Minor Improvement Made to the 501st Legion’s Charter; Can it Prevent Another Coup d’État?

/ Costuming, Cosplay & Costume Clubs 101

In the aftermath of the coup d’état that occurred in the summer of 2020 in the “Star Wars” costume club known as 501st Legion, this blog shared an exposé in August, 2020, regarding the contents of that costume club’s charter and bylaws, which the club refers to as its “Operations Protocol”.

From that exposé, it was clear that the 501st Legion’s written rules are severely lacking when it comes to charitable donations, financial accountability, and its overall leadership structure: all of which set the stage for 2020 coup d’état, which will be recapped here:

  • Around May, 2020, the then 501st Legion LCO (Legion Commanding Officer, or club president and was a U.S. citizen) asked the officers of the U.K. Garrison (the costume club’s local chapter located in the United Kingdom) about its charitable donation practices.
  • The U.K. Garrison had admitted in a well publicized documentary that they had collected money for charities and had placed large amounts of that collected money into at least one of the member’s personal bank accounts to the tune of as much as $4,000,000.
  • In response to the LCO’s inquiries, the U.K. Garrison’s officers filed dubious charges against that LCO.
  • Then in June, 2020, the predominantly non-U.S. Legion Council (the legislative body of the 501st Legion) held a secret hearing in which the then LCO was found guilty of those dubious charges, was subsequently removed from office, and was replaced by the then non-U.S. LXO (Legion Executive Officer, or club vice president,), who was then made the LCO for the remainder of the 2020 term.

As this blog reported in August, 2020 (two months after the coup d’état ), neither the 501st Legion’s Charter or bylaws contained any guidance regarding the collection of charitable donations. That has since changed.

Addition of a New Charitable Donations Article XII in the 501st Legion’s Charter

The 501st Legion’s Charter, as of at least January, 2022, now contains a 12th article, which will be quoted here:

Article XII: Handling of Donations

Where the 501st or any of its sub-units accepts and collects donations for charitable purposes, there must be a protocol for handling these donations, set up by the respective sub-unit. The protocol must be in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction(s) applicable to the sub-unit that collected the donations. On request of the Legion Council (by a seconded motion with a simple majority vote), these protocols must be submitted for review. The Legion Council may (in a similar fashion) ask the Legion Captain of the Guard to participate in the review. The protocols are to be kept by the Legion Charity Officer, taking into account the prevailing laws of the jurisdiction(s).

The Legion Council and the Legion Captain of the Guard may temporarily revoke a sub-unit’s ability to accept or collect donations in the event of abuse or wrong-doing. The recommendation to revoke must be made by the LCOGs and receive a simple majority vote by the Legion Council to suspend the sub-unit’s ability to accept or collect funds, for a period of time to be determined by the Legion Council. This is to be done after a disciplinary hearing under Article X has concluded there was wrong-doing in the handling of donations by members of the sub-unit in question, regardless of any pending appeal. If a unit continues to accept or collect donations while under revocation, this shall be an offence actionable under Article X.

Donations collected for a particular charitable organization or cause must be transferred to that charitable organization or cause, as soon as practicable, according to the local laws.

Article XII: Handling of Donations

Critical Examination of Article XII

An examination of Article XII reveals the following:

What’s Missing from Article XII?

First & foremost, while the addition of Article XII is good, the 501st Legion has failed to define a common protocol baseline protocol for sub-units to follow to help ensure that embezzlement of collected donations is made very difficult for would-be embezzlers. There are no reporting requirements and no requirements to ensure that the charity is legitimate.

Needed: A Common Donation Collection Protocol Baseline

🛑 Failing to define a common protocol baseline for sub-units to follow for the handling of donations is an example of the predominant confederation attitude that exists within the 501st Legion.

Such a baseline should include something like this:

  • The sub-unit should first establish the validity of the charity for which the charitable donations are to be collected for: name and address (at a minimum) to establish that the charity exists.
  • Verify that anyone who is identified as a representative of the charity is actually associated with the charity.
  • Prior to the event at which charitable donations are to be collected, the sub-unit should be required to notify the Legion Charity Officer of the following:
    • The name and address of the charity.
    • The name(s) and email address(es) (or other means of contact) for the charity representative(s).
    • The date and location of the event.
  • As soon as the event is over, the sub-unit should notify the Legion Charity Officer the following:
    • How much money was collected in the form of charitable donations.
    • Whether the money was immediately handed to a verified charity representative.
    • Whether a receipt was obtained for the money given to the charity representative and a copy of said receipt sent to the Legion Charity Officer.
  • Failure to report what money was collected should be deemed a Code of Conduct violation.

ℹ️ Reporting all money collected for charitable donations to the 501st Legion’s command structure is essential for documentation and the prevention of embezzlement.

⚠️ Lack of reporting creates an appearance of impropriety and will likely impede the investigation of potential cases embezzlement.

Needed Clarification: Who is the Legion Charity Officer?

This blog isn’t going to assume that the Legion Charity Officer mentioned in Article XII is the same as the Legion Charity Representative listed in Article VI. The Legion should use common terminology and officer designations to ensure clarity,

🛑 Lack of clarity leads to confusion and makes the 501st Legion Charter more difficult to enforce.

Needed: Who Has the Authority to Investigate Embezzlement Accusations?

Article XII should clearly specify who has the authority to investigate possible cases of embezzlement. Since there’s no definition of who the Legion Charity Officer is (or whether it’s the same as the Legion Charity Representative), is it to be assumed that this responsibility falls solely on the shoulders of the Legion Captain of the Guard? Does the Legion Charity Representative (or Legion Charity Officer) play a role in this? Is the LCO (Legion Commanding Officer) specifically excluded from this? The LCO asking questions in 2020 is what lead to the coup d’état.

Needed: A Garrison (Local Chapter) Charity Officer

Any sub-units that collect money intended for charities should have a Charity Officer (or Charity Representative) as part of its command staff to ensure that the sub-unit’s charitable donation protocol is being followed. Not making this a requirement means that it could fall on the sub-unit’s CO, which is probably part of what lead to the 2020 coup d’état since one of the U.K. Garrison’s officers that filed dubious charges against the then LCO included its CO at the time.

“Operations Protocol” Section 5 Undermines Article XII

The infamous statement in Section 5 of the 501st Legion’s “Operations Protocol” (bylaws) remains fully intact in spite of the addition of Article XII:

“Garrison COs are free to adopt reasonable local policies and procedures, so long as they are supported by the local membership and do not conflict with the Legion Charter, Operations Protocol, or the Legion’s policies and procedures.”

“Operations Protocol” Section 5

As this blog shared in its exposé of the 501st Legion’s Charter & bylaws in August, 2020 in the aftermath of the coup d’état, this carte blanche power granted to Garrison CO’s means that they can continue to do pretty much whatever they want especially given that they don’t have to provide charitable donation protocols to the Legion Council and the LCOG for review.

🛑 Given that the Legion Council is comprised nearly completely of Garrison CO’s and their personally appointed Garrison XO’s (or other designated council representative), it’s no wonder that they didn’t add the needed review, reporting & investigative aspects to Article XII that would be the best prevention for potential embezzlement of charitable donation funds from occurring.

No Charter Changes Made that Would Prevent Another Coup d’État from Occurring

While the addition of Article XII to the 501st Legion Charter was, in all likelihood, done solely in response to the 2020 coup d’état, no substantive changes have been made to the Charter or the bylaws that would prevent such a coup d’état from occurring again:

  • If charges are filed against an elected officer (especially the LCO), the 501st Legion members at large don’t have to be notified.
  • If a hearing against an elected officer is occurring, it doesn’t have to be made known to the 501st Legion members at large. So secret hearings against elected officers can continue with the members at large only finding out after the fact, just as what happened during the 2020 coup d’état.
  • The Code of Conduct does not specifically prohibit false accusations from being made against officers or other members at at large.
  • The Legion Captain of the Guard (LCOG) continues to be elected by the Legion Council instead of the 501st Legion membership at large. This means that the LCOG remains beholden to the Legion Council, not the members at large: this is no different from 2020 and maintains the concerns of conflict of interest and giving the appearance that the LCOG is simply a tool of the Legion Council.
  • No prohibition against members forming secretive groups whose goals include undermining existing club leadership, such as the Projekt Mayhem group.

ℹ️ Everything listed above were enabling factors used during the 2020 coup d’état.

Conclusion

Article XII looks good on the surface, but it lacks the necessary teeth to be enforceable. Lack of enforceability has been an ongoing problem for the 501st Legion and other costume clubs.

Whether the addition of Article XII will actually make a positive difference in preventing embezzlement may never be publicly known; but given how much of the Legion Council supported the 2020 coup d’état when the then LCO asked the U.K. Garrison about its charitable donation collection practices, the weak wording in Article XII seems more like a PR campaign to provide an appearance of ethical practices given the public humiliation that the 501st Legion brought upon itself from the coup.

Chances are that nothing internally may have actually changed for the better as the result of Article XII given that no other relevant changes to the Charter or bylaws have been made that would actually prevent another coup similar to what occurred in 2020 from happening again.

References

Leave a comment