The World Science Fiction Society

Minutes of the Business Meeting 1982
Preliminary Business Meeting 2, Saturday

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.

Saturday, Sept. 4. 1982

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

• ITEM 20 (see above): default time limit, 20 minutes; not a Constitutional amendment, so could be given final passage today. -- MS (Robert Sacks) to refer the matter to counsel and have him report back next year. No objection to voting immediately: overwhelmingly against. -- MS (George Mitchell) to call the question: 23-20 in favor, thus defeated (less than 2/3). -- MS (Larry Ruh) to postpone to the main Business Meeting: overwhelmingly defeated. -- MS (Gary Farber) to divide the question into sections a to f: 17-17 on show of hands, defeated 19-25 on rising vote. -- Moved (Joseph Lattin) to delete sections a through d: no second. -- MS (Barry Newton) to add "g. The next year's Worldcon committee." Leslie Turek suggested amending this to "Activities at the next Worldcon": not accepted. However, an amendment to change the text to the plural ("Future Worldcon committees") was accepted. The amendment as amended was passed. -- MS (Mike Lowrey) to delete sections b, d, and e: passed 26-23. -- MS (Tony Lewis) to delete section a: overwhelmingly defeated. -- MS (Moshe Feder) to delete "and their local affiliates" in section f: defeated. -- MS (Genny Dazzo) to delete section f: defeated. -- MS (Marty Cantor) to call the question: passed overwhelmingly. The main motion as amended passed 29-16.

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

  1. recognized fan charities...;
  2. Established national fan organizations...;
  3. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates ...;
  4. Future Worldcon committees.]
• 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.)

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

• ITEM 23, submitted by Louis Epstein and Marla L. Tarzman:
  MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by altering Article II [sic], Section 5, as follows:
  Substitute "the planet Earth" for "North America".
  Add "on the continent of North America, the East Indies, Australia, and Asia, including all parts of Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Western region.
  Add "Antarctica, South America," to the beginning of the description of the Central region.
  Add "on the continent of North America, the West Indies, Africa, and Europe, including no part of Turkey or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" to the end of the description of the Eastern region.
  Add 'In the event of a Convention site outside of North America being selected, the Business Meeting may by three-quarters (3/4) majority vote elect to hold a Continental Convention to be held in the same year as the overseas World Science Fiction Convention in that part of the region whose turn it is that is on the continent of North America. Selection of the site of such Continental Convention may be by vote of the Business Meeting or be conducted by the incoming Convention Committee." to the end of the present text.
  and deleting Article II [sic] Section 6.

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

• ITEM 0.B (postponed from Friday - see p. 1), -- Default time limit, 20 minutes. The Chair ruled that the sentence "Bids for the NASFIC shall contain..." was out of order, as imposing a requirement not in the Constitution.. This ruling was appealed by Kent Bloom. MS (George Mitchell) to call the question on the appeal: no objection. The Chair’s ruling was sustained by a vote of 23-14. Kent Bloom then proposed amending "shall" to "should" in the same sentence: no objection. MS (Richard Russell) to change "Chairman" to "Presiding Officer" throughout, in conformity with the rest of the Standing Rules: no objections -- In response to an inquiry, the Chair gave his opinion that the procedure in this rule would be applicable only if the bidders failed to agree on an alternate procedure. -- MS (Gary Farber) to call the question: passed overwhelmingly. The proposed Standing Rule as amended passed 40-11, and is thus in effect.

• ITEM 7 (postponed from Friday: cf. pp. 4-5). -- Dalroy Ward, chairman of the committee, officially submitted the draft Constitution. As the result of a committee meeting on Friday afternoon, the following changes had been made from the text printed in Appendix A:
  1. Article IV, Section 6, changed to reads "DUES. Dues in the amount of ... paid to the Society by each World Science Fiction Convention on behalf of each member of the respective convention within ninety (90) days ..." (And delete "annual" in Art. IX, Sec. 6(f).)
  2. Article V, Section 6, change "Ten (10)" to "Twenty (20)" in first sentence.
  3. Article IX, Sections 5 and 6, change "franchise agreement (fee)" to "licensing agreement (fee)" throughout, and change "exclusive right" to "exclusive license" in Sec. 6(a) and (b).
  4. Article IX, Section 5, add ", including how it shall select its members" to the end of the first sentence in subsection (c) and delete the final sentence.
  5. Article IX, Section 6, add "or its assignee" after "bidding committee" or "convention committee" in the opening lines of subsections (a) to (h), and delete "victorious" in subsection (f).
  6. Article IX, Section 6(g), change "an independent accountant" to "a licensed independent accountant'.
  7. Article IX, Section 6(I), deleted.
  8. Article IX, Section 9, add "Except as otherwise provided," at the beginning of the text.
  9. Article XVI, Section 2, add "at which a quorum is present" at the end of the first sentence.

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

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

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

FANZINE-HUGO MOTIONS:

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

• ITEM 16, proposed by Richard S. Russell, Hank Luttrell, Diane M. Martin, Jeanne Gomoll and Janice M. Bogstad:
  MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:
  1. After Article II, Section 1, insert a new section:
     Each of the following categories shall have its own Hugo Award for outstanding achievement in the field of science fiction and fantasy during the previous calendar year.
  2. Amend Article II, Section 2, to read:
     Best Novel: A story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more appearing for the first time in English.. A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible in the year it was first issued in that language, provided such publication precedes the English-language publication. Publication date, or cover date ... [text as at present] ... of the series. An author may withdraw a version of her or his work from consideration if she or he feels that that version is not representative of what she or he wrote. The Convention Committee ....
     [In this and other sections, the motion as submitted by Mr. Russell included the full text of the section with all deleted language and new language indicated. In the interest of keeping these minutes within reasonable bounds, I am omitting as much of this apparatus as possible; the reader should of course consult the text of the present Constitution to see just what changes were proposed.]
  3. Amend Article II, Section 6 to read:
     Best Non-Fiction Book: Any non-fictional work appearing for the first time in book form.
  4. Amend Article II, Section 7 to read:
     Best Dramatic Presentation: Any dramatic presentation in any medium publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form. In the case of ...
  5. Reverse the order of Article II, Sections 8 and 9, and amend them to read:
     Best Professional Editor: The editor of any professional publication. A professional publication is one that had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.
     Best Professional Artist: An illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication.
  6. After Article II, Section 9, insert a new section:
     Best Semiprozine: Any generally available non-professional publication which meets at least. two of the following criteria (1) had an average press run of at least two thousand (2000) copies per issue, (2) had at least four (4) issues, (3) paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication, (4) provided at least half of the income of any one person, (5) had at least 15% of its total space occupied by advertising, (6) announced itself to be a semiprozine, and (7) had won at least three (3) previous Hugo Awards in any category,
  7. Amend Article II, Section 10, to read:
     Best Fanzine: Any generally available non-professional publication which does qualify as a semiprozine.
  8. Amend Article II Section 11, to read:
     Best Fan Writer: Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines or fanzines.
  9. Amend Article II, Section 12, to read:
     Best Fan Artist: An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in semiprozines or fanzines or through other public display. Any person whose name appears on the final Hugo Awards ballot ... eligible in the Fan Artist category for that year.
     
  [In general, I have stretched a point by including with the text of motions the explanations submitted by the makers at the same time. In this case, however, Mr Russell’s "notes" and "commentary" ran to over a page, which seems like too much to include here. I shall simply note that the above complex of proposals had four main purposes, which were subsequently divided: (a) to move the specification "in the field of science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year" from the definitions of the individual Hugo categories to a single prefatory section; (b) to reword the definition of eligibility for stories first appearing in foreign languages (paragraph 2, first part); (c) to change "he"/"his" to "she or he"/"her or his" (par 2, second part); (d) to separate the current Fanzine category into separate Semiprozine and Fanzine categories, distinguished by the criteria in par 6 (with both distinguished from professional publications by the criterion in par 5, and with appearances in either one qualifying one for the Fan Writer and Fan Artist awards).]
  Mr. Russell announced the following changes to the text as originally submitted: (1) in par 6, criterion 1, change "two thousand (2,000)" to "one thousand (1,000)"; (2) in par 6, delete criterion 7; (3) in par 7, restore the language "which has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year" from the current text: there was no objection to thesechanges. -- MS (Robert Sacks) to divide the question into three parts: Item16, the portions dealing with the Fanzine Hugo, and related matters; Item 16A, the rearrangement to put the SF/fantasy and previous-year criteria in a single section; Item 16B, the change of pronouns in par. 2: passed overwhelmingly. [when this motion was passed, nobody noticed the fourth purpose, the redefinition of non-Englsh-language eligibility; however, this omission was later remedied.] The residual Item 16 (the designations were mine) would be considered as part of the Fanzine-Hugo group, but Items 16A and 16B would come up at Item 16's original place in the agenda. Default time limit 6 minutes for both 16A and 16B; time limits were proposed of 1 minute for each, 2 minutes for each, and (Mr. Sacks) 10 minutes for Item 16A only. Item 16A: 10 minutes, overwhelmingly defeated; 6 minutes, defeated; 2 minutes, passed. Item 16B: 6 minutes, overwhelmingly defeated; 2 minutes, defeated; 1 minute, passed.

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

• ITEM 9 (Program Book, P. 101) the Cantor-Glicksohn motion to set up separate Fanzine and Semi-Professional Publication categories. -- Robert Sacks moved to amend this and other Fanzine-Hugo proposals as follows: wherever the words "in other than copies of the publication occur, insert the added text "or refreshments during and immediately after production meetings". MS to object to consideration of Mr. Sacks' motion: overwhelmingly against consideration.
• ITEM 19, submitted by Gary Farber and Craig Miller;
  MOVED, to amend Article II of the WSFS Constitution by adding the following new section:
  Best Semi-Professional Publication: Any generally available publication devoted 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.
  Moved to object to consideration: no second.
• ITEM 14 (Program Book, p, 101). the Epstein-Mann motion to divide the current Professional Editor and Fanzine categories into new Professional Magazine, Amateur Magazine, and Non-Periodical Editor categories.-- MS (Stephen St. Onge) to object to consideration: over 2/3 against consideration.
• ITEM 10 (Program Book, p. l0l), the Santanos-Mitchell motion to eliminate the Fanzine Hugo category. MS (Marty Cantor) to object to consideration: 8-19 against consideration, over 2/3.
• ITEM 21, submitted by Moshe Feder, Ted White, and Linda Bushyager:
  MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution by deleting Article II, Sections 10, 11 and 12.
  [I.e. to eliminate the Fanzine, Fan Writer and Fan Artist categories.] MS (Stephen St. Onge) to object to consideration: 14-18 against consideration, less than 2/3. -- MS (Mark Owings) to divide the Fan Artist category from the other provisions: defeated.

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

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