In order to accomplish our mission statement goals, I think it useful to explain how I believe we can achieve them by describing specific policies I suggest we implement. While I started the ball rolling on this organization and you have elected me to serve as the first President, this club belongs to all of us, and nothing in this statement should be construed as club policy until approved via democratic process.

A freewheeling, decentralized, network of programmatic cooperation
Team Inclusion
Only One Membership Requirement - A Pull Request
Conduct
Scope of Membership
Role of The Board
Conclusion

A freewheeling, decentralized network of programmatic cooperation

I believe the best club we can create will steward an environment that encourages and allows initiative, where our membership is not limited to pursuing only specific projects approved by officers. Different students have different interests and expertise, and we will thrive when those are unleashed with only the barest of constraints neccessary to ensure members aren’t doing something illegal or amoral.

To that end, I suggest a core privilege of membership:

Every member has the right to initiate a new project on the Github organization page, promote and seek to recruit collaborators from club membership on club platforms, and shall be vested with leadership of the project they initiated.

In this way, anyone with an idea can find a home for it with our club. Anyone can get practice with project management and leadership simply by having an idea and initiative.

The only caveat is that one officer should approve of the project and the board may vote to cancel the project, but only if there is a good, specific reason to do so, such as the project infringing on copyright law. By default, every project should be allowed, no matter how crazy it may seem. There is no limit on how many projects we can host on our Github organization page, and I see little reason not to allow members to initiate any project they want.

Team Inclusion

I propose a second privilege of membership:

Any member may request to join a project. The project leader will not refuse them without a good, specific reason. The project leader will include them in discussions about the project and seek to find ways for them to contribute appropriate to their experience level.

This policy will foster an environment where contributors to a project are welcomed with open arms, regardless of their skill level or whether they are a stranger. It will remove questions about social politics new project leaders might otherwise be faced with. It will reassure shy new members that they will not be met with rejection.

If a member sees a project that excites them, they should have a chance to join it and be included in the process. Project leaders will get to practice delegation and communication.

I believe these two policies will go a long way to achieving the first clause of the mission statement and provide members the opportunity to collaborate on group projects.

Only One Membership Requirement - A Pull Request

Some students have more free time and/or interest than others, and I would not want to try to place onerous duties in our already over-scheduled lives. However, I believe there is one requirement for membership we should implement.

Every member will make one contribution per semester to an existing project using a pull request.

It can be hard to get started with a technology like Git/GitHub. New members may worry that they will be judged for not being familiar with the technology. They may procrastinate learning it and wind up being unable to contribute at all.

We can solve this by encouraging members to contribute as soon as possible. We will start a repository of guides and tutorials that will include detailed instructions on how to fork, clone, branch, push, and pull request a repository in order to make a contribution.

These contributions do not have to be code, and in fact it may be better that one’s first pull request isn’t code. Adding a single game idea to this repository or fixing a typo somewhere would be enough to satisfy this requirement, as long as it’s done with a pull request.

In this way we guarantee that every member is able to contribute, and then it’s just up to them how much they want to contribute. It also helps us achieve a clause in our mission statement, preparing members to enter the workforce with marketable programming competency, because the ability to use Git is widely expected in the software development industry.

Conduct

In order that we best serve all our members, I believe we should lay out some conduct rules from the beginning, cutting off problems before they arise.

Harassment

We should have a strict prohibition on any kind of sexual harassment, including any and all sexualized speech in the Discord and all communication platforms. Even when not directed at a present individual, that subject matter can and will make people uncomfortable and it is totally unprofessional. While members may want to talk about our personal lives and make jokes with good intent, sexualized speech and especially harrassment will have the effect of driving away valuable contributor members. This takes us away from our mission statement to provide group programming opportunities, and is not preparing our membership to enter the workforce, where such speech is also unacceptable.

Politics

We should have a prohibition on the club becomming political and a ban on talking about politics, except perhaps if removed to a specific off-topic discord channel with no bearing on club governance. Students have diverse political views, and the country is excruciatingly divided right now. Allowing politics will inevitably have the effect of tilting the club towards one side of the spectrum or the other, alienating members on the other side of the spectrum. Getting political does not help the club achieve any of its aims, and it reduces the opportunities to collaborate by pushing out otherwise great members.

If this club lasts a while, there will be members who join with strong political views. I believe it is important that we make it clear that, if such members end up serving in leadership roles, they do not allow the club to become a vehicle by which they can promote their agenda, however just that agenda is. It would be better for the mission of the club if no political statements are ever made about abortion, Black Lives Matter, gun control, wars, poverty, drug policy, transgender issues, socialism, capitalism, police brutality, government corruption, public schools, coronavirus rules, privacy rights, and so on. Those issues can only be related to our mission statement and programming with a lot of mental gymnastics, and taking a stand on them will only hamper the mission of the club, by reducing networking and group programming opportunities.

Regarding school politics and elections, the club should only officially endorse someone after a vote of the membership, and only if that candidate has a policy that can be construed to further the club’s mission.

Discrimination

Programmers come from all over the world, in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, personalities, and worldviews. We should be ready to cooperate with anyone on our projects and welcome anyone with a spark of interest into the club with open arms. The University of New Hampshire has a fairly comprehensive nondiscrimination statement which states, in part:

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, pregnancy, or political orientation.

I suggest we copy this language into our constitution. In the professional world, we will work with people from all walks of life, and we should learn to communicate with and learn from people from different backgrounds. I had the honor of attaining my Associate’s from Bunker Hill Community College, which has a diverse student body, and serving in the United States Marine Corps alongside individuals from all parts of the country and of many different ethnicities. I benefited greatly from learning and working with people of diverse backgrounds and ages, and expect I will continue to benefit.

Prohibiting discrimination increases member opportunities to collaborate on group projects by having more idea-generating members and exposes our members to more networking opportunities, furthering our mission statement.

No bullying

We will have members join who are very new to programming. Members may also have varying maturity levels. It is important that we make it clear this is a welcoming place fostering teamwork and cooperation. Members should not be mocked or bullied, and members should show patience and view the chance to teach someone as the opportunity it is.

This ensures that all members will have the full ability to collaborate on group projects by not feeling bullied and excluded, furthering our mission.

Scope of Membership

To maximize our group programming and networking opportunities, I propose we cast a wide net for members. While officers should only be active students at UNH Manchester, I believe it would be highly beneficial to allow students from the Durham campus join our club, bringing with them different educational experiences and skillsets.

I believe we should allow members to retain their membership for up to 2 years after graduating or transferring. In that way, we can further member’s professional networking opportunities, benefit from perspectives from those attending different schools, and get information about what it’s like interviewing and entering the work force.

Role of the Board

Laying the Foundation

In this first semester, and perhaps a little beyond, the main role of the board should be to lay the foundation for a thriving organization that will survive after we leave. Down the line, the board must ensure that the club meets UNHM requirements to stay official. This may also come with funding.

Cooperation with other clubs

Other clubs on the Durham campus have expressed interest in engaging with us. This can further our professional networking and group programming opportunities. We could invite them to join our club outright, or do special projects with them. This is an opportunity the board should not neglect, though I am not yet clear on the form said cooperation may take.

Getting Speakers

The board should seek to get speakers who work as professional software developers to speak to the club about their experiences, what technologies they use, what group programming is like, and other topics related to the mission of this club. There is an alumni association on Handshake that we can tap, and the board should find speakers to inform the club about what the workforce is like.

Ensure projects are within conduct standards

The board shouldn’t have to micromanage projects and the team space should be allowed to evolve freely as much as possible, but the board must make sure projects aren’t running afoul of laws, licensing rules, or our conduct requirements.

Managing ‘Official’ projects

Certain official projects, like the website and the discord bot, should be overseen by board members to ensure they represent the club well.

Get funding and access to special technologies

We may be able to get access to exciting technologies like OpenAi, since we are an academic organization.

We may be able to get funding from the school, which we could use for hosting or access to interesting APIs. These are things the board should look into down the line, to give members the opportunity to work on projects more akin to what they might encounter in the real world.

Special Events, like Hackathons

I have yet to attend a hackathon, but I have often heard what a fantastic experience they are. A hackathon would be a great way to give our members more collaboration opportunities, as well as being one of the best networking opportunities available.

Conclusion

That’s it for this long post. I am going to verbalize some of this in the meeting tomorrow. I hope I have conveyed well the rationale for the policies I believe will help the club become vibrant. If you have any thoughts, feedback, comments, criticism, or ideas, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Karl Miller

The University of New Hampshire Programming Club (Official)

My Vision For The Club

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