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Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 15:33:31 -0400
To: MITPSGrequest <mitpsg-request@mit.edu>, MITPSG <mitpsg@mit.edu>,
        psg-talk@mit.edu
From: Kit <siouxsie@MIT.EDU>
Subject: The future of MIT-PSG
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May 13, 2002                                       I'm leading the gay life!
13 Mai 2002                              Ta me ag imeacht le haer an tsaoil!
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First of all let me announce that Moon rituals are officially over 
for the school year, though there may be unofficial ones if people 
are still around.

DASH, too, is coming to an end, but there is still much to discuss.

When Jarok and I announced nominations for elections last week, I 
expected some sort of reaction.  Either an "I can't make that time" 
or a "who do you guys think you are calling elections?" sort of 
response.  Instead we got silence.  At the DASH meeting last Friday, 
Jarok and I discussed the state of MIT PSG and the lack of 
involvement by MIT undergraduates.

Jarok first brought up the idea of elections in his April 29th email. 
Indeed, our constitution says:

     1.  Elections of officers shall occur for the next academic year
on or by Beltane of the previous year.

Of course, the constitution also says:

     2.  The membership of this organization will at all times contain at
least 5 MIT students and be more than half MIT students.

and

     1.  Meetings shall be held at least once a week.
     2.  Meetings shall be presided over by the president, unless he is
absent, and in that case the vice-president shall preside.

In case you're wondering, elections were not held.  No one was nominated.

So I am left asking, what is the point of MIT PSG?  If it is not 
serving its purpose, we should remove the life-support system of 
alumni and outsiders, and let nature take its course.  Part of me 
thinks that it is only the shock of realization of the possible loss 
of the group/office/etc. that could snap the undergraduates into 
action.

SIGNS OF DECAY:

In spite of there being about 5 people authorized to deal with 
financial matters, and a detailed list of how to fill out budgets and 
get reimbursed available at http://web.mit.edu/finboard/www/ , once 
again we have missed the budget deadline and have no finboard 
allocation for the fall.

We no longer have bulletin board space allocated to us.

It is only through the kindness of "strangers" who have brought a 
copy of our constitution to the ASA meeting that we've not been 
derecognized.

Are we even sure we have informed the proper people that we still 
wish to keep our office?

WHAT NEXT?

It is true that we have many wonderful alumni and outsiders who care 
about this group and who help it through fallow times.  But it is not 
the duty of graduates to sustain an undergraduate organization.  If 
the undergrads truly have no need for such an organization, perhaps 
we should just recreate the group as a graduate entity or let it 
vanish entirely.

I am not asking for the alumni to once again step in and save the PSG 
as has happened in the past.  Either there are not undergraduate 
Pagans at MIT, or they are too solitary to need a group such as the 
PSG.

We have only two active undergraduate members that leap to mind: 
Miriam who has helped run DASH, organized Paganism 101, Ostara, and 
divination workshops, and Jarok, who has helped run the weekly Moon 
rituals and organize out Beltane ritual.

It is not the Miriam and Jarok's job to run the entire PSG.  That is 
neither healthy nor sane.  And furthermore, I believe they both 
graduate next year anyway.  A healthy undergraduate organization 
needs participation by members of all classes so that new leaders are 
trained to take over when various officers graduate.

I am asking the undergraduates on this list if any of them are 
willing to take part in running the PSG.


Obviously I enjoy this organization quite a lot, and make the time to 
help out with events and update the web page.  And we are one of very 
few Pagan student groups across the country.  But when other groups 
contact us to network, they get no response from us because there 
aren't enough active people to respond to anything.  Our goal of 
networking with other groups is not being met, nor is our goal of 
being a support network for the MIT pagan community.

If I could be treasurer, president, etc., I probably would, but I 
can't, so it is up to MIT undergrads to decide what they need and 
want from this group and to work to make it happen.  Alumni and 
others can help and assist, but should not be sustaining a group that 
the undergraduates no longer see a need for.

Please continue this discussion on psg-talk@mit.edu  I'd love to 
discover that my impressions are completely wrong.

Thanks for your time and your input.

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Kit               http://www.BlackIrish.net/Kit/
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Celtic Music through Celtic Languages Project: 
http://www.BlackIrish.net/CMtCLP/
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Etre re ha re nebeut eman ar muzul      Between too much and too little is
mat.                                    the right amount.
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May  4 -- Last Quarter                         May 12 -- Dark Moon
May 19 -- First Quarter                        May 26 -- Full Moon
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