IV. NON-MEMBER STATUS

A. RESIDENTS

Under special circumstances, Twin Oaks accepts "limited term members." Especially during periods of low membership, we may be open to people living here who are not ready for provisional membership. The benefits and costs to the community are weighed on an individual case basis, but the guidelines for residency are listed below:

1. Anyone wishing to live here and have an exception to our regular membership agreement goes through regular membership process and proposes an agreement for residency to the CMT.

The CMT can accept, reject or ask for compromise. If approved, the agreement would be good for up to five months (six months from the date co began cos visit at Twin Oaks) with an option to renew for up to six months longer (one year total time) upon the discretion of the CMT.

2. Although some exceptions to our membership norms are expected, unless otherwise specified, the resident will:
a) receive allowance and be able to earn travel money and redistributed money, should we have an earnings program. Co would have no access to outside money except gifts and vacation earnings under the same restrictions that apply to members;
b) be counted in the community gender ratio;
c) have no financial requirements for living here, beyond fees or donation for the first month as visitor;
d) have no medical or dental benefits for chronic illness or preexisting conditions, but the community will pay costs of acute illness or injury;
e) be expected to do full quota;
f) be assigned labor on the basis of five days assigned, seven days done (or other arrangement at the discretion of the labor manager) each week for the period of the residency, and be eligible for apprenticeships, although members would have first priority;
g) earn the same guaranteed vacation time as members, and be able to earn additional vacation time by working over-quota;
h) be allowed to drive community vehicles only at the discretion of the vehicle use manager;
i) not have priority in the assigning of community rooms and will be expected to float from room to room as deemed preferable by the room assigner;
j) not purchase clothes out of the community clothes budget;
k) not automatically have privileges such as school, therapy, pregnancy, etc.

B. STUDENT RESIDENTS

The Outreach Council is responsible for dealing with inquiries and approving people to come as student residents. The Outreach Council must come up with a sponsor for each student resident before accepting them. Responsibilities of the sponsor will be as follows:

1. meet with and obtain approval from the Outreach Council;
2. call or write to both advisor and student;
3. explain policies and send the student resident the Twin Oaks information packet;
4. arrange for an available room;
5. get approval of the CMT, which should take into account gender balance and room availability;
6. give or arrange for a full tour of the community;
7. encourage the person to attend relevant visitor meetings;
8. act as liaison in case of problems;
9. be responsible for orientation, assimilation, and evaluation, and work closely with student resident while co is here. Check in regularly.

All of the provisions of residency as described in paragraph IV(A) above apply to student residents, with the exceptions stated below:
1. Student residents must do full quota. At the discretion of the labor manager, student residents may be assigned hours to work on their school projects.
2. Student residents will not be eligible for redistributed money should there be an earnings program.
3. Student residents are subject to the same restrictions as visitors in using community vehicles and dangerous equipment.

C. GUESTS

1. General

A member should post in advance the arrival of a guest, find co a room, give a general orientation about the community (our norms, etc.), and find appropriate work for the guest. The host will be considered responsible for the guest at all times and, if the member leaves the farm for more than a day, co must find an on-the-farm sponsor for the guest. Guests must always have an on-the-farm sponsor and the name of the sponsor must be posted. Occasionally, guests will want to stay longer than a month. If so, they should post a paper and get community approval through the process outlined below under "Long-term Guests."

During periods of high population, adherence to the guest policy is more important to more people. Please remember it can be overstimulating to some members to have an abundance of new faces around.

"Appropriate work": If a guest is here more than a week and co is able to, co is generally expected to be on the labor system and work approximately as much as members. This is not a hard and fast rule and it is up to the host to determine how much work is appropriate, taking into consideration the circumstances of the specific guest and the community expectation that guests will contribute labor. For instance, most of us don’t expect our parents to work very much when they come to visit us for a week or so, or if someone is here for a few days it may seem appropriate to just visit with your guest rather than work.

2. Long-Term Guests (including family members)

Anyone wishing to host someone for more than a month should post a paper to the community explaining the situation, preferably before the guest’s arrival. Any special needs of the guest should be included in the paper. The host will notify the CMT of the arrival date. In the fourth week the CMT will put out a poll to all members to determine whether the community approves the guest staying longer. The members will have one week to respond to the poll. The maximum stay is 12 consecutive weeks, which would include two polls (in the fourth and eighth weeks). Regular guesting policy applies to long-term guests as well.

Members are encouraged to address any concerns about a guest directly and as expeditiously as possible to the host and/or guest. Don’t just wait for the poll to register your concerns.

3. Child Guests

People wishing to host minors as guests at Twin Oaks should review the Child Board guidelines on sponsoring guest children, as well as comply with CMT guest policy.

V. DUAL MEMBERSHIP - See Dual Member Policy