OUR VIEW: Don’t use procedure for procedure’s sake

Parliamentary Procedure.

It’s like the Bible of city council meetings. There are motions left and right resolutions being tabled all over the place and voting to vote to vote. But amid this parliamentary jargon lies an organized procedure that establishes order in every necessary meeting for a city or organization.

However, many times, this nearly universal procedure can be a huge detriment to any organization if not used properly. Too many times, people end up spending half the meeting trying to understand the procedure of the meeting and never solve any of the major issues at hand.

For example, the Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council holds their weekly meetings faithfully. They discuss many issues facing USU’s student body. While many problems are solved at these meetings, the endless hours of discussion could be avoided. They need to stop worrying about points of clarification and discussions on the motions and get to the meat of the controversy.

More often than not, each person voting on the issue will feel the same way they did before all the arguments and discussion.

USU Faculty Senate meetings are held once a month. Why are they only held once of month? Because parliamentary procedure is used as an aid and not a detriment in establishing an orderly meeting. They discuss the items at hand and don’t worry as much whether someone spoke out of turn or their entire workshop time wasn’t used.

Of course, Parliamentary Procedure is very necessary, if used properly. It’s just like our judicial system and city laws. If judges and law enforcement officials spent hours trying to figure out what the actual laws are, no time would be spent enforcing and carrying through with those laws.

So, for the sake of time and sanity during these already boring meetings, stop worrying about the nitty gritty and face the actual issues at hand. It will take away one less thing to stress about in our busy lives.