[This version prepared by Tim Illingworth, May/June 1998, from a scan/OCR by Pat McMurray. This version is basically unchanged from the original typescript, except that page numbers have been deleted, and the missing last line of Item 6, motion 3A, has been restored. According to the minutes of the 1983 Business Meeting, it was inadvertently omitted from the final version. George, how could you?]

[Text of motions printed in the Program Book added, December 2000.]

The World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting at Chicon IV was scheduled to be held in four sessions, daily from Friday, Sept. 3, to Monday, Sept. 6, 1982 (10 A.M.-noon on Friday, Saturday, and Monday; 9 A.M.-noon on Sunday) in the Columbus Ballroom E&F of the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Only the first three of these sessions proved to be necessary, and Sunday's was postponed from 9 to 10 A.M. The officers for all three sessions were: Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer; George Flynn, Secretary; Richard Katze, Esq, Counsel; Leslie Turek, Timekeeper; and Paula Lieberman, Sergeant-at-Arms.

The meeting was called to order at 10:06 AM. The Chair introduced the podium staff and summarized the procedures to be followed. An attendance list subsequently passed around was signed by 84 people (not counting the 5 officers listed above). The meeting then began the preliminary consideration of the agenda, which at that time consisted of 24 items.

ITEM 0.A, submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker, to limit the scope of the motion to object to consideration.

MOVED, to amend Rule 2 of the Standing Rules for the Governance of the WSFS Business Meeting by inserting the words "(for procedural reasons, as opposed to simple dislike of the motion in question)" after the words "object to consideration".

MS to object to consideration; more than 2/3 of those voting opposed consideration, so the item was killed.

ITEM 0.B, submitted by Kent Bloom and Scott Dennis.

MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by inserting the following new section:

In the event that a Convention site outside North America is selected, selection of the site of the interim Continental Convention (hereinafter NASFIC) shall be a special order of business, and shall be taken up immediately after the announcement of the Convention site at the Site-Selection Meeting. Bids for the NASFIC shall contain the information required of bidders for the Worldcon by the WSFS Constitution. Bids may be entered in writing to the Chairman in advance, conditional upon selection of a site outside North America. Selection of the site and committee shall be as follows:

The Chairman shall announce all qualified bids received in advance.

Bids shall be received from the floor.

Each bid shall be allowed five (5) minutes for a presentation to the meeting.

Voting shall be by written preferential ballot.

All members of the Worldcon present at the Business Meeting shall be permitted to vote.

The Chairman shall appoint three (3) tellers to count ballots; each bid may appoint one observer.

The tellers and observers shall retire with the ballots. The meeting shall resume until the tellers return.

The tellers shall report the results to the Chairman, who shall declare which bid has been selected.

The winning bid will be allowed five(5) minutes for a presentation.

As there were not sufficient copies of this motion for all of those present, it was without objection deferred until Saturday's session.

For these and other proposed amendments to the WSFS Constitution, all that could be done at this session was to set time limits for debate at the Main Business Meeting (Sunday).

ITEM 1, ratification of amendment to require publication of notices about the Society's service marks, and to use the terms "Hugo Awards" and "Worldcon" consistently.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

A) Insert the following as a new section in Article I:

Every Worldcon Committee shall include the following notice in each of its publications "‘World Science Fiction Society’, ‘WSFS’, ‘World Science Fiction Convention’, ‘Worldcon’, ‘Science Fiction Achievement Award’, and ‘Hugo Award’ are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society."

B) Substitute "Hugo Awards" for all occurrences of "Hugos".

C) Insert "(hereinafter referred to as the Worldcon)" after the first occurrence of "World Science Fiction Convention" and substitute "Worldcon" for "World Science Fiction Convention" and "Convention" except in the phrase "Continental Convention" thereafter.

-- The default time limit would be 20 minutes for the amendment as a whole, or 6 minutes for each of the three sections if split. The Chair pointed out that the WSFS Mark Registration Committee report (Item 6 below) contained a proposed change to this amendment, namely, the striking of the word "registered" from part A. MS (Stephen St. Onge) to consider this change; there was no objection, and the change in the amendment's text was made without objection. The Chair ruled that this change decreased the scope of the amendment, so that if passed it would not have to be ratified again at ConStellation. MS to set debate limit at 10, 5, and 2 minutes (plus 20 minute default). The question was raised as to whether the blank-filling process should proceed in the direction of shorter or longer times; the Chair indicated his intention of beginning with the longer times (generally less popular). The previous question was moved and passed (over 2/3 in favor). The proposed debate times were then voted on: 20 minutes, defeated unanimously; 10 minutes, defeated overwhelmingly; 5 minutes, defeated 30-32; 2 minutes, passed overwhelmingly.

ITEM 2, specifying that amendments to the Constitution imposing added costs not be binding upon Committees already selected.

MOVED, to amend Article IV, Section 2, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following

"except that no change imposing additional costs or financial obligations upon Convention Committees shall be binding upon any Committee already selected at the time when it takes effect."

-- Default time limit, 6 minutes. MS to set limit at 2 minutes; the consensus of the meeting was that the default limit should always be included without requiring a specific motion. 6 minutes, passed 26-18.

ITEM 3, to extend the definition of the Dramatic Presentation Hugo to cover sequences of instalments constituting a single dramatic unit.

MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 6, of the WSFS Constitution by altering the last sentence to read:

"In the case of individual programs presented as a series, each program is individually eligible, but the series as a whole is not eligible; however, a sequence of installments constituting a single dramatic unit may be considered as a single program (eligible in the year of the final installment)."

-- Default time limit, 6 minutes. The Chair stated that any interpretations he might make of this motion's meaning were not binding, the text being merely a guideline for application by future Worldcon Committees. MS to set time limit at 10 minutes (Bob Hillis), but this motion was withdrawn; 6 minutes set without objection.

ITEM 4, to require timely publication of the deadline for submitting Worldcon bids.

MOVED, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution by inserting the following new section between the current Sections 3 and 4:

The deadline for bids from prospective Committees to be included on the ballot, as well as all information needed for filing such bids, shall be published by the current Con and sent to all members of the Society at least four months before the deadline for such bids. (Publication in a Progress Report prior to the date specified shall meet this requirement.)

--Default time limit, 20 minutes; MS to set limit at 6 minutes (George Mitchell.). It was suggested by Craig Miller "The deadline for bids" be changed to "The deadline for filing bids"; the Chair felt that this would make no difference (while the Secretary felt it was ungrammatical). Tom Whitmore made the point of order that the question of the time limit should be disposed of first. MS (Robert Sacks) to defer the time limit question: no objection. Mr Miller's amendment was then passed overwhelmingly. Mr. Sacks moved to change "prior to the date specified" to "prior to the four months’ advance date specified" in the final sentence: no second. The previous question was moved and passed unanimously. Time limit 20 minutes, defeated overwhelmingly; 6 minutes, passed overwhelmingly. At Mr. Sacks’ request, the Chair ruled that "the date specified" in the final sentence refers to a time four months before the deadline for submitting bids.

ITEM 5, to allow potential Hugo nominees that receive extremely limited distribution to have their eligibility extended by 3/4 vote of a business meeting.

MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:

Extended Eligibility: In the event that a potential Hugo nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a three-fourths vote of the intervening Business Meeting of the Society.

-- Default time limit, 20 minutes. MS to set limit at 5 minutes (Stephen St Onge), 10 minutes (Moshe Feder); 20 minutes, defeated overwhelmingly; 10 minutes, passed.

ITEM 6, report of the WSFS Mark Registration Committee. The Chair submitted the following report:

REPORT OF THE WSFS MARK REGISTRATION COMMITTEE

To: Chicon IV WSFS Business Meeting

From: Donald E. Eastlake, III, Chairman

Date: 1 September 1982

The committee was continued by a motion of the Denvention II Business Meeting. Its purpose is to take action to protect the names in use by the Society, such as "Worldcon" and "Hugo Award". All actions by the committee were taken by its Chairman. Below is a summary of the cumulative actions of the committee and a set of recommendations.

- Trade mark searches have been done on the names "Hugo Award" and "World Science Fiction" with no serious problems being revealed.

- Research has been done on the best type of registration and on any complications that might be caused by the 1950s World Science Fiction Society, Inc., and the 1960s World Science Fiction Convention Inc.

- A trademark attorney has been retained and has done an initial investigation of the problem.

- Specimens of use of the marks have been transmitted to and reviewed by the attorney.

- Draft descriptions and classifications of the marks have been transmitted to and reviewed by the attorney.

The adoption of the following three motions is recommended.

1) MOVED, to amend Item 1 before the Chicon IV WSFS Business Meeting for ratification by striking the word "registered" from part A of the item.

Explanation: While it is expected that the government will have approved registration of the marks by ConStellation, this has not yet occurred. Claiming registration prematurely is injurious to achieving registration. Furthermore, the purpose of part A is to give notice that these are WSFS marks, and no legal function would be served by giving notice that they are registered.

2) MOVED to

A) continue the WSFS Mark Registration Committee to report to the ConStellation WSFS Business Meeting with the membership listed below and such additional members as its chair appoints;

B) continue the authorization of Donald E Eastlake, III, as an Officer of WSFS to act to register and protect the registerable marks in use by the Society; and

C) request that the 1984 Worldcon, along with the other Worldcons of which this has been requested, pay a share of the cost involved.

Committee: Donald Eastlake; George Flynn; Rick Katze, Esq.; Larry Propp, Esq.; and Craig Miller.

Explanation: The parts of this motion provide for the continuation of the committee and its work.

3) MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting the following:

A) There shall be a Standing Committee of the Society. The Standing Committee shall consist of one member appointed to serve at the pleasure of each future selected Worldcon Committee and each of the two immediately preceding Worldcon Committees and nine members elected three each year to staggered three-year terms by the Business Meeting. Elected members serve until their successors are elected. If vacancies occur in elected memberships in the committee, the remainder of the position’s term may be filled by the Business Meeting and until then temporarily filled by the committee. There will be a meeting of the Standing Committee at each Worldcon at a time and place announced at the Business Meeting. The Standing Committee shall determine and elect its own officers.

B) The Standing Committee shall be responsible for registration and protection of the marks used by or under the authority of the Society.

C) Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, any committee or other position created by a Business Meeting shall lapse at the end of the next following Business Meeting that does not vote to continue it.

Explanation: With the registration of WSFS marks, there will be a continuing duty to protect the marks and renew their registration. This will presumably be the Board of Directors’ responsibility if WSFS is incorporated, but it is not the place of the Mark Registration Committee to assume incorporation. The present system of annually renewed authority is inadequate. Part A above sets up a minimal continuing body, of a composition to which the Business Meeting has previously given some endorsement. Part B assigns the responsibility for marks to this continuing body. Part C codifies current practice with regard to ad hoc committees.

Respectfully submitted.

(s) Donald E. Eastlake, III

[End of the WSFS Mark Registration Committee report. There has been one significant further development: The week after Chicon, the committee received from its attorney application forms for registration of the six marks listed in Item 1. These applications were signed by Don Eastlake and returned to the attorney for submission which should have been accomplished by this time (since the registration fee went up drastically on October 1).]

(Motion 1 in the report had already been approved: see Item 1.) MS to consider motion 2 immediately: no objection. There was no objection to Don Eastlake’s continuing to preside. Jill Eastlake suggested that someone from the ConStellation committee should be added to the committee; there was no objections, and the Chair added Kent Bloom to the list. Steve Whitmore asked how much force the request for funds in part C had: the Chair felt it was not binding. MS (Robert Sacks) to call the question: no objection. Motion 2 (as amended) passed: many-1. -- Motion 3, being a constitutional amendment, could not be considered until Sunday; default time limit 20 minutes. MS (Gary Feldbaum) to divide part C from parts A and B: no objection. Parts A and B: default time limit, 20 minutes. The Chair ruled that this amendment would be dropped if it and the new WSFS Constitution were both to pass and be ratified, since it would be supplanted by the new Constitution; however, other pending amendments would not necessarily be dropped. Time limits 20 minutes passed. -- Part C: default time limit, 6 minutes. MS to set limit at 3 minutes (Gary Feldbaum); 6 minutes, 19-19 on show of hands, defeated 25-29 on rising vote; 3 minutes, passed,

ITEM 7, report of the WSFS Constitution Drafting Committee. Copies of a draft Constitution (see Appendix A) had been distributed at the meeting; however, Dalroy Ward, the committee's chairman was not present. Craig Miller and Genny Dazzo, members of the committee objected that this draft had not been given final consideration by the committee. At this point Joseph Lattin objected that the text of Article I, Section 6, of the current Constitution (and by implication the corresponding passage in the draft) should read "Each Convention Committee shall retain a licensed independent accountant" rather than "...an independent accountant" as in the published text. The Chair ruled that the published text must be assumed to be correct, since it had been published that way for several years. MS to consider this question now, as a correction to the records. MS (George Mitchell) that this question be deferred to the Saturday meeting, and that the Chairman and Secretary be directed to produce the appropriate records: no objection. [No such records being available, a notice was placed in the daily newsletter requesting copies of the relevant Worldcon publications.]

Reverting to the committee reports the meeting found itself in doubt as to just what was on the floor. MS to allow consideration of a motion to refer the report to Saturday. MS (Rick Katze) to call the question: passed by over 2/3. The motion to defer the report then passed overwhelmingly.

ITEM 8, submitted by Jon Estren and Wilma Fisher, to replace the Central and Eastern regions by Northern and Southern regions.

MOVED, to amend Article III, Section 5, of the WSFS Constitution by deleting all text beginning with "Central:" and substituting the following, provided that this change shall not take effect until after the selection of the Worldcon site for 1986:

Southern: Central America, Mexico (except as above), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and all states southward; and Northern: all states and provinces east of the Western region and north of the Southern region. Convention sites shall rotate in the order Western, Southern, Northern region.

MS (Tony Lewis) to object to consideration: 10-34 against consideration.

ITEM 9 was the first of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category; the Secretary had distributed a chart (see Appendix B) outlining the provisions of these motions. -- MS (Stephen St. Onge) to group all such amendments into one bloc (the Chair added the stipulation: to be considered at this position in the agenda): no objection. MS (Richard Russell) to make these items a special order of business for 9 A.M. Sunday; since the Standing Rules require site-selection business to be considered first on Sunday, an amendment was accepted to set the special order immediately after the site-selection business. There were objections by Craig Miller and others to meeting as early as 9 A.M., and the Chair said he would investigate changing the time. MS (Jill Eastlake) to amend the motion by suspending the rules to set site-selection business one hour after the start of the Sunday meeting (and thus the bloc of Fanzine-Hugo motions at the start of the meeting): no objection. The question was called, and the Russell motion as amended passed 40-5 (greater than the 2/3 vote required to suspend the Standing Rules). -- MS (Marty Cantor) to set the following order of consideration: first the motions to eliminate the category; then if these fail to pass Items 16, 9 and 19 in that order. MS (David Bratman) to first consider the question of whether there should be any such Hugo category; if no, then decide between Items 10 and 21; if yes, then decide between the others. The Chair pointed out that ordinary parliamentary tradition would be to consider the chart from the bottom up, to perfect the alternatives before deciding between them. MS (Craig Miller) to amend by substitution: that the order of consideration be left to the Chair, who should devise an order that is logical, parliamentary, and consistent. George Mitchell suggested that all the motions be considered in committee of the whole, following the chart. The question was called on Mr. Miller's amendment by substitution, which passed overwhelmingly. The question was then called on the motion as amended, which also passed overwhelmingly. -- Moved (Robert Sacks) to suspend the rules when the motions are considered, in order to follow the flowchart: no second. Moved (Jill Eastlake) to set a time limit of 30 minutes for all the Fanzine-Hugo motions: no second. The Chair stated that he was willing to set time limits for the individual motions, and that he would announce the proposed procedure on Saturday. MS (Mr. St. Onge) to set an overall time limit of 60 minutes. MS (Mr. Russell to postpone consideration of time limits to Saturday: passed overwhelmingly.

Mr. Hillis made the point of order that it was still necessary to go through the individual Fanzine-Hugo motions to see whether anyone objected to consideration. The Chair agreed, but suggested that any changes in wording be deferred to Saturday. MS (Mr. Russell) to go through the non-Fanzine-Hugo items first, and defer the Fanzine-Hugo items to the end of today’s agenda. Passed overwhelmingly (For the record, the motions thus deferred were Items 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, and 21.)

ITEM 11, submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker, to mandate the use of an Awards Subcommittee to administer the Hugos.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 19, substituting "Awards Committee" for "Committee" or "Convention Committee" throughout Article II except for Sections 13 and 14, and adding the following as Article II, Section 2:

Awards Subcommittee: The Convention Committee shall select three persons who have not engaged in activities eligible for awards as defined in this Article to serve as an Awards Subcommittee. The Awards Subcommittee shall have sole authority to solicit and count nominations and votes for awards as defined in this Article and to decide questions of eligibility.

MS (Rick Katze) to object to consideration: over 2/3 against consideration.

ITEM 12, submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker, to eliminate the Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 6.

MS (Mark Owings) to object to consideration: 19-20 against, but less than 2/3 opposed to consideration. Default time limit, 9 minutes. MS to set limits of 20 minutes (Steve Whitmore), 10 minutes (Rick Katze); 20 minutes, defeated overwhelmingly; 10 minutes, passed.

ITEM 13, submitted by Louis Epstein and Robert Sacks, to eliminate the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 7.

MS (Craig Miller) to object to consideration: over 2/3 opposed to consideration.

ITEM 15, submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker, to restrict site-selection voting to Attending members of the current Worldcon.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting the words "with the right of general attendance at the current convention" between the words "members" and "who" in the second sentence of Article III, Section 1.

MS (Robert Sacks) to object to consideration: overwhelmingly (over 2/3) against consideration.

ITEM 17, submitted by Jay Hutschnecker, Mark Richards, Dana Hudes, Robert Gerber, and Robert Sacks:

Whereas the Hyatt hotels have imposed unconscionable fees and restrictions on parties held at Chicon IV and ConStellation, the 1982 and 1983 Worldcons in Chicago and Baltimore, until such fees and restrictions are eliminated, the committees supervising Worldcon site selection are instructed to disqualify as inadequate contracts and agreements using Hyatt hotels as the principal convention hotel.

The Chair announced that he had ruled this motion out of order, since the requirements for bidding are specified by the WSFS Constitution and additional criteria cannot be imposed without amending the Constitution.

ITEM 18, submitted by Jay Hutschnecker, Robert Gerber, Mark Richards, Dana Hudes, and Robert Sacks:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting a new second sentence in Article III, Section 4:

The contract or letter of agreement with the principal hotel shall provide that there be no restrictions or fees on bringing in food, beverages, or supplies into hotel rooms for parties and no prohibition against holding parties in hotel rooms.

MS (Steve Whitmore) to object to consideration: overwhelmingly against consideration.

ITEM 20, submitted by Thomas S. Whitmore and J. L. Gilpatrick:

Whereas recent Worldcons have had, and future Worldcons can expect to have, significant excess funds following the close of the convention;

And whereas there are many organizations that would be worthy recipients of such funds;

And whereas it is clearly difficult to choose which of the many worthy organizations should receive said funds;

Be it resolved that the following organizations are considered by the World Science Fiction Society to be among those worthy to receive donations:

a. Recognized fan charities, such as TAFF, DUFF, GUFF, TOFF and the FAAN Awards;

b. Small, established regional conventions;

c. Established national fan organizations, such as the NFFF and the Fantasy Artists Network;

d. local fan organizations, especially IRS code 501(c)3-recognized not-for-profit organizations;

e. Local Public libraries, for improvements to their science fiction collections;

f. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates, for the production and/or sponsorship of science fiction programming.

The Chair noted that it was 11:59 A.M., and that the meeting was scheduled to adjourn at noon: there was no objection to extending the meeting long enough to dispose of this item. -- MS (Stephen St. Onge) to object to consideration: majority in favor of consideration. Default time limit, 20 minutes. It was the consensus that this item could be considered as the first order of business on Saturday.

MS to adjourn: passed at l2:01 P.M.

Saturday, Sept. 4. 1982

The meeting was called to order at 10:04 A.M.

ITEM 20: default time limit, 20 minutes; not a Constitutional amendment, so could be given final passage today.

-- MS (Robert Sacks) to refer the matter to counsel and have him report back next year. No objection to voting immediately: overwhelmingly against.

-- MS (George Mitchell) to call the question: 23-20 in favor, thus defeated (less than 2/3).

-- MS (Larry Ruh) to postpone to the main Business Meeting: overwhelmingly defeated.

-- MS (Gary Farber) to divide the question into sections a to f: 17-17 on show of hands, defeated 19-25 on rising vote.

-- Moved (Joseph Lattin) to delete sections a through d: no second.

-- MS (Barry Newton) to add "g. The next year's Worldcon committee." Leslie Turek suggested amending this to "Activities at the next Worldcon": not accepted. However, an amendment to change the text to the plural ("Future Worldcon committees") was accepted. The amendment as amended was passed.

-- MS (Mike Lowrey) to delete sections b, d, and e: passed 26-23.

-- MS (Tony Lewis) to delete section a: overwhelmingly defeated.

-- MS (Moshe Feder) to delete "and their local affiliates" in section f: defeated.

-- MS (Genny Dazzo) to delete section f: defeated.

-- MS (Marty Cantor) to call the question: passed overwhelmingly. The main motion as amended passed 29-16,

[the list of acceptable recipients as finally passed is thus:

a. recognized fan charities...;

b. Established national fan organizations...;

c. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates ...;

d. Future Worldcon committees.]

ITEM 22, submitted by George Mitchell, Andrea Mitchell, Craig Miller, and Genny Dazzo:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by:

A. Inserting the words "who shall be at least twelve years old as of the last day of the current World Science Fiction Convention, and" after the words "The Membership of WSFS shall consist of all people" in Article 1, Section 3.

B. Adding the following new Section 4 between Section 3 and the current Section 4:

Children less than twelve years old as of the last day of the current World Science Fiction Convention may attend the Convention only in the company of their parents or legal guardians. If such children are at least six years old as of the last day of the Convention, they shall be charged an attendance fee which shall be one-half the attending membership rate paid by the child's parents or guardians.

(The intent of this motion is to: 1. Reduce the cost for bringing children to a convention, but also, 2. Ensure they are present only with responsible adults.)

MS (Susan Lewis) to object to consideration: 14-31 against consideration (over 2/3).

ITEM 23, submitted by Louis Epstein and Marla L. Tarzman:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by altering Article II [sic], Section 5, as follows:

Substitute "the planet Earth" for "North America".

Add "on the continent of North America, the East Indies, Australia, and Asia, including all parts of Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Western region.

Add "Antarctica, South America," to the beginning of the description of the Central region.

Add "on the continent of North America, the West Indies, Africa, and Europe, including no part of Turkey or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Eastern region.

Add 'In the event of a Convention site outside of North America being selected, the Business Meeting may by three-quarters (3/4) majority vote elect to hold a Continental Convention to be held in the same year as the overseas World Science Fiction Convention in that part of the region whose turn it is that is on the continent of North America. Selection of the site of such Continental Convention may be by vote of the Business Meeting or be conducted by the incoming Convention Committee." to the end of the present text.

and deleting Article II [sic] Section 6.

MS (many) to object to consideration: overwhelmingly against consideration.

ITEM 0.B (postponed from Friday). -- Default time limit, 20 minutes. The Chair ruled that the sentence "Bids for the NASFIC shall contain..." was out of order, as imposing a requirement not in the Constitution.. This ruling was appealed by Kent Bloom. MS (George Mitchell) to call the question on the appeal: no objection. The Chair’s ruling was sustained by a vote of 23-14. Kent Bloom then proposed amending "shall" to "should" in the same sentence: no objection. MS (Richard Russell) to change "Chairman" to "Presiding Officer" throughout, in conformity with the rest of the Standing Rules: no objections -- In response to an inquiry, the Chair gave his opinion that the procedure in this rule would be applicable only if the bidders failed to agree on an alternate procedure. -- MS (Gary Farber) to call the question: passed overwhelmingly. The proposed Standing Rule as amended passed 40-11, and is thus in effect.

ITEM 7 (postponed from Friday). -- Dalroy Ward, chairman of the committee, officially submitted the draft Constitution. As the result of a committee meeting on Friday afternoon, the following changes had been made from the text printed in Appendix A:

(1) Article IV, Section 6, changed to reads "DUES. Dues in the amount of ... paid to the Society by each World Science Fiction Convention on behalf of each member of the respective convention within ninety (90) days ..." (And delete "annual" in Art. IX, Sec. 6(f).)

(2) Article V, Section 6, change "Ten (10)" to "Twenty (20)" in first sentence.

(3) Article IX, Sections 5 and 6, change "franchise agreement (fee)" to "licensing agreement (fee)" throughout, and change "exclusive right" to "exclusive license" in Sec. 6(a) and (b).

(4) Article IX, Section 5, add ", including how it shall select its members" to the end of the first sentence in subsection (c) and delete the final sentence.

(5) Article IX, Section 6, add "or its assignee" after "bidding committee" or "convention committee" in the opening lines of subsections (a) to (h), and delete "victorious" in subsection (f).

(6) Article IX, Section 6(g), change "an independent accountant" to "a licensed independent accountant".

(7) Article IX, Section 6(i), deleted.

(8) Article IX, Section 9, add "Except as otherwise provided," at the beginning of the text..

(9) Article XVI, Section 2, add "at which a quorum is present" at the end of the first sentence.

MS (Kent Bloom) that the report be accepted, that the committee be dismissed, and that the Society express its thanks to those who served on the committee: passed unanimously.-- MS (Bob Hillis) to adopt the new Constitution as included in the committee report. MS (Kent Bloom) to object to consideration: 18-28 against, less than 2/3. MS (Rick Katze) to set a limit of 2 hours for debate. MS (Bob Hillis) to table the main motion: passed 43-8.

The Chair gave a preliminary report on the question of the word "licensed" in Article 1, Section 6, of the current Constitution (see debate on Item 7, p 4). The sentence in question was given first passage at IguanaCon and ratified at Seacon ‘79. Bob Hillis, who was Presiding Officer at IguanaCon, felt that the text had contained "licensed". The Chair noted that it would take a 2/3 vote to correct the record since it had been published for several years in the current form. MS (Joseph Lattin), to correct the record by inserting the word "licensed". The Chair cautioned that debate should be only on the question of what actually happened (rather than what the text ought to be). In the debate, various others contended that the word "licensed" had specifically been rejected at the time. MS (Richard Russell) to direct the Presiding Officer to consult the records and make the change if they so indicate, as a substitute for Mr. Lattin’s motion. MS (Rick Katze) to call all questions: no objection. Mr. Russell’s amendment passed 31-9. The motion as amended then passed 20-7 (2/3 vote required). [See Appendix C for the result of the investigation.]

All other business having been disposed of, the Fanzine-Hugo motions were next on the agenda, in accordance with the motion passed Friday. Robert Sacks inquired about an additional motion (Item 24) that had been submitted to the Chair; the Chair declined to admit it, since it had not been signed by its makers. However, the Chair ruled in response to an inquiry that (with respect to other motions) an actual signature was not required, as long as the makers were identified. [For the information of readers, the text of the rejected motion was "MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting a new section in Article 1: "Professional Science Fiction authors are the backbone of science fiction conventions, and should be given special consideration at the World Science Fiction Convention." " The makers were in fact identified orally as Alan Huff and Robert Gerber.]

FANZINE-HUGO MOTIONS: (The chart in Appendix B should be consulted to make this intelligible.) The Chair proposed that the motions be considered (if all of them are still there) from the bottom right of the chart upwards. That is, first consider Items 16, 9, and 19, with a short debate on each, a longer debate between these three motions, and then selection of a single two-category proposal; then a short debate on Item 14, followed by a vote between Item 14 and the present rule; then a vote between the surviving one-category and two-category proposals; finally a choice between Items 10 and 21, followed by a choice between the survivor and the alternative one- or two-category proposal. There was no objection to this procedure. It was still necessary to give preliminary consideration to the individual motions, and to set debate limits. They were taken up in the same order as that established for the final consideration.

ITEM 16, proposed by Richard S. Russell, Hank Luttrell, Diane M. Martin, Jeanne Gomoll and Janice M. Bogstad:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

(1) After Article II, Section 1, insert a new section:
Each of the following categories shall have its own Hugo Award for outstanding achievement in the field of science fiction and fantasy during the previous calendar year.

(2) Amend Article II, Section 2, to read:
Best Novel: A story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more appearing for the first time in English.. A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible in the year it was first issued in that language, provided such publication precedes the English-language publication. Publication date, or cover date ... [text as at present] ... of the series. An author may withdraw a version of her or his work from consideration if she or he feels that that version is not representative of what she or he wrote. The Convention Committee ....

[In this and other sections, the motion as submitted by Mr. Russell included the full text of the section with all deleted language and new language indicated. In the interest of keeping these minutes within reasonable bounds, I am omitting as much of this apparatus as possible; the reader should of course consult the text of the present Constitution to see just what changes were proposed.]

(3) Amend Article II, Section 6 to read:
Best Non-Fiction Book: Any non-fictional work appearing for the first time in book form.

(4) Amend Article II, Section 7 to read:
Best Dramatic Presentation: Any dramatic presentation in any medium publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form. In the case of ...

(5) Reverse the order of Article II, Sections 8 and 9, and amend them to read:
Best Professional Editor: The editor of any professional publication. A professional publication is one that had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.
Best Professional Artist: An illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication.

(6) After Article II, Section 9, insert a new section:
Best Semiprozine: Any generally available non-professional publication which meets at least. two of the following criteria (1) had an average press run of at least two thousand (2000) copies per issue, (2) had at least four (4) issues, (3) paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication, (4) provided at least half of the income of any one person, (5) had at least 15% of its total space occupied by advertising, (6) announced itself to be a semiprozine, and (7) had won at least three (3) previous Hugo Awards in any category,

(7) Amend Article II, Section 10, to read:
Best Fanzine: Any generally available non-professional publication which does qualify as a semiprozine.

(8) Amend Article II Section 11, to read:
Best Fan Writer: Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines or fanzines.

(9) Amend Article II, Section 12, to read:
Best Fan Artist: An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in semiprozines or fanzines or through other public display. Any person whose name appears on the final Hugo Awards ballot ... eligible in the Fan Artist category for that year.

[In general, I have stretched a point by including with the text of motions the explanations submitted by the makers at the same time. In this case, however, Mr Russell’s "notes" and "commentary" ran to over a page, which seems like too much to include here. I shall simply note that the above complex of proposals had four main purposes, which were subsequently divided: (a) to move the specification "in the field of science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year" from the definitions of the individual Hugo categories to a single prefatory section; (b) to reword the definition of eligibility for stories first appearing in foreign languages (paragraph 2, first part); (c) to change "he"/"his" to "she or he"/"her or his" (par 2, second part); (d) to separate the current Fanzine category into separate Semiprozine and Fanzine categories, distinguished by the criteria in par 6 (with both distinguished from professional publications by the criterion in par 5, and with appearances in either one qualifying one for the Fan Writer and Fan Artist awards).]

Mr. Russell announced the following changes to the text as originally submitted: (1) in par 6, criterion 1, change "two thousand (2,000)" to "one thousand (1,000)"; (2) in par 6, delete criterion 7; (3) in par 7, restore the language "which has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year" from the current text: there was no objection to these changes. -- MS (Robert Sacks) to divide the question into three parts: Item 16, the portions dealing with the Fanzine Hugo, and related matters; Item 16A, the rearrangement to put the SF/fantasy and previous-year criteria in a single section; Item 16B, the change of pronouns in par. 2: passed overwhelmingly. [when this motion was passed, nobody noticed the fourth purpose, the redefinition of non-English-language eligibility; however, this omission was later remedied.] The residual Item 16 (the designations were mine) would be considered as part of the Fanzine-Hugo group, but Items 16A and 16B would come up at Item 16's original place in the agenda. Default time limit 6 minutes for both 16A and 16B; time limits were proposed of 1 minute for each, 2 minutes for each, and (Mr. Sacks) 10 minutes for Item 16A only. Item 16A: 10 minutes, overwhelmingly defeated; 6 minutes, defeated; 2 minutes, passed. Item 16B: 6 minutes, overwhelmingly defeated; 2 minutes, defeated; 1 minute, passed.

The Chair noted that the time was 11:56 A.M.; the time for adjournment was postponed 15 minutes without objection.

ITEM 9, submitted by Marty Cantor and Mike Glicksohn, to set up separate Fanzine and Semi-Professional Publication categories.

MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 10, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the word "Amateur" between the words "Best" and "Fanzine" in the title of the category. The following sentence to be inserted between the first and second sentences of the current description:

Fanzines and similar publications which pay contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication and/or provide a substantial portion of their editor’s income are not eligible for this award.

The above changes, when added to the current wording, to become Section 11 of Article II of the WSFS Constitution. The WSFS Constitution to be further amended by the addition of a new Section 10, the current sections 11 through 18 to be renumbered one higher, and the new Section 10 to read:

Best Semi-Professional Publication: Any generally available fannish publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year . To qualify for this category a publisher/editor must pay his/her contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication and/or derive a substantial portion of his/her income from the sale of the publication and/or advertising therein. Any publication that receives at least 25% of its nominations in this category can only appear in this category and is not eligible in the "Best Amateur Fanzine" category.

If this amendment is accepted it will necessitate minor revisions in the wording of the "Best Fan Writer" and "Best Fan Artist" categories.

Robert Sacks moved to amend this and other Fanzine-Hugo proposals as follows: wherever the words "in other than copies of the publication occur, insert the added text "or refreshments during and immediately after production meetings". MS to object to consideration of Mr. Sacks' motion: overwhelmingly against consideration.

ITEM 19, submitted by Gary Farber and Craig Miller;

MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:

Best Semi-Professional Publication: Any generally available publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects whose highest circulation for the year is over 1000 and under 10,000.

and inserting in Section 10 (Best Fanzine) at the end of the first sentence "whose highest. circulation for the year is under 1000" and striking the second sentence.

Moved to object to consideration: no second.

ITEM 14, submitted by Louis Epstein and Laurie Mann, to divide the current Professional Editor and Fanzine categories into new Professional Magazine, Amateur Magazine, and Non-Periodical Editor categories.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by substituting the following for Article II, Sections 9 and 10:

Best Professional Magazine: Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous calendar year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is the main source of income.

Best Amateur Magazine: Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous calendar year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is not the main source of income.

Best Non-Periodical Editor: Any person engaged in the editing of science fiction and/or fantasy for non-periodical publication (editors of anthology series shall be eligible).

MS (Stephen St. Onge) to object to consideration: over 2/3 against consideration.

ITEM 10, submitted by Keir Santanos and John Mitchell, to eliminate the Fanzine Hugo category.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 10 "Best Fanzine", and in Sections 11 and 12 replacing the phrase "magazines of the type defined in Section 10 above" with "any generally available fannish publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects".

MS (Marty Cantor) to object to consideration: 8-19 against consideration, over 2/3.

ITEM 21, submitted by Moshe Feder, Ted White, and Linda Bushyager:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Sections 10, 11 and 12.

[I.e. to eliminate the Fanzine, Fan Writer and Fan Artist categories.] MS (Stephen St. Onge) to object to consideration: 14-18 against consideration, less than 2/3. -- MS (Mark Owings) to divide the Fan Artist category from the other provisions: defeated.

We were thus left with Items 16, 9, 19 and 21; it remained to set the time limits for the Fanzine Hugo debate. MS (Jill Eastlake) to set an overall limit of 30 minutes. The Chair suggested 4 minutes apiece on the individual motions, and 8 minutes apiece on the remaining 3 higher nodes of the chart (Appendix B), for a total of 40 minutes: this proposal was passed overwhelmingly.

MS to adjourn: passed at 12:14 P.M. (69 people had signed the attendance list)

Sunday, Sept. 5, 1982

The scheduled starting time having been changed from 9 to 10, the meeting was called to order at 10:02 A.M.

Under the special order of business established on Friday, the group of Fanzine-Hugo-related motions were considered first. The Chair reviewed the agreed order of procedure, and asked that proposals for minor changes in wording (of the surviving proposal) be deferred to the end. The order of considering the three two-category proposals was changed from 16, 9, 19 to 19, 9, 16 in order to proceed from the simplest to the most complex - however, since Gary Farber (the maker of Item 19) was not yet present, we started with Item 9 instead.

ITEM 9, Cantor-Glicksohn motion. -- Moved (Robert Sacks) to change "other than copies of the publication(s)" to "money" in both places that the phrase occurs: no second.

ITEM 19, Farber-Miller motion. -- In response to an inquiry by Rick Katze, the Chair ruled that "generally available" means you can get it if you want it, not that there have to be copies for everyone who might want it. To another inquiry, the Chair ruled that "highest circulation" refers to the single issue whose circulation is highest.

ITEM 16, Russell et al. motion, or more specifically those portions of the original motion dealing with fanzines and related matters (roughly paragraphs 5 to 9). -- In response to an inquiry by the Secretary as to the meaning of "non-professional" in pars. 6 and 7, Mr. Russell pointed out that this was implicit in the definition of "professional" in par 5. [It might nevertheless be desirable to clarify this point by adding "(as defined in Section 8 above)" or similar language after "(non-)professional" in the proposed Professional Artist, Semiprozine and Fanzine sections.] -- MS (Linda Bushyager) to change the beginning of the "Best Semiprozine" definition to "Any generally available non-professional publication which has had at least four issues and which meets at least two of the following criteria:" and to eliminate "had at least four issues" as one of the optional criteria. (It was understood that language referring to "science fiction or fantasy" and "In the previous calendar year" would be inserted if Item 16A failed to pass; unfortunately it was not specified how the "previous calendar year" language would be applied. See below on this point.) Ms. Bushyager’s amendment passed. -- Moved (Robert Sacks) to delete the change in the definition of Best Professional Artist: no second.

The choice between Items 9, 19, and 16 was then debated. MS to extend the debate for 2 minutes: less than 2/3 in favor. A preferential standing vote was then taken: Item 9, 18; Item 19, 28; Item 16, 39. Between the two leaders: Item 19, 34; Item 16, 47. Item 16 (the Russell et al motion) was thus the surviving two-category proposal.

The next debate was between Item l6 (two categories) and the current rule (one category). MS (Linda Bushyager) to amend Item 16 to allow only appearance in fanzines (not semiprozines) to qualify one for Fan Writer and Fan Artist awards: Withdrawn without objection, after debate, -- Vote: current rule, 6; Item 16, overwhelming; abstentions (count requested), 8. Item 16 was thus again the survivor.

The time was now 10:58 A.M., and without objection the meeting proceeded to site-selection business (made a special order of business for one hour after the start of the meeting). The results of the site-selection voting were reported. Los Angeles having received an absolute majority of the first-place votes, it was declared to be the winner. A presentation on behalf of the L.A.con II committee was made by Craig Miller, Milt Stevens, and a personage identified as Reynolds Rat; copies of their Progress Report Zero were distributed. -- Opportunity was then given for 1985 bidders to make presentations. The only response was by John Foyster, who gave a one-sentence speech for Melbourne in ’85. MS (George Mitchell) to thank Mr. Foyster for the brevity of his presentation: passed by acclamation. -- The meeting then reverted to the Fanzine-Hugo debate.

SITE-SELECTION RESULTS

+ Write-in votes were received for a total 33 different locations or entities, which the Secretary declines to list.

** The "No Vote" column refers to payments received from non-members of Chicon IV; these were thus not legally ballots.

ITEM 21, Feder-White-Bushyager motion, was then discussed followed by a debate between Item 16 (two categories) and item 21 (no category). MS to extend debate 2 minutes: defeated. Vote: Item 21, 16; item 16, c. 56; abstentions (count requested), 6.

Item 16, the Russell et al motion, as amended, was thus the sole surviving proposal, and a final vote was taken to give it formal passage as an amendment to the Constitution: passed overwhelmingly.

[Since Item 16A was later defeated, a certain amount of rewriting was necessary to obtain a final text of this amendment. Here is my best estimate of the proposed text of Art. II, Secs. 8 ff.:

Best Professional Editor: The editor of any professional publication devoted primarily to science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year. A professional publication is one which had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.

Best Professional Artist: A illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication in the field of science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year.

Best Semiprozine: Any generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction or fantasy which has published at least four issues[, at least one of which appeared] in the previous calendar year, and which, in the previous calendar year met at least two (2) of the following criteria: (1) had an average press run of at least one thousand (1000) copies per issue, (2) paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication, (3) provided at least half the income of any one person, (4) had at least fifteen percent (15%) of its total space occupied by advertising, or (5) announced itself to be a semiprozine.

Best Fanzine: Any generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and which does not qualify as a semiprozine.

In Secs. 11 and 12, "in magazines of the type defined in Section 10 above" would become "in semiprozines or fanzines". And in Sec. 12. "final Awards ballot" becomes "final Hugo Awards ballot" and "for the Fan Artist Award" becomes "in the Fan Artist category".

Because of the complexity of this motion, the exact text in some places is still in doubt and should probably be settled by next year’s Business Meeting.
(1) As noted in the debate, the exact form of the four-issue criterion for semiprozines was not specified. Should it be four issues in the previous year (the original form of Mr. Russell’s motion) or four issues total with one in the previous year (as in the fanzine rule)? If the former, the words in brackets in the above text should be omitted.
(2) Should the subject matter for semiprozines be "science fiction or fantasy" (as in the original par. 1) or also include "related subjects" (as in the fanzine rule)? - An earlier version of Item 16 had the latter wording, but the text as submitted neglected this point. (It probably makes no practical difference.)
(3) Note also my proposed clarification of "(non-)professional".]

At this point the Secretary reported additional information on the "licensed" question: see Appendix C for full details.

It was now 11:29 A.M.; the meeting was scheduled to adjourn at noon, but the time limits for debate on the remaining items totaled 66 minutes. MS to have a 5-minute recess, and after reconvening not adjourn until 1:30 P.M. unless all business was finished sooner: the motion passed, and the meeting recessed at 1l:30.

Meeting called back to order at 11:38 A.M. (Although a total of 116 people other than the officers signed the Sunday attendance list, only about 35 were present at this time; the number increased to about 50 later.)

MS (Skip Morris) to take the draft WSFS Constitution (Item 7, and Appendix A) from the table and consider it immediately. MS (George Mitchell) to amend the motion so as to consider the Constitution at the end of the agenda. The Chair ruled that the motion to take from the table was not amendable, was in order, and could be passed by majority vote. The point of order was made that this was old business; the Chair ruled that there was no such thing. The motion to take from the table was defeated, 13-20.

At this point we finally got back to the normal agenda, beginning with the amendments to the Constitution proposed for ratification.

ITEM 1, as amended. -- MS to call the question: no objection. Amendment ratified unanimously.

[Among the changes made by this amendment, in Art IV, Sec. 5 "Convention book" becomes "Worldcon book"; both phrases are dubious, since Worldcons nowadays often have more than one "book". I recommend a further change to specify "program book" or the like.]

ITEM 2. -- MS to call the question: no objection. Amendment ratified unanimously.

ITEM 3. -- No objection to voting. Amendment ratified unanimously.

ITEM 4, as amended. -- No objection to voting. Amendment ratified unanimously.

[The Secretary still feels that "The deadline for filing bids from prospective committees to be included on the ballot" is ungrammatical, and should be recast as either "for filing bids for prospective Committees to be included" or "for filing bids from prospective committees for them to be included"; alternatively, it could be "for filing bids to be included on the ballot from prospective Committees".]

ITEM 5. -- Moved (Wendy Allen) to amend "3/4" to "2/3": ruled out of order as constituting a greater change than the original text, and no second anyway. -- No objection to voting. Amendment ratified many-5.

ITEM 6A, constituting paragraphs A and B of motion 3 in the original Item 6. -- MS to call the question: passed 24-7 (over 2/3). Item 6A passed 29-5. -- A question was raised as to when it takes effect: i.e., if ratified at ConStellation, could the Standing Committee be named then or not till the following year (since Constitutional amendments take effect at the end of the Worldcon)? The Chair ruled that the next Business Meeting can decide.

ITEM 6B constituting paragraph C of motion 3 in the original Item 6. -- MS to call the question: no objection. Item 6B passed many-1.

ITEM 12. -- MS to call the question: no objection. Item 12 defeated 5-many.

ITEM 16A, constituting the portion of the original Item 16 which would rearrange the Hugo definitions to put the SF/fantasy and previous-year criteria in a single section. -- Item l6A defeated 3-many.

ITEM 16B, constituting the portion of the original Item 16's par. 2 which would change "he" to "she or he" etc.. -- MS to call the question: passed 33-5 (over 2/3). Item 16B passed 30-4.

MS (Robert Sacks) to adjourn sine die. The Chair requested that this motion be withdrawn, since a piece of business had inadvertently been omitted: motion withdrawn. -- The Chair pointed out that the redefinition of non-English-language eligibility in par. 2 of the original Item 16 had been overlooked when the question was divided: I shall designate this as ITEM 16C. -- The Chair suggested 2 minutes as a time limit for debate: no objection. Item 16C passed 27-10.

MS (Skip Morris) to take the draft WSFS Constitution (Item 7 and Appendix A) from the table and consider it on Monday. The Chair ruled the second portion of the motion out of order, -- MS (Wendy Allen) to adjourn. The question was raised whether this adjournment would be sine die, but the point was made that this could not be done with a motion on the floor. The Chair ruled that, if the meeting now adjourned, the motion to take from the table would be the first order of business on Monday, An attempt was made to withdraw the motion to adjourn, but there was objection. The Chair ruled that a motion to adjourn sine die was not in order. The motion to adjourn was defeated 1-many. -- The motion to take from the table then recurred, and was defeated 19-30.

In response to an inquiry, the Chair ruled that a motion to reconsider the vote on eliminating the Fan Hugos was in order. MS (Rick Katze) to so reconsider the vote between Items 21 and 16: if passed, this would have required repeating the last two votes in the Fanzine-Hugo decision tree. MS (Mark Owings) to call the question: no objection. The motion to reconsider was defeated unanimously (Mr. Katze stated for the record that his purpose was to protest against peoples packing the meeting for a specific vote and not staying for the remainder of the meeting).

MS (Robert Sacks) to adjourn sine die: -- passed 39-4, and the meeting adjourned at 12:34 P.M.

Items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been passed by two successive Worldcon Business Meetings, and thus are now part of the WSFS Constitution. Items 6A, 6B, l6, 16B, and 16C have been given first passage, and will be considered for ratification at ConStellation. Item 0.B has been passed and is now a part of the Standing Rules. [In certifying the text for publication, I changed "Convention" to "Worldcon" in conformity with Item 1, and merged sentences covering a single action to read "voting shall be by written preferential ballot, with all members of the Worldcon present at the Business Meeting permitted to vote. The following miscellaneous motions were passed: Item 9, motions 1 (incorporated in Item 1) and 2; and Item 20. All other items were defeated.

The Secretary recommends that the new section of Article I (Item 1, part A) be inserted between the current Sections 5 and 6; that the new section of Article II (Item 5) be inserted between the current Sections 12 and 13; and that the new Standing Rule (Item 0.B) be inserted between the current Rules 16 and 17.

According to the attendance lists, the following people attended one or more sessions of the Business Meeting: Alyson Abramowitz, Gary P. Agin, Wendy Allen, Lynn Anderson, B. Shirley Avery, Allan Beatty, Martha Beck, Charles A. Belov, R. J. Bicking, Cliff Biggers, Kent Bloom, Jane Boster, David Bratman, Seth Breidbart, Jan Brown, Rich Brown, Robert H. Brown, Brian Burley, Linda Bushyager, Tamzen L. Cannoy, Marty Cantor, Douglas S. Carey, Larry Carmody, Avedon Carol, Joe Celko, Cy Chauvin, Barbara Clifford, Lynn E. Cohen, Candy Collamer, Barb Cross, Robin Cuzzort, Angelo D'Alessio, Lea M. Day, Genny Dazzo, Scott C. Dennis, Martin E. Deutsch, Michael Du Charme, Donald Eastlake, Jill Eastlake, Lise Eisenberg, Gary Eissner, John M. Epperson, Louis Epstein, Jon Estren, Gary Farber, Cynthia Farinelli, Mike Farinelli, Doug Faunt, Moshe Feder, Gary Feldbaum, Katie Filipowicz, Jan Howard Finder, Terry L. Floyd, George Flynn, John Foyster, Steve Francis, Evelyn Frost, Judith Gaskins, Martin Gear, Janice Gelb, Larry Gelfand, Robert M. Gerber, Georges Giguere, Paul Giguere, Mike Glicksohn, Mike Glyer, David Govaker, Ralph Green Jr., Jeanne Gomoll, Gay Haldeman, Joe Haldeman, Stuart C. Hellinger, Rusty Hevelin, Don Hilley, Phoebe Hilley, Robert L. Hillis, Chip Hitchcock, Sarah-Shaindl Hines, Denys Howard, Jim Huttner, Jay Hutschnecker, Fred Isaacs, Ann Marie Jackowski, Walter Jackowski, Rick Katze, Gail S. Kaufman, Miriam Winder Kelly, Patrick Kelly Jr., Millea Kenin, Francis R. Kepple, Mike Lalor, David Larsen, Stephen Larue, Joseph Lattin, Hope Leibowitz, Alice Lewis, Anthony Lewis, Suford Lewis, Dan Lieberman, Paula Lieberman, Ellen C. Lindow, Michael W. Lindow, Dannell Lites, Michael J. Lowrey, Dick Lynch, Diane M. Martin, George E. Martin, James McGrath, Roxanne Meida, Craig Miller, Dennis B. Miller, George Mitchell, Skip Morris, William R. Morrison, Lex Nakashima, Barry Newton, Frank C. Olbris, Mark L. Olson, Julanne Owings, Mark Owings, S. P. Parris, Bruce Pelz, Elayne Pelz, Mary Barbara Piero, Luc Pomerleau, Frederick Prophet, Alan Rachlin, Carol L. Resnick, Roger Reynolds, Joseph J. Rico, Andrew Robinson, J. Rosenstein, Eric L. Rowe, Larry Ruh, Richard S. Russell, Louise Sachter, Robert B. Sacks, Stephen M. St. Onge, Vanessa Schnatmeyer, Joyce Scrivner, James E. Shepherd, Patricia Sims, Roger Sims, Fran Skene, Kevin Smith, Victoria A. Smith, Lee Smoire, Milt Stevens, Daniel W. Story, Erwin S. Strauss, Steven Tait, Rebecca Taylor, Peter Theron, Kirk D. Thompson, Amy Thomson, Gregg T. Trend, Leslie Turek, James Turner, David Wallace, Tom Wallbank, Dalroy M. Ward, Michael Ward, Bob Webber, Mel. White, Stephen T. Whitmore, Thomas S. Whitmore, Lew Wolkoff, Tom Woods, Ben Yalow, Jim Young, Ron Zirkowski (in almost alphabetical order) for a total of 171 people. (It was 139 last year, and about 70 in 1980.) Copies of these minutes will be sent to all attendees at the Business Meeting and who submitted business.

Respectfully submitted,

George Flynn, Secretary

Sept. 24 - Oct. 7, 1982

[This version prepared by Tim Illingworth, May/June 1998, from a scan/OCR by Pat McMurray. Motions printed in the Program Book added, Dec 2000.]

ITEM 0.A, to limit the scope of the motion to object to consideration.

MOVED, to amend Rule 2 of the Standing Rules for the Governance of the WSFS Business Meeting by inserting the words "(for procedural reasons, as opposed to simple dislike of the motion in question)" after the words "object to consideration".

The above motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker.

ITEM 0.B, submitted by Kent Bloom and Scott Dennis:

MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by inserting the following new section:

In the event that a Convention site outside North America is selected, selection of the site of the interim Continental Convention (hereinafter NASFIC) shall be a special order of business, and shall be taken up immediately after the announcement of the Convention site at the Site-Selection Meeting. Bids for the NASFIC shall contain the information required of bidders for the Worldcon by the WSFS Constitution. Bids may be entered in writing to the Chairman in advance, conditional upon selection of a site outside North America. Selection of the site and committee shall be as follows:

The Chairman shall announce all qualified bids received in advance.

Bids shall be received from the floor.

Each bid shall be allowed five (5) minutes for a presentation to the meeting.

Voting shall be by written preferential ballot.

All members of the Worldcon present at the Business Meeting shall be permitted to vote.

The Chairman shall appoint three (3) tellers to count ballots; each bid may appoint one observer.

The tellers and observers shall retire with the ballots. The meeting shall resume until the tellers return.

The tellers shall report the results to the Chairman, who shall declare which bid has been selected.

The winning bid will be allowed five(5) minutes for a presentation.

ITEM 1: ratification of amendment to require publication of notices about the Society's service marks, and to use the terms "Hugo Awards" and "Worldcon" consistently.

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

A) Insert the following as a new section in Article I:

Every Worldcon Committee shall include the following notice in each of its publications "‘World Science Fiction Society’, ‘WSFS’, ‘World Science Fiction Convention’, ‘Worldcon’, ‘Science Fiction Achievement Award’, and ‘Hugo Award’ are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society."

B) Substitute "Hugo Awards" for all occurrences of "Hugos".

C) Insert "(hereinafter referred to as the Worldcon)" after the first occurrence of "World Science Fiction Convention" and substitute "Worldcon" for "World Science Fiction Convention" and "Convention" except in the phrase "Continental Convention" thereafter.

ITEM 2: specifying that amendments to the Constitution imposing added costs not be binding upon Committees already selected.

MOVED, to amend Article IV, Section 2, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following

"except that no change imposing additional costs or financial obligations upon Convention Committees shall be binding upon any Committee already selected at the time when it takes effect."

ITEM 3: to extend the definition of the Dramatic Presentation Hugo to cover sequences of instalments constituting a single dramatic unit.

MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 6, of the WSFS Constitution by altering the last sentence to read:

"In the case of individual programs presented as a series, each program is individually eligible, but the series as a whole is not eligible; however, a sequence of installments constituting a single dramatic unit may be considered as a single program(eligible in the year of the final installment)."

ITEM 4 to require timely publication of the deadline for submitting Worldcon bids.

MOVED, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution by inserting the following new section between the current Sections 3 and 4:

The deadline for bids from prospective Committees to be included on the ballot, as well as all information needed for filing such bids, shall be published by the current Con and sent to all members of the Society at least four months before the deadline for such bids. (Publication in a Progress Report prior to the date specified shall meet this requirement.)

ITEM 5: to allow potential Hugo nominees that receive extremely limited distribution to have their eligibility extended by 3/4 vote of a business meeting.

MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:

Extended Eligibility: In the event that a potential Hugo nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a three-fourths vote of the intervening Business Meeting of the Society.

ITEM 6: report of the WSFS Mark Registration Committee.

ITEM 7, report of the WSFS Constitution Drafting Committee.

ITEM 8: MOVED, to amend Article III, Section 5, of the WSFS Constitution by deleting all text beginning with "Central:" and substituting the following, provided that this change shall not take effect until after the selection of the Worldcon site for 1986:

Southern: Central America, Mexico (except as above), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and all states southward; and Northern: all states and provinces east of the Western region and north of the Southern region. Convention sites shall rotate in the order Western, Southern, Northern region.

The above motion was submitted by Jon Estren and Wilma Fisher. This motion would replace the current Central and Eastern regions by new Northern and Southern regions; the submitters state that this change would encourage growth in the South as well as stronger bid campaigns in the North.

ITEM 9: MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 10, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the word "Amateur" between the words "Best" and "Fanzine" in the title of the category. The following sentence to be inserted between the first and second sentences of the current description:

Fanzines and similar publications which pay contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication and/or provide a substantial portion of their editor’s income are not eligible for this award.

The above changes, when added to the current wording, to become Section 11 of Article II of the WSFS Constitution. The WSFS Constitution to be further amended by the addition of a new Section 10, the current sections 11 through 18 to be renumbered one higher, and the new Section 10 to read:

Best Semi-Professional Publication: Any generally available fannish publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year . To qualify for this category a publisher/editor must pay his/her contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication and/or derive a substantial portion of his/her income from the sale of the publication and/or advertising therein. Any publication that receives at least 25% of its nominations in this category can only appear in this category and is not eligible in the "Best Amateur Fanzine" category.

If this amendment is accepted it will necessitate minor revisions in the wording of the "Best Fan Writer" and "Best Fan Artist" categories.

This motion was submitted by Marty Cantor and Mike Glicksohn. The submitters state the following: The intent of this motion is to recreate the original concept behind the Best Amateur Fanzine category, namely to recognise excellence in a part-time fannish hobby activity and to recognise that those editors/publishers who make at least a substantial portion of their incomes from their publications deserve recognition for their efforts in a manner that removes them from unfair competition with true amateurs.

ITEM 10: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 10 "Best Fanzine", and in Sections 11 and 12 replacing the phrase "magazines of the type defined in Section 10 above" with "any generally available fannish publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects".

This motion was submitted by Keir Santanos and John Mitchell. It eliminates the Best Fanzine Hugo category.

ITEM 11: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 19, substituting "Awards Committee" for "Committee" or "Convention Committee" throughout Article II except for Sections 13 and 14, and adding the following as Article II, Section 2:

Awards Subcommittee: The Convention Committee shall select three persons who have not engaged in activities eligible for awards as defined in this Article to serve as an Awards Subcommittee. The Awards Subcommittee shall have sole authority to solicit and count nominations and votes for awards as defined in this Article and to decide questions of eligibility.

This motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker. It mandates use of an Awards Subcommittee, which was previously optional.

Item 12: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 6

This motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker. It eliminates the Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo.

ITEM 13: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 7.

This motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Robert Sacks. It eliminates the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo.

ITEM 14: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by substituting the following for Article II, Sections 9 and 10:

Best Professional Magazine: Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous calendar year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is the main source of income.

Best Amateur Magazine: Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous calendar year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is not the main source of income.

Best Non-Periodical Editor: Any person engaged in the editing of science fiction and/or fantasy for non-periodical publication (editors of anthology series shall be eligible).

This motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Laurie Mann.

ITEM 15: MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting the words "with the right of general attendance at the current convention" between the words "members" and "who" in the second sentence of Article III, Section 1.

This motion was submitted by Louis Epstein and Gregory Baker. It restricts site-selection voting to those holding an attending membership in the current convention (but does not require them to be in attendance to vote).

ITEM 16, proposed by Richard S. Russell, Hank Luttrell, Diane M. Martin, Jeanne Gomoll and Janice M. Bogstad:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

(1) After Article II, Section 1, insert a new section:
Each of the following categories shall have its own Hugo Award for outstanding achievement in the field of science fiction and fantasy during the previous calendar year.

(2) Amend Article II, Section 2, to read:
Best Novel: A story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more appearing for the first time in English.. A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible in the year it was first issued in that language, provided such publication precedes the English-language publication. Publication date, or cover date ... [text as at present] ... of the series. An author may withdraw a version of her or his work from consideration if she or he feels that that version is not representative of what she or he wrote. The Convention Committee ....

(3) Amend Article II, Section 6 to read:
Best Non-Fiction Book: Any non-fictional work appearing for the first time in book form.

(4) Amend Article II, Section 7 to read:
Best Dramatic Presentation: Any dramatic presentation in any medium publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form. In the case of ...

(5) Reverse the order of Article II, Sections 8 and 9, and amend them to read:
Best Professional Editor: The editor of any professional publication. A professional publication is one that had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.
Best Professional Artist: An illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication.

(6) After Article II, Section 9, insert a new section:
Best Semiprozine: Any generally available non-professional publication which meets at least. two of the following criteria (1) had an average press run of at least two thousand (2000) copies per issue, (2) had at least four (4) issues, (3) paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication, (4) provided at least half of the income of any one person, (5) had at least 15% of its total space occupied by advertising, (6) announced itself to be a semiprozine, and (7) had won at least three (3) previous Hugo Awards in any category,

(7) Amend Article II, Section 10, to read:
Best Fanzine: Any generally available non-professional publication which does qualify as a semiprozine.

(8) Amend Article II Section 11, to read:
Best Fan Writer: Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines or fanzines.

(9) Amend Article II, Section 12, to read:
Best Fan Artist: An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in semiprozines or fanzines or through other public display. Any person whose name appears on the final Hugo Awards ballot ... eligible in the Fan Artist category for that year.

[In general, I have stretched a point by including with the text of motions the explanations submitted by the makers at the same time. In this case, however, Mr Russell’s "notes" and "commentary" ran to over a page, which seems like too much to include here.]

ITEM 17, submitted by Jay Hutschnecker, Mark Richards, Dana Hudes, Robert Gerber, and Robert Sacks:

Whereas the Hyatt hotels have imposed unconscionable fees and restrictions on parties held at Chicon IV and ConStellation, the 1982 and 1983 Worldcons in Chicago and Baltimore, until such fees and restrictions are eliminated, the committees supervising Worldcon site selection are instructed to disqualify as inadequate contracts and agreements using Hyatt hotels as the principal convention hotel.

ITEM 18, submitted by Jay Hutschnecker, Robert Gerber, Mark Richards, Dana Hudes, and Robert Sacks:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by inserting a new second sentence in Article III, Section 4:

The contract or letter of agreement with the principal hotel shall provide that there be no restrictions or fees on bringing in food, beverages, or supplies into hotel rooms for parties and no prohibition against holding parties in hotel rooms.

ITEM 19, submitted by Gary Farber and Craig Miller;

MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:

Best Semi-Professional Publication: Any generally available publication devoted to science, fiction, fantasy, or related subjects whose highest circulation for the year is over 1000 and under 10,000,

and inserting in Section 10 (Best Fanzine) at the end of the first sentence "whose highest. circulation for the year is under 1000" and striking the second sentence.

ITEM 20, submitted by Thomas S. Whitmore and J. L. Gilpatrick:

Whereas recent Worldcons have had, and future Worldcons can expect to have, significant excess funds following the close of the convention;

And whereas there are many organizations that would be worthy recipients of such funds;

And whereas it is clearly difficult to choose which of the many worthy organizations should receive said funds;

Be it resolved that the following organizations are considered by the World Science Fiction Society to be among those worthy to receive donations:

a. Recognized fan charities, such as TAFF, DUFF, GUFF, TOFF and the FAAN Awards;

b. Small, established regional conventions;

c. Established national fan organizations, such as the NFFF and the Fantasy Artists Network;

d. local fan organizations, especially IRS code 501(c)3-recognized not-for-profit organizations;

e. Local Public libraries, for improvements to their science fiction collections;

f. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates, for the production and/or sponsorship of science fiction programming.

ITEM 21, submitted by Moshe Feder, Ted White, and Linda Bushyager:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Sections 10, 11 and 12. [I.e. to eliminate the Fanzine, Fan Writer and Fan Artist categories.]

ITEM 22, submitted by George Mitchell, Andrea Mitchell, Craig Miller, and Genny Dazzo:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by:

A. Inserting the words "who shall be at least twelve years old as of the last day of the current World Science Fiction Convention, and" after the words "The Membership of WSFS shall consist of all people" in Article 1, Section 3.

B. Adding the following new Section 4 between Section 3 and the current Section 4:

Children less than twelve years old as of the last day of the current World Science Fiction Convention may attend the Convention only in the company of their parents or legal guardians. If such children are at least six years old as of the last day of the Convention, they shall be charged an attendance fee which shall be one-half the attending membership rate paid by the child's parents or guardians.

(The intent of this motion is to: 1. Reduce the cost for bringing children to a convention, but also, 2. Ensure they are present only with responsible adults.)

ITEM 23, submitted by Louis Epstein and Marla L. Tarzman:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by altering Article II [sic], Section 5, as follows:

Substitute "the planet Earth" for "North America".

Add "on the continent of North America, the East Indies, Australia, and Asia, including all parts of Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Western region.

Add "Antarctica, South America," to the beginning of the description of the Central region.

Add "on the continent of North America, the West Indies, Africa, and Europe, including no part of Turkey or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Eastern region.

Add 'In the event of a Convention site outside of North America being selected, the Business Meeting may by three-quarters (3/4) majority vote elect to hold a Continental Convention to be held in the same year as the overseas World Science Fiction Convention in that part of the region whose turn it is that is on the continent of North America. Selection of the site of such Continental Convention may be by vote of the Business Meeting or be conducted by the incoming Convention Committee." to the end of the present text.

and deleting Article II [sic] Section 6.

Draft WSFS Constitution

ARTICLE I - Name

The name of this organization shall be the World Science Fiction Society, Inc., or as WSFS, Inc. and shall hereinafter be referred to as "the Society".

ARTICLE II - Purposes

The purposes of the Society shall be:

a) To choose the recipients of the annual Science Fiction Achievement Awards, hereinafter referred to in this constitution as the Hugo Awards or the Hugos;

b) To choose the locations and committees for the annual Society convention, which shall also be referred to in this constitution as the World Science Fiction Convention or as the Worldcon;

c) To attend said convention;

d) To provide support, assistance, advice, counsel, personnel and material within its ability, to any committee franchised to hold the World Science Fiction Convention upon such committee's request;

e) To provide continuity among the various committees franchised to hold the World Science Fiction Convention; and

f) To perform such other functions as may be necessary or incidental to the above purposes.

ARTICLE III - Registered Office and Agent

The Society shall maintain in the State of a registered office and a registered agent at such office, and may have other offices within or without the state.

ARTICLE IV - Membership

SECTION I - QUALIFICATIONS. The membership of the Society shall consist of all persons, corporations, groups, clubs or entities who have purchased attending or supporting memberships in the current World Science Fiction Convention. Membership in the Society shall not be denied to any person on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin or political affiliation.

SECTION 2 -- CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP. The membership of the Society shall be divided into three classes. Class One memberships shall consist of the first membership held in the name of a natural person. Class Two memberships shall consist of the first membership held by or in the name of a corporation, group, club, or any entity other than an individual. Class Three memberships shall be such additional memberships that are held by Class One and Two members. There shall be no distinction between the classes of memberships except as provided in this constitution.

SECTION 3 - VOTING RIGHTS. All Class One and Two members of the Society shall be entitled to one vote per such membership per category with respect to ballots cast for the Hugo Awards. They shall also be entitled to one vote per such membership with respect to site selection for future conventions, provided that they meet the requirements for voting set forth in Article IX. Section 3 of this constitution. Class Two and Three memberships shall not be permitted to cast votes at meetings of the membership of the Society.

SECTION 4 - MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATES. No membership certificate shall be issued by the Society.

SECTION 5 -- -TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIPS. Memberships in the Society shall be transferable and assignable and Class Two and Three memberships convertable to Class One memberships in accordance with rules established by the appropriate convention committee or, in the absence of such rules, with rules established by the board of directors of the Society.

SECTION 6 - ANNUAL DUES. Annual dues in the amount of FIFTY CENTS ($.50) per membership shall be paid to the Society by the current and next following World Science Fiction Convention on behalf of each member of the Society within ninety (90) days of the date said registration/membership fees are received by the convention.

ARTICLE V - Meeting of Members

SECTION 1 - ANNUAL MEETING. An annual meeting of the members of the Society, which shall hereinafter be referred to as the Business Meeting, shall be held each year during the World Science Fiction Convention for the purpose of electing directors and for the transaction of such other business as may come before the meeting.

SECTION 2 - SPECIAL MEETING. Special meetings of the members of the Society may be called by 500 of the Class One members of the Society or by 90% of the members whichever is less or by the board of directors.

SECTION 3 - PLACE OF MEETING. The place of the Business Meeting shall be the site of the World Science Fiction Convention. The place of meeting for a special meeting of the membership shall be designated by the segment of the membership calling such a meeting. If no designation is made the place of meeting shall be the registered office of the Society.

SECTION 4 - NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING. Written notice of the annual meeting of the members of the Society shall be published by the current World Science Fiction Convention committee in a generally distributed publication appearing not more than 8 months nor less than 1 month prior to the convention and in its Convention Program Book. This Notice shall state the time, date and place of the meeting and shall reproduce this constitution as amended, together with any standing rules and regulations adopted by the membership in effect at the time of publication. Failure of such notice shall not be grounds for protesting the conduct of business at such meeting.

SECTION 5 - NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING. Written notice stating the place, date and hour of any special meeting of the members of the Society shall be delivered to each Class One member of the Society not less than fifteen (15) nor more than forty (40) days before the date of such meeting. The purpose for which the special meeting is called shall be stated in the notice. If mailed, the notice shall be deemed delivered upon deposit in an official mail receptacle or with the proper postal authorities in the country where mailed, in a sealed envelope, addressed to the member at his address as it appears on the records of the Society, with first class postage (or its equivalent airmail in the case of members living on a continent other than that of mailing) affixed thereon and fully prepaid.

SECTION 6 -QUORUM. Ten (10) Class One members of the Society shall constitute a quorum at the annual meeting of the members. Fifty (50) Class One members shall constitute a quorum at a special meeting of the members. If a quorum is not present at any meeting of the members of the Society, a majority of members present may adjourn the meeting at any time without further notice. At any adjourned meeting at which a quorum is present, any business may be transacted which might have been transacted at the original meeting. Withdrawal of members from any meeting shall not cause failure of a quorum at that meeting.

SECTION 7 - PROXIES. Voting by proxy shall not be allowed at any meeting of the members of the Society.

SECTION 8 - CONDUCT OF MEETINGS. Meeting of the members of the Society shall be conducted in accordance with such standing rules as may have been adopted by the members of the Society in accordance with Article V, Section 9 of this constitution and otherwise in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised.

SECTION 9 - STANDING RULES. The members of the Society may adopt and amend such Standing Rules as it may deem necessary to govern its internal operations. Such standing rules shall continue in effect until altered, suspended or rescinded by the action of any meeting of the members of the Society.

SECTION 10 - COMMITTEES. The members of the Society, by motion adopted by a majority of members present and voting at a meeting of the members of the Society, may designate one or more such committees. The presiding officer of the meeting shall appoint the members of each such committee, and shall designate one member of each such committee as chairman thereof, except as otherwise provided in the motion designating such committee. The motion designating a committee shall state the purpose and duration of the committee. At each annual meeting during its existence and as its final act, each committee shall report on its activities to the members of the Society in any manner the committee deems appropriate.

ARTICLE VI - Board of Directors

SECTION 1 - GENERAL POWERS. The affairs of the Society shall be managed by its board of directors, who shall not take any action not in support of the purpose of the Society.

SECTION 2 - NUMBER OF DIRECTORS. The number of directors shall be fifteen (15). Nine (9) directors shall be elected by the members of the Society in the manner prescribed in Article VI, Section 5 of this constitution. The convention committees from two years prior to the current convention and from one year prior to the current convention shall each select one member of the board of directors. The current and the next following convention committees shall each select two (2) members of the board of directors.

SECTION 3 - TENURE. Director selected by members of the Society shall serve on the board of directors for a term of three (3) years and until their successor shall have been elected and qualified. Of the directors selected by a World Science Fiction Convention committee one such director shall serve until the adjournment of the convention that they represent and the other shall serve until two (2) years after the adjournment of the convention they represent and until their successor shall have been selected and qualified. Proviso: the elected directors of the first board of directors shall provide among themselves by resolution for a method to determine the length of their individual terms. Three (3) directors shall serve for a one (1) year term, three (3) directors shall serve for a two (2) year term and three (3) directors shall serve for a three (3) year term.

SECTION 4 -QUALIFICATIONS. Directors need not be residents of the State of . Directors must be Class One members of the Society. No person may be elected as a director of the Society if such person has served as a director of the Society for more than two (2) months of the previous twelve (12) months last preceding the election. No more than one-half (1/2) of the director selected at any Business Meeting may reside in the same site selection region.

SECTION 5 - ELECTION. Directors shall be elected by a majority vote of the Class One members present and voting at a Business Meeting. Each Business Meeting shall elect three (3) directors. Proviso: The Business Meeting at which this constitution is ratified shall elect nine (9) directors.

SECTION 6 - REGULAR MEETINGS. A regular annual meeting of the board of directors shall be held without other notice than this constitution, immediately after, and at the same place as, the Business Meeting. The board of directors may provide by resolution the time and place for the holding of additional regular meetings of the board without other notice than such resolution.

SECTION 7 - SPECIAL MEETINGS. Special meetings of the board of directors may be called for by any six directors. The person or persons authorized to call special meetings of the board may fix any place as the place for holding any special meeting of the board called by them.

SECTION 8 - NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETINGS. Notice of any special meeting of the board of directors shall be given not less than fifteen (15) days nor more than forty (40) days prior to the date of such meeting, by written notice to each director and shall otherwise comply with the requirements of Article V, Section 5 of this constitution. Notice of any special meeting may be waived in writing by any person entitled to such notice. The attendance of a director at any meeting shall constitute waiver of notice of such meeting, except when a director attends a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened. No business shall be transacted at any special meeting of the board except as specified in the notice of the meeting.

SECTION 9 -- ATTENDANCE BY CONFERENCE TELEPHONE. Members of the board of directors or of any committees of the board of directors may participate in and act at any meeting of such board or committee through the use of a conference telephone or other communications equipment by means of which all persons participating in the meeting can hear each other; provided that a majority of such members consent in writing to the recording of such communications and provided that such recording is in fact made and becomes a part of the official Society records. Participation in such a meeting shall constitute attendance and presence in person at the meeting of the person or persons so participating for all purposes.

SECTION 10 - QUORUM. Eight (8) directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the board, provided that if less than a quorum of directors are present at said meeting, a majority of the directors present may adjourn the meeting to another time without further notice. A withdrawal of directors from the meeting shall not cause a failure of a quorum.

SECTION 11 MANNER OF ACTING. The act of a majority of the directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the board of directors, unless the act of a greater number is required by statute, this constitution, or the Articles of Incorporation of the Society.

SECTION 12 - VACANCIES. Any vacancy among the elected directors shall be filled by the board of directors until the next Business Meeting, at which time the vacant seat shall be declared open for election to fill the unexpired term of that seat. A vacancy from the appointed directors shall be filled by the convention committee who had made the original appointment.

SECTION 13 - DISQUALIFICATION FROM AWARDS. No director shall be eligible for any award of the Society, including, but not limited to, a Hugo Award. No publication closely connected with a director shall be eligible for any award of the Society, including, but not limited to a Hugo Award.

SECTION 14 - COMPENSATION. Directors shall not receive any stated salaries for their services. By resolution of the board of directors, the expenses of any special meeting of the board of directors, if any, may be allowed. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to preclude any director from serving the Society in any other capacity and receiving reasonable compensation therefor.

SECTION 15 - STANDING RULES. The board of directors may adopt and amend such standing rules as it may deem necessary to govern its internal operations. Such standing rules shall continue in effect until altered, suspended or rescinded by the action of the board of directors.

SECTION 16 -- RECALL OF DIRECTORS. Directors may be recalled for cause. The recall process may be initiated by one-third of the board of directors or by petition of fifty (50) Class One members of the Society. If initiated by the board of directors that body shall constitute the assembly for the purpose of removal from office. If initiated by the members then a trial committee shall be appointed within three weeks of receipt of the petition. The committee shall consist of three Class One members of the Society: one designated by the petition, one selected by the accused, and a chairman to be designed by the other members. The findings of the committee shall be reported within not less than fifteen (15) days nor more than forty-five (45) days from the date of its appointment. Should the committee recommend recall, then a mail vote shall be held on the question. The ballot shall be sent to all Class One members of the Society by first class mail (airmail in the case of members living on a continent other than that of mailing), accompanied by the findings of the trial committee and any statement of reasonable length that the accused may wish in his defense. Ballots to be considered valid shall be returned within thirty days from their mailing to the members. A three-fourths affirmative vote shall be required to recall a director. Should less than one-third of the votes call for recall the cost of the mailing shall be borne by the petitioners; else such cost shall be borne by the Society. Bond shall be posted for these costs by the petitioners as a condition of receipt of their petition. Appointed directors shall serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority and shall be subject to recall by that body upon thirty days written notice to the registered agent of the Society. Such recall notice shall also specify the successor to said director.

ARTICLE VII Officers

SECTION 1 -- OFFICERS. The officers of the Society shall be a president, a treasurer, a secretary, and such assistant treasurers, assistant secretaries or other officers as may be elected by the board of directors. Officers whose authority and duties are not prescribed in this constitution shall have the authority and perform the duties prescribed by resolution of the board of directors.

SECTION 2 -- QUALIFICATION AND ELECTION. Officers of the Society except for assistant Treasurers and assistant Secretaries, shall be elected from among the directors of the Society. Officers shall be elected by the board of directors of the Society at the regular annual meeting of the board. If election of officers is not held at such meeting, then said elections shall be held as soon as is possible thereafter.

SECTION 3 -- TERM OF OFFICE. Each officer shall hold office until his successor shall have been duly elected and qualified or until his death or disability or until he shall resign or shall have been removed in the manner hereinafter provided.

SECTION 4 - VACANCIES. Vacancies may be filled or new offices created and filled at any meeting of the board of directors.

SECTION 5 - CONTRACT RIGHTS. Election of an officer shall not of itself create contract rights.

SECTION 6 - REMOVAL. Any officer elected or appointed by the board of directors may be removed by the board whenever in its judgement the best interests of the Society would be served thereby, but such removal shall be without prejudice to the contract rights, if any, of the person so removed. Removal of an officer shall require a three-fourths affirmative vote by the board of directors.

SECTION 7 - PRESIDENT. The president shall be the principal executive officer of the Society. In general, he shall discharge all duties customarily prescribed to the office of president and such other duties as may be prescribed by the board of directors. He shall preside at all meetings of the board of directors. Except in those instances in which the authority to execute is expressly delegated to another officer of agent of the Society he may execute for the Society any contracts, deeds, mortgages, bonds, or other instruments which the board of directors has authorized to be executed, and he may accomplish such execution with or without the seal of the Society according to the requirements of the form of instrument.

SECTION 8 -- TREASURER. The Treasurer shall be the principal accounting and financial officer of the Society. In general, he shall perform all the duties customarily prescribed to the office of Treasurer and such other duties as may be assigned to him by the President or the board of directors. In the absence of the President or in the event of his inability or refusal to act, the Treasurer shall perform the duties of the President and. when so acting, shall have all of the powers of and be subject to all of the restrictions placed on the President. If required by the board of directors, the Treasurer shall give a bond for the faithful discharge of his duties in such sum and with such surety as the board of directors shall determine.

SECTION 9 - SECRETARY. The Secretary shall record the minutes of the meetings of the members and of the board of directors in one or more books provided for that purpose; shall see that all notices are duly given in accordance with this constitution or as required by law; shall be the custodian of the Society records and of the Seal of the Society; shall keep a register of the address of each member which same shall be furnished by the member to the Society; and perform all duties customarily prescribed to the office of Secretary and such other duties as may be assigned to him by the President or the board of directors.

SECTION 10 - ASSISTANT TREASURERS AND SECRETARIES. The assistant Treasurers and assistant Secretaries shall perform such duties as shall be assigned to them by the Treasurer or the Secretary, respectively, or by the President or the board of directors. If required by the board of directors the assistant Treasurers shall give bonds for the faithful discharge of their duties in such sums and with such surety as the board of directors shall determine.

ARTICLE VIII - Committees

SECTION 1 - STANDING COMMITTEES. The following standing committees of the board of directors, together with the stated purpose of said committees, are hereby established:

a) The Business Meeting Committee shall have general jurisdiction and authority to organize. staff and operate the Business Meetings of the Society, including the preparation, publication and serving of all requisite notices and the designation of the presiding officers of such meetings, subject to the direction and control of the president and the board of directors.

b) The Hugo Awards Committee shall have general jurisdiction and authority to organize and administer the selection and presentation of the Hugo Awards in accordance with Article X of this constitution, subject to the direction and control of the president and the board of directors.

c) The Site Selection Committee shall have general jurisdiction and authority to organize and administer the selection of future sites for the World Science Fiction Convention in accordance with Article IX of this constitution, subject to the direction and control of the president and the board of directors.

SECTION 2 -- OTHER COMMITTEES. The board of directors, by resolution of the board, may designate one or more other committees, which committees, to the extent provided in said resolution and not restricted by law, shall have and exercise the authority of the board. The designation of such committees and the delegation thereto of authority shall not operate to relieve the board of directors, or any individual director, of any responsibility imposed upon it or him by law.

SECTION 3 - COMMITTEE MEMBERS. All members of any committee of the board of directors, including standing committees, shall be Class One members of the Society.

SECTION 4 - SITE SELECTION COMMITTEE DISQUALIFICATION. No member of the Site Selection Committee shall be directly connected with any bidding committee on the site selection ballot.

SECTION 5 - HUGO AWARDS COMMITTEE DISQUALIFICATION. No member of the Hugo Awards Committee shall be eligible for a Hugo Award. No publication closely connected with a member of said committee shall be eligible for a Hugo Award.

SECTION 6 - APPOINTMENT. Members of standing committees shall be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the board of directors. Except as otherwise provided in the resolution creating the committee, members of other committees of the board of directors shall be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the board of directors.

SECTION 7 - TERM OF OFFICE. Each member of a committee of the board shall continue as such until the next annual meeting of the board and until his successor is appointed, unless the committee shall be terminated sooner, or unless such member be removed from such committee, or unless such member shall cease to qualify as a member thereof.

SECTION 8 - CHAIRMAN. One member of each committee shall be designated by the president as the chairman of said committee. The chairman of any committee of the board of directors may be any member of said committee so designated.

SECTION 9 -- VACANCIES. Vacancies in the membership of any committee may be filled by appointments made in the same manner as provided in the case of the original appointments.

SECTION 10 - QUORUM. Unless otherwise provided in the resolution of the board of directors designation a committee, a majority of the whole committee shall constitute a quorum and the act of a majority of the members present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the committee. Any committee may conduct and transact all or any part of its business in writing, by mail, telegraph or otherwise and any action by any committee which is assented to by a majority of the committee in writing shall have the same effect as if said action was taken at a meeting at which a quorum is present.

SECTION 11 - REPORTS. The president may require interim reports from any committee at any time. Standing committees shall make an annual report to the board of directors at the annual meeting of the board. Other committees shall make a final report to the board of directors upon their termination. All reports required by this Section shall be in writing and shall be made a part of the Society records.

SECTION 12 - RULES. Each committee may adopt rules for its own government not inconsistent with this constitution or with rules adopted by the board of directors or with the resolution designating said committee.

ARTICLE IX - World Science Fiction Convention

SECTION 1 - ANNUAL CONVENTION. The Society shall hold an annual convention to be known as the World Science Fiction Convention.

SECTION 2 -- CONVENTION SITE DISTRIBUTION AND ROTATION. To ensure equitable distribution of sites. the World is divided into four (4) regions as follows,

WESTERN: Baja California, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Saskatchewan, and all North American states and provinces westward;

CENTRAL: Central America, Mexico (except as above). and all North American states and provinces between Western and Eastern regions;

EASTERN: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Quebec, and all North American states and provinces eastward;

NON NORTH AMERICAN: all areas not in the above regions (North America). Convention sites shall rotate in the order Western, Central, Eastern region. Non North American sites may declare intention to bid for any year.

SECTION 3 - SITE SELECTION. Shall include Article III, Section 1 of the current constitution. Modified so that the site selection committee handles it.

SECTION 4 - INTENTION TO BID. A bidding committee shall declare its intention to bid for the site of the World Science Fiction Convention to the board of directors of the Society. The declaration of the intent to bid shall designate an address where members of the Society may obtain information on the bid and where official notices to the bidding committee may be sent.

SECTION 5 - REQUIREMENTS TO APPEAR ON THE SITE SELECTION BALLOT. In addition to complying with Article IX, Section 4 of this constitution, the bidding committee shall provide the Site Selection committee with the following information in writing no later than the 15th of March of the year in which the bidding committee wishes to appear on the site selection ballot (or such later date as established by the Site Selection committee): a) A duly executed Society franchise agreement, in the form prescribed by the board of directors; b) A copy of a conditional contract or letter of agreement with the proposed site facilities; c) A copy of the rules under which the convention committee will operate. A copy of said rules shall be made available upon request to any member of the society.

SECTION 6 - FRANCHISE AGREEMENT. The board of directors of the Society shall prepare a franchise agreement to be signed by the President and Secretary on behalf of the Society and by the chief executive officer or officers of the bidding committee on behalf of said committee. The franchise agreement shall be identical for all bidding committees appearing on the same site selection ballot. The franchise agreement shall:

a) Grant to the victorious bidding committee the exclusive right to style itself the World Science Fiction Convention.

b) Grant to a victorious bidding committee the exclusive right to present the Hugo Awards during the calendar year of their convention in conjunction with the Awards Committee of the board of directors.

c) Require a victorious bidding committee to provide a reasonable amount of space in the official publications and mailings of the convention committee for the insertion of the official business of the Society on a gratis basis, and to provide adequate time, space and facilities for the Business Meeting during the convention.

d) Require a victorious bidding committee to abide by this constitution and all rules and regulations adopted under and pursuant to its authority.

e) Require a victorious bidding committee to file with the board of directors quarterly financial reports commencing three months after being selected as a convention committee and continuing until a final financial report is published to the members of the Society in a reasonable manner under the circumstances and filed with the board of directors.

f) Require the victorious convention committee to pay a franchise fee in the amount of fifty (50) cents per member in the funds of the United States of America or equivalent within ninety days of the date said registration or membership fees for the convention are received by the committee, which franchise fee shall constitute the dues of the members of the Society as provided in Article IV, Section 6 of this constitution. In addition to said fees, said committee shall also submit a current list of names and addresses of the members of the convention whose payment of said fees is being transmitted at any given time.

g) Require each convention committee to retain an independent accountant at least a year prior to its convention and publish a financial statement prepared by said accountant within ninety days after the adjournment of its convention and a final financial statement within a year.

h) Require each convention committee to dispose of remaining surplus funds after accounts are settled for its convention for the benefit of the Society as a whole.

i). Contain any other provisions which the board of directors may establish by resolution.

SECTION 7 - SITE SELECTION BALLOT. Site-selection ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership number spaces to be filled in by the voter. Each site-selection ballot shall list the options "None of the above" and "No preference" after the bidders and with equal prominence. The minimum fee in force shall be listed on all site selection ballots.

SECTION 8 -- TALLYING OF THE BALLOTS. Article III, Section 3 of the current constitution. Modified so that if the Business Meeting does not select a site the board of directors shall do so.

SECTION 9 - MEMBERSHIP OF SITE SELECTION VOTERS. Members of the Society paying the minimum fee towards membership with their site selection ballots shall be members of the selected convention with the right to receive all generally distributed publications and attendance at the Business Meeting of the Members of the Society. Such memberships may be converted to ones with the right of general attendance at such convention by paying, within ninety days of site selection, an additional fee, set by the convention committee, not to exceed the minimum voting fee and not more than the difference between the voting fee and the attending fee for new members.

SECTION 10 - CONVENTION RESPONSIBILITY. Authority and responsibility for all matters concerning the World Science Fiction Convention, except for those reserved herein to the Society, shall be vested with the convention committee chosen to govern each annual convention, which committee shall act in the name of its convention and not in that of the Society.

ARTICLE X - Science Fiction Achievement Awards

To be used as presently exists. Modifications will be made mainly to reflect that the Society is giving this award rather than the convention itself and that the Hugo Awards committee is administrating the selection and award.

ARTICLE XI - Contracts and other Instruments

SECTION 1 --. CONTRACTS. The board of directors may authorize any officer or officers, agent or agents of the Society, in addition to the officers so authorized by this constitution, to enter into any contract or execute and deliver any instrument in the name of and on behalf of the Society and such authority may be general or confined to specific instances.

SECTION 2 -- CHECKS, DRAFTS, ETC. All checks, drafts or other orders for the payment of money, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued in the name of the Society, shall be signed by such officer or officers, agent or agents of the Society and in such manner as shall be determined by resolution of the board of directors. In the absence of such determination by the board of directors, such instruments shall be signed by the treasurer or an assistant treasurer and countersigned by the president, the secretary or an assistant secretary.

SECTION 3 - DEPOSITS. All funds of the Society shall be deposited to the credit of the Society in such banks, trust companies or other depositories as the board of directors may select.

SECTION 4 - GIFTS. The board of directors may accept on behalf of the Society any contribution, gift, bequest or devise for the general purposes or for any special purpose of the Society.

ARTICLE XII - Records

SECTION 1 - ORIGINAL RECORDS. The Society shall keep correct and complete books and records of account and shall also keep minutes of the proceedings of its members, board of directors and committees. Additionally, all reports of committees of the Business Meeting or of the board and all filings required of any convention committee or bidding committee by this constitution shall be made a part of the records of the Society.

SECTION 2 - DUPLICATE RECORDS. A duplicate set of all records shall be kept by the registered agent of the Society.

SECTION 3 - INSPECTION OF RECORDS. All books and records-of the Society may be inspected by any member, or his agent or attorney, for any purpose at any reasonable time at the registered office of the Society. Books and records of the Society, or any portion thereof, may be inspected by mail by any member by mailing to the registered agent a request identifying the records sought with reasonable specificity. The registered agent shall have the authority to charge the member requesting said records the actual cost of copying and mailing same, and the registered agent shall not be required to transmit any records requested pursuant to this Section until said charges have been paid. All records mailed by the registered agent shall be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, with instructions to deliver to the addressee only, at the cost of the member requesting said records.

ARTICLE XIII - Fiscal Year

The fiscal year of the Society shall be the calendar year.

ARTICLE XIV - Seal

The design of the seal of the Society shall be fixed by resolution of the board of directors and shall have inscribed thereon the name of the Society and the words "Corporate Seal".

ARTICLE XV - Waiver of Notice

Whenever any notice is required to be given under the provisions of the or under the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation of the Society or this constitution. a waiver thereof in writing signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice, whether before or after the time stated therein, shall be deemed equivalent to the giving of such notice.

ARTICLE XVI Amendments

SECTION 1 -- POWER TO AMEND. The power to alter, amend or repeal this constitution or adopt a new constitution shall be vested in the members of the Society. Such action may be taken at any Business Meeting.

SECTION 2 - PROCEDURE TO ALTER OR AMEND. Any proposal to alter or amend this constitution shall require a majority of all votes cast on the question at the Business Meeting at which it is first debated and also ratification by a simple majority vote of those members present and voting at the following Business Meeting. Failure to ratify in the manner described above shall void the proposed alteration or amendment.

SECTION 3 - EFFECTIVE DATE OF ALTERATION OR AMENDMENT. Any alteration or amendment to this constitution shall take effect at the end of the World Science Fiction Convention at which such amendment is first ratified.

[the above text of a proposed new WSFS Constitution is a copy of that distributed at the Friday session. As noted on in the minutes, there was some controversy as to whether this text represented the judgement of the Drafting Committee. A subsequent meeting of the Drafting Committee produced agreement on the amendments listed in the minutes. The draft Constitution (Item 7) was subsequently tabled]

APPENDIX B

[Note: this was originally a landscape flow chart. I have redrawn it in a portrait format. Where the notes in the minutes refer to reading "from the bottom right corner", you should read this from the bottom upwards. TI - June 1998]

Should there be any Hugo category corresponding to the present "Best Fanzine" category?

SIDE ISSUES

(1) If there are two categories, should eligibility for Fan Writer and Fan Artist depend on appearance in either type of zine or only in "amateur" zines? (Russell et al. motion specifies either; other motions don't say.)

(2) Russell et al. motion would also eliminate the requirement of 4 total issues for "amateur" zines.

(3) Epstein-Mann motion would restore the name "Amateur Magazine"; others would retain "Fanzine" for the amateur category.

Note: The summary of Item 16 given above was based on a preliminary text which differed in some details from that actually submitted to the Business Meeting. Corrections were made in the copies of this chart distributed at later sessions, but this is the version most attendees received.

APPENDIX C

Report on the ‘Licensed’ Question

As noted in the debates on Item 7, controversy arose at the Business Meeting over the text of the current Constitution’s Article I, Section 6, with Joseph Lattin claiming that the text should read "a licensed independent accountant" rather than the published "an independent accountant"; the Presiding Officer was directed to consult the records and make the change if they so indicated. This report is the result of the Secretary’s investigations.

The text in question was given first passage at IguanaCon (1978) and ratified at Seacon (1979). According to Seacon Progress Report 3, the text passed at IguanaCon was "an independent certified public accountant"; this is in exact agreement with my own notes of the meetings and with published reports elsewhere. (The argument at IguanaCon was over removing the word "audited" from the original text.) At Seacon the text was amended before ratification; the question is how. Unfortunately I was not at Seacon. The Presiding Officer was Donald Eastlake and the Secretary was Rick Katze. Mr. Eastlake has no notes on the point, but he consulted Mr. Katze’s records before certifying the text (for the Noreascon II PR3 and Program Book) as "an independent accountant". However, Mr. Katze kept the record of the meeting on tape, never transcribed a written set of minutes, and believes that the tape has since been lost. There is thus no official record of the meeting’s actions, other than that subsequently published (and not challenged until this year).

I have consulted newszine reports on the Seacon Business Meeting. Locus 225: "A motion requiring a committee to have an accountant and to publish a financial statement was ratified, but the CPA requirement was struck." File 770 15 (report credited to Marty Massoglia): "That part of [the motion] requiring a con to retain a CPA to compile and review the con’s financial report was modified to merely an accountant, who will only ‘prepare’ the report." On the basis of the available evidence (and the disagreement among those who were there), I believe there is no justification for altering the published text.

[NOTE by Tim Illingworth, June 1998. Having put together a note of the 1979 Business Meeting based on Ben Yalow’s copy of the 1979 Main Meeting agenda, I can confirm that the Preliminary Business Meeting struck the relevant words from the motion before ratifying it. The motion stated, inter alia, "Each Convention Committee shall retain an independent certified public accountant", and the Preliminary Business Meeting deleted the words "certified public".]