Given it’s that time of year (time of 8 months? see below…), I thought a good OOC Academy lesson would be about what the STF administrative structure looks like.

Here’s a quick guide:

President (“Prez”). Elected every eight months by the club members. Only qualification to be nominated is that the person has met the definition of “member” for at least 30 days. Next election will start around March 1st.

• Vice-President (“VP”). Elected as a running-mate with the Prez. Mid-term replacement appointed by the President.

Bylaws. Most of the important club polices and club structure is set up in the club’s bylaws. Can only be changed by a Presidential Bill. All Bills must be discussed beforehand in Command. Bylaws are always in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Edicts. Most Presidential decisions and appointments are made by Presidential Edicts.

• All promotions to a club rank of Captain or higher must be by Presidential Edict.

Cabinet. Appointed by Presidential Edict. Responsible for most of the day-to-day operations of the club. Cabinet members (and their appointments) end their term at the end of each presidential term, and must be re-appointed if they wish to retained at the start of each new term.

• Fleet Commanders (“FComm”) (there are currently four FComms). Responsible for oversight of the ships in their respective fleets. Significant changes to a ship and removal/appointment of a ship’s CO must have the FComm’s consent (in addition to the President’s). Usually must be involved in a CO’s decision to appoint a new XO. Promotions to the rank of Commander must have the FComm’s consent. FComms must be CO experience. The FComm’s governing bylaw is called FCOMM. FComms are assisted by their appointment of an Assistant Fleet Commander (“AFComm”), who must have XO or CO experience.
• Academy Commandant. Responsible for running the Academy, and serves as the FComm for the Academy ships. The Academy’s governing bylaw is called CADET. The ACmdt is assisted by their appointment of a Vice Commandant (“VCmdt”), an Academy Fleet Liaison Officer (“AFLO”), and a Mentors Coordinator (“MC”).
• Engineering Director (“EDir”). Responsible for running the Engineering Department (“EDept”) which is in charge of approving new ship specs and technology used in STF’s role playing. The EDept’s governing bylaw is called ENERGIE. The EDir is assisted by their appointment of an Assistant Engineering Director (“AEDIr”) and a Dockmaster.
• Gamemaster Director (“GMDir”). Responsible for running the Gamemaster Department (“GMDept”) which is in charge of qualifying and training Gamemasters (GMs), recruitment of GMs, the GM archive of all prior sims, role-playing sim supports (the star chart, the species database, and approving new custom species for club-wide use), and ranks of GMs. The GMDept’s governing bylaw is called OGRE. The GMDir is assisted by their appointment of an Assistant Gamemaster Director (“AGMDir”) and an Archivist.
• Personnel Director (“PDir”). Responsible for running the Personnel Department (“PDir”), which is in charge of placing new members and membership support (which is quite broad), and all related aspects. The PDept’s government bylaw is PDICT. The PDir is assisted by their appointment of an Assistant Personnel Director (“APDir”) and a Second Assistant Personnel Director (“2APDir”).

Executive Assistants. Appointed by Presidential Edict. Other than the Election Coordinator, they serve in a semi-permanent role, and stay in their positions over the course of many terms until and unless replaced by a sitting President.

• Community and Marketing Manager (“CMM”). The CMM and the CMM’s assistants are responsible for the organization of social events and activities in the club, marketing of the club and the running of the club’s social media, relationships with other role-playing groups, the club’s newsletter. You can often catch up with CMM on Discord or in Ten-Forward. The CMM’s governing bylaw is the CMM bylaw.
• Election Coordinator (“EC”). Responsible for the administration of the club’s upcoming presidential election and any EGO elections in the subsequent presidential term. Sets the election timetable, enforces the election rules, validates voters and candidates, can disqualify candidates, supervises the secret voting, and announces the winner. The election’s governing bylaw is LEGOE.
• Librarian. Responsible for administration of the club’s Library, which contains important documents and historical documents. (Can you find in the Library the date of the very first post in STF? Hint, we weren’t on the web yet.) The Library’s governing bylaw doesn’t have a fancy name.
• Supervisor of Experiments (“SOX”). SOX is responsible for administration of the Experimental Fleet (“X-Fleet”), which is a place for members to play around with different types of role-playing environments that are not normally found elsewhere in the club. More information can be found on X-Fleet’s page. X-Fleet’s governing bylaw is BOXES.

Ship Commanding Officers (“CO”). Appointed by Presidential Edict with consent of the ship’s FComm. Holds the rank of Captain or higher. Responsible for both the in-character commanding officer of the ship, and the out-of-character administration of the ship. The CO appoints all other crew members (other than new members placed by the PDept).

• Executive Officer (“XO”). Appointed with the consent of the FComm, and on an non-Academy ship must have the rank of Lt. Commander or higher. Assists the CO, and fills in for an absent CO.
• Department Head (“DH”). Regular ships have four department heads: Chief of Security (“COS”), Chief Engineer (“CE”) (also known as the Chief of Operations on a station or starbase role-playing area), Chief Medical Officer (“CMO”) and Chief Science Officer (“CSO”). Each DH is responsible for giving orders and to the junior officers in their departments and running side-sims, etc. for their departments. In the Academy, each DH is also a mentor to the cadets in their department.
• Counselor (“CNS”). Some non-Academy ships and all Academy ships have a ship’s counselor, which is primarily an in-character role but also helps with character development. In the Academy, the Counselor is also involved with assisting the CO and XO with cadet evaluations for graduation.
• Junior Officers (“JO”) and Swing Positions. JOs fill each department on the ship. Swing positions are positions that don’t fit in any of the above described positions and can vary from ship to ship.

There are two groups of club administrators that are not part of the Presidential chain of appointments:

• “EGO” (Executive Government Oversight). EGO is a group of three members with the rank of Fleet Captain or higher who are elected to serve staggering two-year terms. They are elected by their fellow members who are Fleet Captains or higher. They cannot serve consecutive terms, and an election is held every 8 months for a replacement EGOtist. There is no campaigning allowed in an EGO election. (We are in the middle of an EGO election right now for a 2-year term starting March 1st.) EGO serves as a check on the president, and a majority of the three can veto a Presidential Bill (but not an Edict), can veto an Election Coordinator appointment, can hear an appeal from certain bans, and are heavily involved in the process for removing a president (an “impeachment”).
• “TECH” (The Technical Board). TECH is a group of four members appointed through a self-selection process to administer the club’s technical needs, primarily the club’s website, email system, and third-party chat venues. They also appoint ops to the chat venues, like Discord. Although outside the Presidential chain of command, they do need to coordinate a lot with the President, can be removed by the President if found violating the club’s policies or bylaws, and must get the President’s permission for any major changes to the club’s site.

If you got this far, congratulations. There may (or may not) be a quiz later! :P

Daniel