Answer Key (Use Your INDEX Finger

Answer Key

Use Your INDEX Finger!

from page 15

The following terms may be found as main headings in the Index, and these terms appear on specific pages in RONR in the Preface and Introduction (pages xxiii - xlviii), or in the text (pages 1-633): B. “Old business” is referred to in a footnote that indicates it is a phrase that should be avoided. C. “So moved” is also referred to in the text as another statement that should be avoided. H. “Breakout groups” (a fairly new term) is explained in §52. I. “Chat room” is identified as a non-recommended procedure for a deliberative assembly. J. “Point of Information” still exists as a main heading, but only to tell the reader to see “Request for Information,” the better terminology for this procedure (although “Point of Information” still even appears in the text of the 12th edition). L. “Keypad voting” is recognized as a method of electronic voting. N. “Consensus” is referred to, but appears only in the pages of the

Introduction, never in the text.

The following terms may be found as main headings in the Index BUT with some intriguing addenda: A. “Prayer” is listed with references to 3 citations, but two of those paragraphs [41:30 and 59:50] do not actually contain the word

“prayer.” Instead, “invocation” is used in both cases. D. “Supermajority” is a heading that has just been added to the 12th edition’s Index. It refers to voting instances that require a greater threshold than an original vote (such as two-thirds or a majority of the entire membership). Although this term is in the Index, it actually does not appear in the pages of text.

“Supermajority” does appear, though, in one of the Appendix

Scenarios as a footnote on page 648, but the Appendix itself is not referenced in the Index.

F. “Conflict of interest” appears as a heading, referring the reader to 45:4, but the specific term “conflict of interest” does not appear in the text. G. “Recusal,” is another entry in the Index, but again, does not appear in the text, although the matter of not voting when a member should abstain or refrain from voting (the meaning of “recuse”) is covered in 45:4. K. “Queue” appears in two main headings in the Index, but without any direct citations to text pages and paragraphs. They both only reference other topics to search. And the frequently used word

“queue” does not actually appear in the text. M.“Serpentine,” also newly added to the Index, is explained in the text as a method of counting off members standing for a vote but does not appear as the actual term “serpentine.” O. “Bullet voting,” another added term in the 12th edition Index, is explained in the text [45:3] as a partial abstention when not voting for a full list of candidates, but here too, the actual term does not appear within the text. P. “Railroading” is another example of a new term that appears in the 12th edition Index but without any direct citation to text pages or paragraphs. The Index refers the reader to “gaveling through,” which appears in the text, but not “railroading” itself. Q. “Continued meeting” is still another new term added to the 12th edition Index. It is a non-parliamentary term used by some for an “Adjourned meeting.” The Index entry refers readers to see the entry for “Adjourned meeting.” Here too, “continued meeting” does not actually appear in the text, but only in the

Index as an attempt to explain what an “Adjourned meeting” is. S. “Restorative motions” is yet another new entry in the 12th edition index which does not appear in the text. This entry in the index refers readers to “Motions that bring a question again before the assembly.” Demeter’s Manual uses the term “restoratory motions,” and AIPSC uses the term “specific main motions” for this category of motions. T. “Continuing breaches” (and “Breaches of order” as well) are listed in the Index with multiple references to the text. The exact term “continuing breaches” appears only in the Preface [xxvi].

The closest in the text are “continuance of the breach” and

“breach of a continuing nature.”

The following terms do not appear at all as main headings in the INDEX: E. “Simple majority,” although used by many people in the non-parliamentary world, does not appear in the Index nor directly on any pages of text. But closely related, 14:4(7) does refer to a vote that “requires a majority vote in its simple and usual form.” Close! R. “Bring back motions” as they apply to bringing a question again before the assembly is used colloquially by parliamentarians, but it does not appear in the Index as such. The two words “bring” and “back” do appear in a generic sense in 37:1, and there is an

Index heading for “Motions that bring a question again before the assembly;” but again, not “Bring back motions.” U. “Settled rule” does not appear in the Index, nor even in the text with those exact words. The word “settled” appears in other contexts. Interestingly, “Settled rule” appears in the Index of RIB, and there is an entire section devoted to its explanation there [RONR In Brief p. 50-51].

Extra Credit:

Only two Parliamentary Authorities are mentioned in the Index (other than RONR itself). One is the Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States (Jefferson’s Manual). Additional narratives about Jefferson encountered in the Introduction may be found in the Index under Jefferson, Thomas. The other mentioned in the Index is the Manual of Parliamentary Practice: Rules of Proceedings and Debate in Deliberative Assemblies (Cushing’s Manual), with additional references to Cushing in the Introduction found under Cushing, Luther S. in the Index.

A Clarence Cannon is mentioned in the pages of the Introduction [xlvii] but not in the Index. But this is not the Hugh Cannon who authored Cannon’s Concise Guide to Rules of Order, which itself is not referred to in RONR. And neither of the others (Alice Sturgis or George Demeter) nor their parliamentary manuals are identified in text or Index of RONR. So, the correct answers would be Z and V. Additionally, neither The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure nor Mason’s Manual are identified in the text or Index of RONR.

Keep inspecting the INDEX of the 12th edition—you never know what you might find there!