The World Science Fiction Society

Minutes of the Business Meeting 1982
AGENDA OF 1982 WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

[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?]

Proposed Changes in Standing Rules:

• ITEM 0.A (Program Book, P. 99, as "Item 0"), to limit the scope of the motion to object to consideration.
• 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.

Business Passed on from Denvention Two:

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:
  1. 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."
  2. Substitute "Hugo Awards" for all occurrences of "Hugos".
  3. Insert "(herinafter 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 (Program Book, p.99), 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.

  Cumulative Actions

  • 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.

  Recommendations to Chicon IV.

  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
     1. 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;
     2. 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
     3. 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:
     1. 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.
     2. The Standing Committee shall be responsible for registration and protection of the marks used by or under the authority of the Society.
     3. 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).]

• ITEM 7 (Program Book, p. 99), report of the WSFS Constitution Drafting Committee.

New Business Submitted to Chicon IV:

• ITEM 8 (Program Book pp. 99-101), to replace the Central and Eastern regions by Northern and Southern regions.
• ITEM 9 was the first of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category; the Cantor-Glicksohn motion to set up separate Fanzine and Semi-Professional Publication categories.
• ITEM 10 was the second of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category, the Santanos-Mitchell motion to eliminate the Fanzine Hugo category.
• ITEM 11 (Program Book, p. 111), to mandate the use of an Awards Subcommittee to administer the Hugos.
• ITEM 12 (Program Book, p. 101), to eliminate the Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo
• ITEM 13 (Program Book, p. 101), to eliminate the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo.
• ITEM 14 was the third of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category; the Epstein-Mann motion to divide the current Professional Editor and Fanzine categories into new Professional Magazine, Amateur Magazine, and Non-Periodical Editor categories.
• ITEM 15 (Program Book, p, 101), to restrict site-selection voting to Attending members of the current Worldcon.
• ITEM 16 was the fourth of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category, 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).]

• 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 was the fifth of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category, 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 toscience, 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 has been considerable debate and discussion in the past about the appropriate uses for these funds;
  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:
  
  1. Recognized fan charities, such as TAFF, DUFF, GUFF, TOFF and the FAAN Awards;
  2. Small, established regional conventions;
  3. Established national fan organizations, such as the NFFF and the Fantasy Artists Network;
  4. local fan organizations, especially IRS code 501(c)3-recognized not-for-profit organizations;
  5. Local Public libraries, for improvements to their science fiction collections;
  6. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates, for the production and/or sponsorship of science fiction programming.
• ITEM 21 was the sixth of six motions proposing changes in the Fanzine Hugo category, 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:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.