[Note by Pat McMurray, who scanned and checked these pages: I've made some minor changes to George Flynn's original text. I've removed all page references, which aren't relevant here, I've put the new wording of Article V, Section 6 in its correct place, and I've removed the note saying that the Noreascon II Program Book and Progress Report 4 were obtainable for a dollar from Noreascon II. I've made no other changes.]

[Note by Tim Illingworth, proofreading: I’ve altered George’s "Only those sections on there was some substantive action or ruling will be specifically indicated below" to "Only those sections where there was some substantive action or ruling will be specifically indicated below", in Bob Hillis’ comments after new Article III.]

[Note by Tim Illingworth: I have included in this version the text of the Business Passed On and New Business that was printed in the Noreascon II Program Book.]

The World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting at Noreascon II was held in four sessions, scheduled daily at 9:30-11:30 A.M. from Friday, August 29 to Monday September 1, 1980, in the Commonwealth Room of the Sheraton-Boston Hotel. Donald Eastlake was the Chairman, and George Flynn the Secretary, for all four sessions; Mike Lalor was appointed Sergeant-at-Arms for the final three sessions.

Friday August 29, 1980

The meeting was called to order at 9:39 A.M., with about 20 people present. (Near the end of the session 29 were present.) The first order of business was the proposed changes to the Standing Rules (Program Book, p. 99); 6 minutes was allotted for debate on each. All these proposals were submitted by Donald Eastlake and seconded by Chip Hitchcock.

• ITEM 0.A: (to define the Site-Selection Meeting)

  MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by adding the following to Rule 1:
  One Business Meeting session shall also be designated the Site-Selection Meeting where site-selection business shall be the special order of business.
  (This clarifies what the Site-Selection Meeting is. In the current Standing Rules it is mentioned only in passing in Rule 17.)

  Passed unanimously.

• ITEM 0.B: (to clarify the deferring of business to the main Business Meeting)

  MOVED, to amend Rule 2 of the Standing Rules by striking "and to ‘refer to committee’ " and inserting the following in its place:
  to "divide the question", to "postpone" to a later part of the Preliminary Business Meeting, and to "refer" to a committee to report later in the Business Meeting.
  (This motion makes more specific and complete the list of actions customarily taken at Preliminary Business Meetings. It clarifies the deferring to the main Business Meeting of final disposition of business, unless its consideration is objected to.)

  Passed unanimously, after the Chair ruled that "the same Business Meeting" includes all sessions at a given Worldcon.

• ITEM 0.C: (to eliminate the requirement of printing many copies of a motion that appears in the Program Book)

  MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by inserting in Rule 4, after the word "attendees", the following:
  unless it has actually been distributed to the attendees at the convention by the Convention Committee.
  (This eliminates the requirement for the submitter to print up many copies of a motion if it is included in the Program Book or otherwise distributed by and at the convention.)

  Passed unanimously.

• ITEM 0.D: (regulating second-order amendments to motions)

  MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by replacing Rule 7 with the following:
  Unless it is an amendment by substitution, an amendment to a main motion may be changed only under those provisions allowing modification through the consent of the maker of the amendment, i.e., second-order amendments are not allowed except in the case of a substitute as the first-order amendment.
  (This changes the rules to reflect a unchallenged precedent set several years ago by Robert L Hillis acting as presiding officer.)

  Passed unanimously.

• ITEM 0.E: (to clarify when a motion to adjourn may be made)

  MOVED, to amend the Standing Rules by deleting from Rule 16 the words "at any time".
  (This motion is intended to eliminate any confusion over the fact that the motion to adjourn has traditionally been treated as non-privileged during the last session of the Business Meeting, as specified in "Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised".)

  The question was called, and the motion passed by voice vote.

The remainder of Friday's business consisted of the preliminary consideration of the (then 21) items on the agenda and the setting of debate time limits for those items passed on to the main Business Meeting(Sunday).

Business Passed on from Seacon '79;

• ITEM 1: (ratification of amendment to require publication of site-selection voting totals.)

  MOVED, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following:
  The site selection voting totals shall be announced at the business meeting, and published in the first or second PRs of the winning bid, with the by-mail and at-con votes distinguished.
  (The intent of this amendment is to make the site-selection voting totals clearly public. It would also require that any difference in the by-mail and at-con voting be displayed so that the voting system can be evaluated.)

  The default time limit would be 6 minutes. MS (Ms. Eastlake) to extend the limit to 10 minutes: motion lost 10-11, so the limit remained at 6 minutes.

• ITEM 2: The report of a committee investigating the permanent organization and incorporation of WSFS. This committee was created at Suncon and has made reports to and been continued at IguanaCon and Seacon ’79. This year the committee’s report is expected to include a recommended new Constitution. Chairman: Robert L Hillis; Secretary: Larry Smith.

  (Some changes in the text of the draft Constitution were announced at this point; these will be given later.) After various suggestions were made as to when to consider this item, Mr. Hillis proposed beginning consideration after the conclusion of all other business at the Preliminary Business Meeting; this was agreed to without objection.

New Business Submitted to Noreascon II:

• ITEM 3:(to ban awards other than the Hugo and Campbell Awards from the Hugo ballot; with an amendment to include the Gandalf Grand Master Award among allowed awards.)

  MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 15 of the WSFS Constitution by inserting the following:
  Nominations shall be solicited for, and the final ballot shall list, only the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best New Writer.
  (Submitted by Ben Yalow and Craig Miller. It would ban the Gandalf and other awards not listed in the motion from the official nomination and voting ballots.

  The following amendment to the motion has been submitted by Robert E Sacks, Gregory Costikyan and Stephen William Tihor:

  MOVED, to amend the above motion by inserting "the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy Award" in the listed awards.)

  Default time limit, 6 minutes (including the amendment). Separate motions were made and seconded to set the total time limit at 15 minutes (maker not recorded) and 10 minutes (Mr. Katze). The options were voted on in succession: 15 minutes, defeated 5-15; 10 minutes, passed 12-10; thus the time limit was set at 10 minutes (with a 5-minute default for the amendment).

• ITEM 4 (to require publication of the Hugo voting totals.)

  MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 16, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following:
  The complete numerical voting totals, including all preliminary tallies for first, second, ... places, shall be made public by the Convention Committee within ninety (90) days after the Convention.
  (Submitted by George Flynn and seconded by Mike Glyer.)

  Default time limit, 6 minutes. MS (Mr. Massoglia) to set the limit at 2 minutes: passed by voice vote.

• ITEM 5(to make permanent the Non-Fiction Book Hugo.)

  Moved, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:
  Best Non-Fiction Book: Any non-fictional work relating to the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time in book form during the previous calendar year.
  (Submitted by Mike Saler and Gail Hormats.)

  Default time limit 6 minutes. MS (Mr. Massoglia) to object to consideration: 9 for consideration, 10 against, so objection failed (2/3 vote required). MS to set time limit at 3 minutes: passed 12-9.

• ITEM 6(to abolish the NASFIC.)

  MOVED, to amend Article III, Section 6 of the WSFS Constitution by deleting all of Section 6 after the first sentence.
  (Proposed by jan howard finder and seconded by Nellie Pardoel. It would have the effect of abolishing the interim Continental Convention (NASFIC) currently held in North America when the Worldcon is outside of North America.)

  Numerous objections to considerations overwhelming vote (3-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 7(to establish a non-North American Convention to be held when the Worldcon is in North America.)

  MOVED, if the motion immediately above fails to pass, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following:
  In the event of a Convention site being selected within North America, there shall be an interim Non-North American Convention to be held outside North America in the same year as the North American World Science Fiction Convention. Selection of the site of such a Non-North American Convention may be by vote of the Business Meeting or by such other method as the competing bidders might agree upon.
  (Proposed by jan howard finder and seconded by Nellie Pardoel. It sets up a new convention to be held outside of North America when the Worldcon is in North America.)

  Numerous objections to consideration: overwhelming vote (4-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 8 (to make publications with paid contributors or staff ineligible for the Fanzine Hugo.)

  Moved, to amend Article II, Section 9 of the WSFS Constitution by inserting after "additional criteria" the following:
  except that publications shall not be considered if a financial remuneration is paid to any contributors or staff thereof.
  (Submitted by Dick Lynch and Nicky Lynch.)

  Default time limit, 6 minutes. MS (Ms. Eastlake) to object to consideration: 14 for consideration, 7 against. MS (Mr Katze) to set the time limit at 2 minutes. MS (Mr. Yalow) to refer items 8 and 10 to a committee, to consolidate them and report to a later session; an amendment (Mr. Sacks) that the report should be tomorrow was accepted, and the motion as amended passed without objection. The Chair appointed Dick Lynch, Louis Epstein, and Ben Yalow (Chairman) to the committee.

• ITEM 9 (to abolish the Dramatic Presentation Hugo.)

  Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Section 6.
  (Submitted by Louis Epstein and James Reynolds. It eliminates the Dramatic Presentation Hugo.)

  MS (Mr. Sacks) to object to consideration: 5 for consideration, many against.

• ITEM 10 (to replace the Fanzine and Professional Editor Hugos by Hugos for Professional Magazine, Amateur Magazine, and Non-Periodical Editor.)

  Moved, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by deleting Sections 8 and 9, and inserting the following in place thereof:
  Section 7: Best Professional Magazine. Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is the main source of income.
  Section 8: Best Amateur Magazine. Any periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous year, produced primarily by persons for whom it is not the main source of income.
  Section 9: Best Non-Periodical Editor. Any person engaged in the editing of science fiction for non-periodical publication (editors of annual anthologies shall be eligible).
  (Submitted by Louis Epstein and James Reynolds. It renames and redefines the Best Fanzine Hugo category, eliminates the Best Professional Editor Hugo category, and in its place creates two new Hugos: Best Professional magazine and Best Non-Periodical Editor.)

  Referred to committee along with item 8 (see above).

• ITEM 11 (to require that accountants be used to count the Hugo votes.)

  Moved, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by inserting the words "independent accountants engaged by" between the words "of" and "the" in the first sentence of Section 16, and by deleting Section 17.
  (Submitted by Louis Epstein and James Reynolds. It requires accountants to be used to count the Hugo votes, and eliminates the present exclusion of Convention Committee members from Hugo consideration.)

  - MS (Mr. Bloom) to object to consideration: overwhelming vote (3-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 12 (to require a mail ballot suspending the rules before an out-of-rotation site bid can be considered.)

  MOVED, to amend Article III, Section 5, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following:
  Bids from sites located out of rotation may be considered only if the rule is suspended by mail ballot distributed with the Hugo nomination ballots and passed by a two-thirds majority.
  (Submitted by Louis Epstein and James Reynolds. It creates an additional mechanism (besides "None of the Above" winning) for an out-of-rotation site and Committee to be selected.)

  The maker, Mr. Epstein, confirmed that his intent was to forbid overseas bids without preliminary clearance. MS (Mr. Sacks) to object to consideration: overwhelming vote (2-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 13 (to raise the default site-selection voting fee from $5 to $10.)

  MOVED, to amend Article III, Section 1, of the WSFS Constitution by striking "five dollars ($5.00)" and inserting in its place "ten dollars ($10.00)".
  (Submitted by Jill Eastlake, Wendell Ing, Ann McCutchen, and Deborah King. It increases the default site-selection voting fee.)

  Default time limit, 6 minutes. MS (Mr. Katze) to set the limit at 2 minutes: defeated by voice vote, so the limit remained at 6 minutes.

• ITEM 14 (to establish a Hugo for Best Game.)

  MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:
  Best Game: Any game or simulation relating to the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year.
  (Submitted by Gregory Costikyan, Robert E Sacks, and Stephen William Tihor.)

  MS (Mr. Massoglia) to object to consideration: 5 for consideration, 19 against.

• ITEM 15 (to define the Hugo nomination procedure.)

  MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by deleting the first and sixth sentences of Section 15 (to be renamed "Voting"), and inserting the following new section before it:
  Nominations: Selection of nominees for the final Award voting shall be done by a poll, conducted by the Convention Committee, in which each Society member shall be allowed to make five (5) equally weighted nominations in every category. Assignment to the proper category of nominees nominated in more than one category, and eligibility of nominees, shall be determined by the Convention Committee.
  (Submitted by Dave Langford and Hazel Langford. It standardizes the Hugo nominations procedure to what has actually been done most in recent years. The present Constitution allows a lot of discretion in the handling of nominations by each Convention Committee. It is not even clear under the present Constitution that nominations have to come from Worldcon members.)

  Default time limit, 20 minutes. MS (Mr. Hillis) to set the limit at 6 minutes: passed by voice vote.

(The items that follow were submitted too late to appear in the Program Book. Item 16 was withdrawn by its originator before the beginning of the Business Meeting; it would have changed site-selection voting from two to three years in advance.)

• ITEM 17, submitted by Benjamin M. Yalow and Gary Farber:

  MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 15, of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following: No nominee shall appear on the Final Award ballot if it received fewer nominations than the lesser of either five percent (5%) of the number of nomination ballots cast, or the number of nominations received by the third-place nominee in that category. ("nominee" in the first line replaced "item" in the text originally submitted.)

  Default time limit, 6 minutes: no objection.

• ITEM 18, submitted by Harry L. Davidov and Kay(?) Smith:

  It is proposed that the organization which, by vote of the WSFS members of a Worldcon, is awarded the privilege of producing the very next Worldcon, be required to apply a significant amount of time, effort, and money to the generation and timely promulgation of publicity (e.g., advertisements in major urban newspapers and national news-oriented or family-oriented magazines, posting of fliers in local business establishments and schools/colleges/state and local government facilities by volunteers recruited worldwide, etc.) designed to inform the very many members of the general public, who read science fiction books but do not subscribe to the magazines in the field, of the existence of that Worldcon. It is requested that the above proposal, if approved, be incorporated as a standing rule for all Worldcon committees to adhere to.

  MS (Mr. Massoglia) to object to consideration: overwhelming vote(l-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 19, submitted by Harry L. Davidov and Kay(?) Smith:

  It is proposed that an evaluation form be included in all future Worldcon program books for the purpose of rating the hotel(s) at which Worldcons are held. Various categories (e.g., comfortability of rooms, luxuriousness of appointments, demeanor/responsiveness of the hotel management and staff, degree of harassment of convention members by hotel detectives, etc.) will be printed on the form. Attending members would then rate the hotel in each category on a scale of one to ten and drop the completed forms into a container assigned by the Worldcon committee for this purpose. At the end of the Worldcon, these category ratings would be totaled and averaged by the number of forms actually received. The totals and averages would then be printed and forwarded to: (1) the hotel itself for purposes of feedback and (2) to the bidding organization chosen by the WSFS membership to sponsor the very next Worldcon, along with any ratings received from prior Worldcon committees for hotels located both inside and outside the region of the organization so chosen. This organization, when it came time to mail ballots to pre-registrants for choosing the site of the succeeding Worldcon, would perpetuate the ratings results received for hotels designated by the committees named on the ballot. This will encourage hotels to provide the best possible service to Worldcon attendees (in the hopes of being chosen again as the Worldcon site in three more years) as the current ratings will replace older ones. (Example: The committee putting on the Worldcon of 1989 would have received ratings for hotels which hosted Worldcons from 1981 to 1988. After insuring that older ratings are replaced by newer ones for the same hotel, the ratings for hotels designated by bidders for the 1990 [sic] Worldcon would be mailed to pre-registrants for '89.)

  MS (Mr. Yalow) to object to consideration. Overwhelming vote(2-many) against consideration.

• ITEM 20, submitted by Paul K. Abelkis and Marlene Willauer:

  MOVED, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:
  Each bidding committee will be restricted to a bidding expense limit, exclusive of facility deposits, of twenty-five hundred US dollars($2500.00). The current Convention Committees will have the right to increase or decrease the current limit by no more than ten percent (10%) during the year they host the World Science Fiction Convention. The expense limit for a particular bidding committee will be determined by the calendar year in which it first makes public its intention to participate in site selection. once an initial bidding committee has received an expense limit, all subsequent committees bidding for the same year must abide by the same limit. All bidding committees must present an annual budget report to the current Convention Committee and make available written copies of their budgets to any member of the Society on request. Any bidding committee exceeding their limit shall be disqualified from participating in site selection. Bidding committees having announced their intention to bid for the World Science Fiction Convention at the time this amendment is ratified shall not be subject to the aforementioned limits.

  MS (Ms. Carnival) to object to consideration: 4 for consideration, 20 against.

• ITEM 21, submitted by Louis Epstein and James Reynolds:

  MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by striking all of Article III, Section 1, except for the last sentence, by inserting the material below in place thereof, and by replacing all references to site-selection "mail" ballots elsewhere in the Constitution with references to site-selection "proxy" ballots:
  The Society shall choose the location and Committee of the Convention to be held two (2) years from the current Convention at the Business Meeting of the current Convention. Voting shall be by secret ballot cast at the current Convention with run-off as described in Article II, Section 16, and shall be restricted to those who have paid at least eight dollars ($8.00) toward membership in the Convention whose site is being selected and who are either (a) attending members of the Society present in person or represented by proxy or (b) members of the Society enrolled as supporters of a bona fide bidding committee represented by proxy. The Convention Committee may adopt additional rules respecting site-selection proxy balloting, and such rules shall be printed in the Program Book of the current Convention. The current Convention Committee shall administer the balloting, collect the advance membership fees other than pre-support enrollment, and turn over those funds to the winning Committee before the end of the current Convention.

  Numerous objections to considerations: overwhelming vote (1-many) against consideration.

All other business having been concluded, the draft Constitution of the committee on permanent organization and incorporation of WSFS was again in order (c.f. item 2). There was no objection to beginning consideration. MS (Mr. Sacks) that seriatim consideration of the Constitution begin Saturday after any other new business and continue after all other business at the Main Business Meeting. In response to a question by Mr. Bestler, the Chair ruled that, if the new Constitution were initially passed this year, amendments could still be considered at Denvention, and that amendments specifying the nomination and election of Directors would in general be proper at that time. An amendment to Mr. Sacks's motion (Mr. Bloom) was accepted, that no final vote take place before the Main Business Meeting. The motion as amended passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 11:24 A.M.

Saturday August 30, 1980

The meeting was called to order at 9:42 A.M., with 17 people present. (An attendance list was later passed around, and was signed by 19 people other than the officers.) Mr. Yalow submitted the report of the committee to reconcile items 8 and 10, consisting of an agreed-upon main motion and three minority reports:

MOVED, to amend Article II by deleting Section 8 and replacing it by the following two sections

1.Best Professional Magazine: Any Periodical devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy published during the previous calendar year which is not eligible for the Best Fanzine Hugo.

2.Best Non-Periodical Editor: Any person engaged in the editing of science fiction for non-periodical publication (editors of annual anthologies shall be eligible).

Minority Reports:

1. MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 9, by deleting all of the first sentence after "which has published" and replacing with the words "two (2) or more issues which appeared in the previous calendar year."

2. MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 9, by adding at the end of the section the words "except that publications shall not be considered if a financial remuneration is paid to any contributors or staff thereof".

3. MOVED, to amend Article II, Section 9, by adding at the end of the section the words "except that publications shall not be considered unless they are edited primarily by persons for whom it is not the main source of income".

It was noted that minority reports 2 and 3 were irreconcilable; otherwise the main motion and the minority reports were independent motions. The order of procedure would therefore be to consider first the main motion, then minority report 1, then to choose between minority reports 2 and 3.
Main motion: default time limit, 20 minutes. Limits of 6, 15, and 10 were suggested; 10 minutes was finally agreed on without objection.
Minority report l: default, 6 minutes. MS to set limit at 2 minutes: passed 10-4.
Minority reports 2 and 3: Since #2 was based on the original item 8 (which was submitted first), the Chair suggested formally treating #3 as an amendment by substitution to #2. The default would then be 6 minutes overall, but a limit of 6 minutes each on the choice between the two motions and the adoption of the winning choice was proposed. This procedure was all approved without objection.

Additional New Business:

• ITEM 22, submitted by Suzanne Carnival and Donald C. Thompson:

  MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by adding the following provision: every Committee shall at least twice send copies of their membership list, including name, number, and address information, to all future Committees that have been selected at the time of sending. One such copy shall be sent shortly before the convention of the sending Committee, and one including any members joining at the convention shall be sent as soon as practicable after the convention of the sending Committee.

  Default time limit, 20 minutes. MS (Mr. Sacks) to set the limit at 6 minutes: passed by voice vote.

The Chair requested permission to introduce the following item of privileged business:

MOVED, to create a committee to be appointed by the Chair to secure registration in the name of the Society of the trade, service, collective, and certification marks in use by the Society such as "Hugo Award", "World Science Fiction Society", "Worldcon", and "Science Fiction Achievement Award". Noreascon II, Denvention Two, and the 1982 Worldcon are requested to pay the costs involved.

MS (Mr. Hillis) to accept and pass the motion and have the Chair appoint the committee: passed by voice vote.

The Chair also requested suspension of the. rules to allow introduction of a motion which the Chairman of Noreascon II wanted introduced, but was not submitted in time. (The motion would have amended the Standing Rules to require payment of a $25 fee with all motions submitted for the Business Meeting.) - MS (Mr. Lalor) to suspend the rules: failed 6-10.

Draft Constitution:

All other business before the Preliminary Business Meeting having been completed, the seriatim consideration of the draft WSFS Constitution was in order, as voted at the end of Friday's session. The original text of this draft Constitution was printed in Noreascon II Progress Report 4, pp. 39-44; all citations herein are to that text. The drafting committee reported (Mr. Hillis) that it had made the following changes in the original text:

1. In Article IV, Section 6, line 2, change "initial attending membership fee" to "voting fee at the time of selection"; similarly, in Article XII, Section 6.G, lines 2-3. change "their initial attending membership rate" to "the voting fee at the time of site selection".
   
2. Insert the following new article:

   Article III - Other Provisions

   No part of the net earnings of this Corporation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributed to, its members, directors, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in the Constitution and in any amendments thereto. No substantial part of the activities of the Corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the Corporation shall not participate in or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Constitution, this Corporation shall not, except to an insubstantial degree, engage in any activities or exercise any powers that are not in furtherance of the purposes of this Corporation.

(Mr. Hillis stated that this was required by the Internal Revenue Service, and requested that, if the Constitution should pass, all sections required by law be so marked) - Mr. Lattin argued that Article I, Section 6, of the current Constitution, adopted in its current form at Seacon, must be included: Mr. Hillis accepted the insertion of the current Article I, Section 6, as a new Subsection F in Article XII, Section 6.(The change in Subsection G cited above was in fact pointed out by Mr. Lattin at this time, and also accepted by Mr. Hillis.) While the Chair pointed out that there was no requirement to do so, it was agreed by the meeting that any other changes in the current Constitution adopted at Seacon should be inserted in the draft Constitution if applicable. [In the Secretary's opinion, none of the other changes adopted at Seacon or Noreascon II affect the portion of the draft Constitution considered this year, Articles I-VI.] -The Chair suggested that a screening or managing committee be appointed to consider possible changes in the text before Denvention Two. MS to do so, conditional on the draft Constitution’s approval this year: passed without objection. - At this point Mr. Hillis joined the officers on the podium and began reading the draft Constitution section by section. (Only those sections where there was some substantive action or ruling will be specifically indicated below; those provisions that Mr. Hillis stated to be required by law will also be indicated.)

"Article III" (above) - Could either be added here as a new article, or appended to Article VII or Article XII; this was left to the discretion of the Secretary. Required by law. (Since legal requirements would vary with the state of incorporation, Mr. Propp suggested that the managing committee also survey acceptable states.)

Article IV, Section I - Last sentence virtually mandatory.

Article IV, Section 2 - It was explained that the distinction between "Class One" and "Class Two" membership is unrelated to the Attending/Supporting distinction but that memberships of the form "Guest of X" would be Class Two, along with those held by clubs, etc.

Article IV, Section 3 - MS (Mr. Propp) to add before the last sentence,

"A person may exercise only one vote as to these matters, regardless of the number of memberships held by that person or in that person's name." The debate indicated that there were two separate questions, on which trial votes were taken separately:
(1) Should individuals be able to have more than one vote by buying more memberships? No, by voice vote.
(2) Should Class Two members be allowed to vote on Hugos and site selection? Yes, 10-7.
Mr. Propp's amendment was therefore adopted as stated.

Article IV, Section 4 - There was general opposition to the nontransferability of memberships, and Mr. Gellman moved to delete "not" in the first sentence. The Chair suggested the wording: "Memberships in the Society are transferable and assignable, and Class Two Memberships may be converted to Class One Memberships in accordance…";this was approved by voice vote.

Article IV, Section 5 - Almost legally required; does not refer to badges.

Article V, Section 1 - Required in many or all states.

Article V, Section 2 - Separate motions were introduced to change "one-tenth" to "500" or to "100". The previous question was moved and passed. The "100" amendment was defeated by voice vote; the "500" amendment passed, 12-5.

Article V, Section 4 - Does not require the printing of business submitted for the Business Meeting.

Article V, Section 5 - Basically required by law. It was proposed and agreed that "in a country" in the last sentence be changed to "on a continent".

Article V, Section 6 - MS (the Chair) that "Fifty" be changed to "Seven". An amendment (Mr. Yalow) to make the quorum 7 for regular Business Meetings, 50 for special meetings, was accepted. An amendment (Mr. Propp) to insert "excluding the business meeting staff" was also accepted.- It was noted at this point that the scheduled time of adjournment had passed. MS (Mr. Hillis) to extend the session until Article V was completed: passed by voice vote. - The previous question was moved and passed, and the amendment as modified was passed by voice vote. [The new wording of this Article is: "Seven Class One Members of the Society shall constitute a quorum for a regular Business Meeting, fifty Class One Members for a special meeting, in each case excluding the Business Meeting staff. If a quorum…"]

Article V, Section 7 - It was suggested (Mr. Propp.) and agreed that "by the Members" be dropped from the last line. (This would allow the Board of Directors to adopt its own Standing, Rules.)

After consideration of Article V was completed, the meeting adjourned at 11:39 A.M.

Sunday August 31 1980

The meeting was called to order at 9:37 A.M. with 27 people present.(An attendance list was later signed by 31 people other than the officers.) Mr. Hillis was appointed Timekeeper.

The Secretary reported the results of the site-selection voting:
Chicago, 539 mail ballots, 479 at-con ballots, total 1018;
Detroit, 228 mail, 182 at-con, total 410;
No Preference and blank, 70 mail, 36 at-con, total 106;
None of the Above, 7 mail, 4 at-con, total 11;
write-ins, 3 mail, 1 at-con, total 4 (2 for Highmore, SD, 1 for Toronto, 1 for the Virgin Islands).
There were thus a total of 847 mail and 702 at-con ballots, 1549 overall.
In addition 12 mail ballots were rejected for unpaid voting fees, and 1 as being from a non-sentient being (a pet rock). [At least some of the at-con ballots were also invalid, but there was neither time nor need to make a thorough check] Chicago was thus the winner of the right to put on the 1982 Worldcon, and Mr. Propp gave a brief report on plans for Chicon IV.

In accordance with Article III, Section 7, of the Constitution, the Chair invited bidders for the 1983 Worldcon to make presentations. MS to postpone these presentations to the end of the agenda: failed, 7-11. Mr. Walsh then spoke briefly for Baltimore '83, and Mr. Handfield for Australia in '83.(No representative of Scandinavia in '83 was present.)

The following motion was submitted by Lawrence W. Propp and Craig Miller:

MOVED, that the Society re-locate George Flynn to the site of each Worldcon one year before said Worldcon.

The Chair ruled the motion out of order. [The Secretary wishes to record his opinion that the said motion was ultra vires and in violation of the 13th Amendment]

The meeting then began consideration of the proposed amendments to the WSFS Constitution, with the time limits for debate fixed at the Friday and Saturday sessions:

ITEM 1 - Passed by near-unanimous voice vote. Having been approved by two successive Worldcons, this amendment has been ratified and is now part of the Constitution,

ITEM 3 - The amendment to include the Gandalf was defeated by voice vote. MS (Mr. Sacks) to add: "The Convention Committee may by separate process conduct voting for other awards.": defeated by voice vote. (The Chair however ruled that the original text would not prohibit such voting by separate process.) The main motion then passed, 22-7.

ITEM 4 - Passed by voice vote, apparently unanimously.

ITEM 5 - Passed, 25-9.

ITEMS 8 AND 10 (see the committee report from Saturday) - Main motion: MS (Mr. Massoglia) to delete Section 2: defeated overwhelmingly(4-many). The main motion then failed, 11-18. - Minority report 1: - MS (Mr. Massoglia) to restore the current requirement of a total of four issues: failed, 6-15. Minority report 1 then passed, 17-9. Minority reports 2 and 3: MS (Mr. Sacks) to change "the" to "a" in the last line of #3: the previous question was called, and the amendment defeated 4-many. The vote to choose between minority reports 2 and 3 was then taken: 9 for #3, 6 for #2. Finally the previous question was passed (many-3), and minority report 3 was defeated 4-many, [To summarize, in case the reader has gotten lost, minority report 1 as given on Saturday was the only part of all this that passed]

ITEM 13 - Passed unanimously by voice vote.

ITEM 15 - Passed unanimously by voice vote.

ITEM 17 - The Chair ruled that this would require at least three nominees to appear on the Hugo ballot in each category. Mr. Massoglia appealed this ruling, and the Chair was sustained, 19-3. MS (Mr. Dennis) to replace "the number of nomination ballots cast" in lines 2-3 by "the nominations in that category": accepted unanimously. [The Secretary suggests that the intent might be clarified by the wording: "the number of ballots containing nominations in that category".] The motion as amended then passed, 17-5.

(Mr. Lattin made the point of order that all of the current Article I, Section 6, had been added to the draft Constitution (rather than just its last sentence, as stated in the printed agenda). The Chair postponed this to the resumption of consideration of the draft Constitution. At the opening of Monday's session, however, the Secretary confirmed that Mr. Lattin was correct.)

ITEM 22 - MS (Mr. Yalow) to postpone adjournment until the completion of this item: passed by voice vote. Item 22 was defeated, 6-16.

Meeting adjourned at 11:38

[In summary, the following amendments to the WSFS Constitution have been passed on to Denvention Two for ratification: items 3, 4, 5, 13, and 15, as printed in the Program Book; minority report 1, replacing the original item 10; and item 17 as amended ].

Monday September 1, 1980

The meeting was called to order at 9:39 A.M., with 21 people present. (An attendance list was later signed by 47 people other than the officers.)

The following motion was submitted by Forrest J. Ackerman and Mike Lalor:

MOVED, that special permission be granted to Forrest J. Ackerman to be spokesman to provide for the publication of a series of retroactive Hugos, for acknowledgement in print of the stories in the categories of short story, novelette, novella, and novel, to be published in the near future to cover the period 1926-1951.

The point of order was made that this could not be done without a constitutional amendment, in view of the last sentence of Article II, Section 13; the Chair felt the point of order was well taken. MS to suspend the rules and consider the motion: failed, 7-18.

Mr. Sacks moved that a special committee be created, to report back next year, on misconduct involving the Gandalf Award at the Hugo Award Ceremony. The Secretary made the point of order that this was not WSFS business; the Chair agreed, Mr. Sacks appealed, and the Chair was sustained 20-1.

Draft Constitution:

All other business having been disposed of, the seriatim consideration of the draft WSFS Constitution was resumed from the point reached at Saturday's session.

Article VI, Section 2 - (An amendment to replace this section and change various subsequent sections had been submitted in writing by Erwin S. Strauss and distributed at earlier sessions of the Business Meeting; however, it was withdrawn before being considered,)

Article VI, Section 3 - The following amendment was submitted by Benjamin M Yalow and Robert L. Hillis:

MOVED, to add the following to Article VI, Section 3:

The disciplinary process may be initiated by either one-third (1/3) of the Board or by petition of fifty (50) Class One members of the Society, delivered to the Registered Office of the Society. If initiated by the former method, the Board shall constitute the assembly for the purpose of removal from office. If initiated by the latter method, then a trial committee shall be appointed within three (3) weeks of receipt of the petition. The committee shall consist of three (3) Class One members of the Society: one designated by the petition, one selected by the accused, and a chairman to be designated according to normal procedures by the other two members. The findings of the committee shall be reported within not less than fifteen (15) but no more than forty-five (45) days from its appointment. Should the committee recommend removal, 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, accompanied by the findings of the trial committee and any statement of reasonable length that the accused may wish to present in his defense. Ballots to be considered valid and countable shall be returned within thirty (30) days of their first mailing to the members. Should less than one-third (1/3) of the votes cast be for removal, the costs of the mailing shall be borne by the petitioners; otherwise, said 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. A three-fourths(3/4) affirmative vote shall be required to remove a Director.

Mr. Sacks suggested changing "disciplinary" to "removal" in the first line: accepted by the makers. It was suggested that this be made a new section, beginning with the sentence "Directors may be removed for cause.", with the corresponding sentence deleted from Article VI, Section 3: accepted by the makers. Mr. Hillis stated that the second paragraph is legally required. Mr. Sacks proposed inserting after "first-class mail" the words "(airmail in the case of members living on a continent other than that of mailing)": accepted by the makers. The Yalow-Hillis amendment was then added to the draft Constitution as amended, without objection; it constitutes a new Section 4 of Article VI.

(Reverting to the original Article VI, Section 3:) "The first Board of Directors...." and all subsequent sentences to be treated as a proviso: no objection. The Secretary pointed out a conflict with Section 12 (which was resolved when the latter was reached). The question was raised whether Convention Committees could change their representatives: the Chair said probably yes.

Article VI, Section 4 - The Chair suggested deleting the first clause from the last sentence, to read: "No more than one-half of the Director selected at any Business Meeting may reside in the same Site-Selection Region......" (removing the limit on non-North American Directors): accepted. MS to require that Directors have been members of the Society for the previous three years; modified at Mr. Massoglia's suggestion, to add to the third sentence ", nor who has been a member of the Society for less than three of the preceding four years": accepted without objection.

Article VI, Section 5 - MS (Mr. Bestler) to add after the first sentence: "The manner of nominations and elections shall be specified by a Standing Rule of order.": no objection. MS (Mr. Sacks) that one of the four Directors chosen each year after initial adoption be chosen by mail ballot: passed 11-9. [No wording for this was specified. The Secretary suggests omitting "at Business Meetings of the Society" from the first sentence and changing the last sentence to "In each year thereafter, three Directors shall be elected by the Business Meeting, and one Director by mail ballot, for three-year terms. The Business Meeting shall fill existing vacancies for partial terms as may be required."]

Article VI, Sections 6 ff. - Stated by Mr. Hillis to be largely legal boilerplate.

Article VI, Section 7 - A proposal to change "any place" in the last line to "any reasonable place" was accepted.

MS (Mr. Yalow) to recess for five minutes: passed by voice vote at 10:50 A.M. The meeting was called to order again at 11:00 A.M.

Article VI, Section 7 - MS (Mr. Sacks) to change "three" to "six" at the end of the second line: passed by voice vote.

Article VI, Section 8 - MS to replace the last sentence by: "No business shall be transacted at any special meeting of the Board except that specified in the notice of the meeting.": passed by voice vote.

Article VI, Section 9 Optional.

Article VI, Section 11 Statement of law.

Article VI, Section 12 The conflict with Section 3 was resolved by changing the wording to: "Any vacancy of an elected Director occurring on the Board ... of that seat. Any vacancy of an appointed Director occurring on the Board shall be filled by the Convention Committee having the right of appointment.": accepted.

After consideration of Article VI was completed the following motion was submitted by Lawrence W. Propp and Craig Miller:

MOVED, to recommit the remainder of the draft Constitution, from Article VII to the end of the draft, to a newly formed committee to consist of Bob Hillis, Larry Smith, Donald Eastlake, Larry Propp, Craig Miller, a representative of the Baltimore in '83 committee, a representative of the Australia in '83 committee, and such other members as the Chair may appoint. Said committee shall consider additions, corrections, and revisions to said document, and may, at its election, submit a revised draft, but shall in no event make any changes to Articles I to VI as approved by the Noreascon II Business Meetings.

Mr. Sacks asked that a representative of Scandinavia in '83 be added to the committee: no objection. The makers added the name of Bruce Miller as a representative of Denvention Two. The previous question was called, and the motion as amended passed overwhelmingly (many-2).

MS (Mr. Hillis) to commend the podium staffs passed by voice vote. Final adjournment took place at 11:21 A.M.

[For reference, the following sections of the draft Constitution have been altered from the text printed in Progress Report 4: "Article III"; Article IV, Sections 3, 4, 6; Article V, Sections 2, 5, 6, 7; Article VI, Sections 3 (with a new Section 4 split off), 4, 5, 7, 8, 12; Article XII, Section 6 .The citations at the end of the Saturday meeting are the only changes that appear out of order.]

According to the attendance lists and the minutes, the following people attended one or more sessions of the Business Meeting (the list is probably incomplete, since some motions were made by people whose names do not appear on the attendance list): Cliff Amos, Clifton Amsbury, B. Shirley Avery, Chip Bestler, Mederick Black, Kent Bloom, Jane Boster, Brian Burley, Larry Carmody, Suzanne Carnival, Mike Chaim, Karen Chapdelaine, Sheila G. D'Ammassa, Genny Dazzo, Scott Dennis, Martin Deutsch, Mary Ann Donahue, Donald Eastlake, Jill Eastlake, Dani Eder, Louis Epstein, Gary Keith Feldbaum, George Flynn, Rick Gellman, Mike Glyer, Roger Gregory, Carey Handfield, David Hastie, Stuart C. Hellinger, Jack Heneghan, Robert L. Hillis, Keith Hufford, Robin Johnson, Rick Katze, Gail S. Kaufman, Mike Kennedy, Donald Kingsbury, Mike Lalor, Stephen Larue, Joseph Lattin, Paula A. Lieberman, Robert G. Lovell, Katherine MacLean, Marty Massoglia, Sean McCoy, Ginny McNitt, Craig Miller, Julanne B. Ochs, Frank Olbris, Mark L. Olson, Mark Owings, Beth Pointer, Lawrence W. Propp, Alan Rachlin, Neil Rest, Bob Roehm, Lawrence A. Ruh, Louise Sachter, Robert E. Sacks, Laurence C. Smith, Victoria A. Smith, Lee Smoire, Erwin S. Strauss, Don C. Thompson,, Bjorn Vermo, Bill Wagner, Mike Walsh, Carl West, Lew Wolkoff, Benjamin M. Yalow. These minutes will be sent to all attendees at the Business Meeting and to all persons who submitted business.

The following amendments to the draft Constitution were submitted in writing by Robert E. Sacks and Gregory Costikyan, but not reached:

MOVED, to insert in Article VIII, Section 2. the words "Treasurer, Secretary," after the words "except for".
MOVED, to delete from Article X, Section 7, the words ", who shall be a Director of the Society.".

These proposals are passed on to the new drafting committee.

[In accordance with the Business Meeting's wish that changes in the current WSFS Constitution adopted at Seacon be incorporated into the draft Constitution, the Secretary makes the following recommendations: Article I, Section 4, while it could be added to Article IV, would most logically go as a new section of Article XII; the current text of Article III (Sections 1, 2, 3 and 5 of which were altered at Seacon) should be that used in the opening sections of Article XII. Presumably the one amendment ratified at Noreascon II (item 1) should also be incorporated in Article XII.]

Respectfully submitted,
George Flynn, Secretary
October 14-18, 1980