Kevin Standlee reminded members last night of an action taken at Aussiecon 4 -- the one that had the effect of preventing Cheryl Morgan from serving on the Hugo Awards Marketing Committee, of which she'd been the leading member. This was a vote of the Mark Protection Committee, of which said Marketing Committee is a subcommittee. The 14-member MPC meeting in Melbourne suffered somewhat reduced attendence; four regulars couldn't make it to Aussiecon 4. And then one member (Scott Dennis) left the meeting early.
So, a temporary five-member majority were then able to call the shots, and passed the resolution in question: MPC 2010-1: Members of the Mark Protection Committee and any of its subcommittees must agree to decline nomination for a Hugo Award presented in a year following a year in which that person served in whole or in part. Thus worded, the policy applied to exactly one person, Cheryl Morgan; the Marketing Committee was thus deprived of her talents. If you are going to Renovation, you have a chance to address this matter, by attending Friday morning's WSFS Main Business Meeting, 10 AM in Convention Center Room A02 -- because that is when Mark Protection Committee's members will be voted. Two incumbent members are expected to be renominated: Mark Olson Stephen Boucher Both were among the five who voted (in effect) to unseat Cheryl. If you think the above-cited policy was inappropriate, please consider attending the Main Business Meeting, and voting for someone other than Mr. Olson and Mr. Boucher. Also of relevance is a new resolution I just spotted on the WSFS Business Meeting's agenda: Short Title: MPC Eligibility Rules Resolved: That the Mark Protection Committee is hereby instructed that it may not adopt membership eligibility requirements for itself or any of its subcommitteees that are more stringent than those imposed by the WSFS Constitution; and Resolved: That any eligibility requirements previously adopted by the MPC affecting itselfor any of its subcommittees are declared void. Proposed by: Johnny Carruthers Membership #S584 Chris Barkley Membership #A3386 COMMENTARY: Somewhat after the fact, I read about certain actions that the MPC took last year at Aussiecon 4. My initial reaction on reading about those actions was that the actions taken were clear and blatant violations of both Section 3.12 of the WSFS Constitution and Standing Rul 7.6. The intent of this resolution is to reverse the violations, and to ensure that similar actions do not take place in the future. If passed by the voters, this resolution would also need to be approved at Chicon 7 in 2012, before it could take effect. _______________________________________________ Basfa mailing list Basfa@lists.basfa.org http://lists.basfa.org/listinfo.cgi/basfa-basfa.org
