Policies/Membership/Who sets Membership Policy?

From PCSAR

Question: It appears that membership status requirements were changed at a board meeting and not at an AGM by a resolution, which is standard for societies.

Yes, this is explicitly allowed in the PCSAR bylaws.

"Section 1. Terms of admission of members A Voting Member is any individual who is of the full age of 18 years, has applied to be a Voting Member, indicates the wish to remain a Voting Member, and has the approval of the Board. An individual that no longer meets these requirements is no longer a Voting Member."

The aspect used has been "approval of the board". The Board has at various times set policy upon which it gives its approval. These board policies are what you are referring to.

Indeed this is not how many societies set their membership policy; it is however a mechanism used by older and small organizations. When the bylaws were being proposed, Some were against this clause. But the argument presented that won the day was that having the board decide who was a member moved any sensitive delicate decisions away from a vote of the general membership to the board, and thus reduced the damage to the organization such decisions have as a side effect. Since then, we've only had to use the board's arbitrary power once or twice, but when looking at other SAR groups which have the membership being the arbitrator, some now agree with the way the bylaws are set up.