Hard Times and the Big Split at Circle Pines

Blog Post Published on:	9th November 2022
Title:	Hard Times and the Big Split at Circle Pines
Lead Author:	Bill Knox
Type of Blog Post:	cpc_history

This article is from the Circle Pines Center 35th Anniversary Anthology.

The 35th Anthology was published in 1974.
This article appears on page 76 of the 35th Anthology.

The article itself is from Bill Knox’s draft history of CPC.

---

Hard Times: the Big Split
by Bill Knox

Differences of long standing among members reached a crisis in 1947 over these major camp policies:

1. Family camping with no counselors vs. unit camping by ages, under counselors.
2. Summer season only, winter with caretaker only vs. all-year camping, with winter school and staff.
3. Keep program moving, building improvements as needed vs. wind down interim camp and start permanent lakeside camp.
4. Voting at membership meetings only vs. voting by mail ballots.

The voting questions were resolved by bylaw amendments requiring that members be given a final form of the proposal and a lengthy period to study it before voting, and providing that mail voting on elections may be done after the full slate of candidates is selected at meetings.

Very limited funds prevented the start of building the lakeside camp. Without general membership backing, the dissidents were unable to force major changes in policy or to continue as an “opposition” group. Many of them drifted back into general camp activity as good, helpful members, realizing that it was more important for both sides to work together than for either side to split off, insisting on having it all its own way.

Most regrettably, about 30 had withdrawn, but some of them also returned as helpful campers, largely reconciled to the hard necessity of carrying on camp much as the prevailing policy was doing.

In consolation, it may be observed that as a co-op society, CPC has survived and recovered from a major schism, without legal force or physical violence.