The World Science Fiction Society

Minutes of the Business Meeting 1982
Preliminary Business Meeting 1, Friday

[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?]

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 and 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 texts of those motions that were printed in full in the Chicon IV Program Book will be cited here only by reference.

Friday. Sept, 3, 1982

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.

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. 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.

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.

  -- 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 (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).]

  (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 (Program Book, p. 99), 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.

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. 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 (Program Book, p. 111), to mandate the use of an Awards Subcommittee to administer the Hugos. -- MS (Rick Katze) to object to consideration: over 2/3 against consideration.

• ITEM 12 (Program Book, p. 101), to eliminate the Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo -- 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 (Program Book, p. 101), to eliminate the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo. - MS (Craig Miller) to object to consideration: over 2/3 opposed to consideration.

• ITEM 15 (Program Book, p, 101), to restrict site-selection voting to Attending members of the current Worldcon. -- 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 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.

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.