Legal Question: Can She Take Back Her Resignation?

On April 1, 2008, Susan Polgar announced that she was resigning from
the Executive Board of the United States Chess Federation. See:

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2008...ouncement.html

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2008...o-hungary.html

http://www.chessville.com/misc/PolgarQuits.htm

The first announcement, which was on March 31, 2008, said:

"My husband and I have been in a number of negotiation sessions (via
phone) this entire weekend which could immediately effect our USCF
board members status as well as our status at the Texas Tech
University Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence. Stay tuned!"

The second announcement, dated April 1, 2008, stated:

"Here is the full story of my announcement. I plan to reunite with my
sisters to represent Hungary in future Olympiads. I hope to have the
paperwork done ASAP with FIDE."

This referred the readers to the third announcement, which stated in
part:

"Shocking is not an adequate word for this announcement from Lubbock
Texas, home of Susan Polgar, that she is resigning all her chessic
positions in the USA - the Chairmanship of the USCF has already been
stripped from her by President Bill Goichberg, and now she exits from
the board too."

It seems to me that this is a clear resignation. When a player says "I
resign" in a chess game, he cannot change his mind one minute later
and thus take it back. Therefore, I believe that her announcement that
she is resigning is legally effective.

However, the following day, April 2, 2008, Susan Polgar stated on her
website:

"It was meant for good fun on April 1. Humor is needed from time to
time and we all need to laugh and smile more "

However, I do not believe that a person can say "I am resigning from
the board" and then claim the next day that this was just an April
Fools Joke. Also, her statement on March 31, which was NOT April Fools
Day, said, "I expect to be able to bring you the latest news within
the next 48 hours." That must have referred to the statement made the
following day that she was resigning, since no other "important
statement" appeared within 48 hours.

Also, I understand from other sources that the "number of negotiation
sessions (via phone) this entire weekend" mentioned in the March 31
announcement referred to the request by Polgar that Texas Tech
University "buy out" her contract with them, and it was only after
Texas Tech refused to buy out Susan Polgar and Paul Truong that she
announced that she was staying.

Thus, I believe that her resignation was legally effective and Susan
Polgar is no longer a member of the Executive Board of the United
States Chess Federation.

Sam Sloan

(Removed rec.games.chess.misc -- the "misc" groups are for
when there's no other appropriate group in a hierarchy;
rec.games.chess.computer -- this is off-topic there; and
soc.culture.magyar -- off-topic there as well. Sam, posting
in off-topic groups makes you look like a kook. Is that what
you want?)

Good Lord, Sam, get a sense of humor.

To answer your question seriously, although it doesn't really
deserve it, you will have to check the bylaws for the UCSF to
find out what the procedure is for a board member resigning,
which will tell you whether Susan followed it. Somehow I
doubt postings on blogs and Web sites are part of the
procedure. It is more likely that a written letter of
resignation must be submitted to the chairman of the board.
Did Susan submit such a letter?

--
http://jews4obama2008.wordpress.com/

On Apr 3, 11:45 am, (Jonathan Kamens)
wrote:
(Removed rec.games.chess.misc -- the "misc" groups are for
when there's no other appropriate group in a hierarchy;
rec.games.chess.computer -- this is off-topic there; and
soc.culture.magyar -- off-topic there as well. Sam, posting
in off-topic groups makes you look like a kook. Is that what
you want?)

Good Lord, Sam, get a sense of humor.

To answer your question seriously, although it doesn't really
deserve it, you will have to check the bylaws for the UCSF to
find out what the procedure is for a board member resigning,
which will tell you whether Susan followed it. Somehow I
doubt postings on blogs and Web sites are part of the
procedure. It is more likely that a written letter of
resignation must be submitted to the chairman of the board.
Did Susan submit such a letter?

--http://jews4obama2008.wordpress.com/

I already know the answer to that question without looking.

There is no procedure.

This came up during the USCF delegates meeting in Phoenix, Arizona in
August 2005 when it was reported that Beatriz Marinello had resigned
and then it later developed that she had not resigned. The person who
reported her "resignation" was Robert Tanner, but since he could not
recall what exactly it was that she said and he was the only one who
had heard it, it was deemed to be not effective.

Sam Sloan

For Sam, *every* day is April Fools' Day.

--
Kenneth Sloan
Computer and Information Sciences +1-205-932-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX +1-205-934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://KennethRSloan.com/

On Apr 3, 11:00*am, samsloan wrote:

It seems to me that this is a clear resignation. When a player says "I
resign" in a chess game, he cannot change his mind one minute later
and thus take it back. Therefore, I believe that her announcement that
she is resigning is legally effective.

If this was a game, I'd agree, but anything with board that is not a
chessboard is politics; in which case, someone would have had to
recognize her resignation for it to have any validity.

Thus, I believe that her resignation was legally effective and Susan
Polgar is no longer a member of the Executive Board of the United
States Chess Federation.

Sam Sloan

Who gives a **** what you believe?

On Apr 3, 2:50*pm, zdrakec wrote:
Thus, I believe that her resignation was legally effective and Susan
Polgar is no longer a member of the Executive Board of the United
States Chess Federation.

Sam Sloan

Who gives a **** what you believe?

Especially since yesterday Sam wrote: "Turns out that it was an
April Fools Joke, as I suspected,"

OK. Let us suppose that she says that she did not post that and that
she was impersonated by some other known or unknown person.

That means that she, like me, was impersonated by someone else.

Then, it would seem most likely that we were both impersonated by the
same person.

Think about the implications of that!

Sam Sloan

On Apr 3, 1:19 pm, wrote:
On Apr 3, 11:00 am, samsloan wrote:

It seems to me that this is a clear resignation. When a player says "I
resign" in a chess game, he cannot change his mind one minute later
and thus take it back. Therefore, I believe that her announcement that
she is resigning is legally effective.

If this was a game, I'd agree, but anything with board that is not a
chessboard is politics; in which case, someone would have had to
recognize her resignation for it to have any validity.

In answer to the question of whether Susan Polgar's resignation has to
be accepted before it is effective, when Governor Spitzer resigned as
Governor of New York State recently, there was never any acceptance by
the New York State Legislature or any governmental body.

In the USCF, there have been numerous resignations by board members. I
am not aware of any of them that had to be accepted by the other board
members to become effective.

The following USCF board members have resigned since 1991: Doris
Barry, Helen Warren, John McCrary, Frank Camaratta, Frank Brady, Greg
Shahade, Tim Hanke and Robert Tanner. I may have left out one or two.
If, in any of those cases, the resignation was "accepted", I do not
recall it.

Sam Sloan

By Sam's logic, the next time a Board member loses a game and says "I
resign," he/she will have resigned from the Board. I can't believe
some people actually voted for this nutter.