really is not proportional to the amount of time they were given in this forum.

The first was from my opponent Alex Bagosy, directed at me:

1. Do you have an understanding of what the Castellan does, and what is expected of that individual? Please explain your understanding of the position.

Or, as I see the subtext: "Please prove you're not an incompetent candidate, since I wrote the original charter."  Alex hasn't directed this question at any of the other candidates that have ever run for this office, it appears tailor-made so to put me on the defensive.

The second was from Alex's most outspoken critic, Stephen Webb, directed at Alex:

8) The role of Castellan requires strict impartiality. Depending on the outcome of these elections, we could have a scenario where a married couple could concurrently hold the two most powerful offices (“Lady President” and “Castellan”) in the Order of Gallifrey. I would like each of you to speak not on the individual people, but rather whether having those two roles in the same household is in the best interest of the Order of Gallifrey given that there is inevitable negativity that arises from the role of Castellan and they might not always be on the side of the Lady President.

Or, as I see the subtext: "Please prove you're not a biased candidate, because potentially the head judge and the president will be living under the same roof."  Again, it appears to be designed to force Alex to give a defensive answer.  Alex and his wife Jen are both professionals (one of them a licenced lawyer), they can handle this.

I love both Alex and Stephen.  In their recent disagreements on OoG leadership issues, I (as leader of Bad Wolf Sector and one of the voices in management discussions) like to think that I have seen both of their points of view and did my best to try and express my own without negating either one.  As Castellan, my job would be more or less the same, except I would add a concerted effort to dial back any sort of lobbying based on my own opinion and attempt to be more of a neutral moderator.

But this level of political jockeying isn't helpful for a costuming club.  At all.

Because the engagement is so low in these OoG elections, minor grievances or "internal politics" like this are given far too much emphasis in the discussions.  The questions should be asked, and the grievances put out in the open.  But both questions only tangentially affect either (a) friends dressing up as Doctor Who characters together, or (b) how either Alex or I would be able to do the job of rules officer to enable friends dressing up as Doctor Who characters together, so they make us look like more of a politically motivated group then we actually are.

The only solution is to get a few more voices in the mix to allow these minor issues to be seen in context.

--Brian

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