Arguments on the Business
Before the Society

Kevin Langdon

The Mega Society now has a choice regarding what kind of organizational structure we want as we go forward into the new millenium. There are obviously major differences among the alternatives that have been proposed.

I urge all of you to study the alternative constitution drafts that have been offered and also to consider the following:

The old Mega Society Bylaws are very cumbersome, clumsily drafted, and full of ambiguities. On the other hand, the brief set of rules proposed by Dr. Hoeflin leaves us with very little in the way of structure. This could be problematical in the case of a political dispute within the society and for our relationships with outside entities such as banks.

If the old Mega Bylaws and Dr. Hoeflin’s proposal are papa bear and mama bear, the proposed Constitution drafted by Chris Cole and me, through protracted negotiations to accommodate our slightly-differing views of democracy and personal freedom, is baby bear. It provides the necessary minimum of structure while reserving as much power as possible to the membership and containing strong protections for democratic decision-making and member rights.

Although my proposed editorial guideline was introduced at a time when there were far more irresponsible accusations flying around than is now the case, it still seems prudent to enact the proposal as a sensible protection against the use of the society’s journal by anyone to pursue an unanswerable campaign of vilification against another.

Although it’s hard to pin down the exact date when the Mega and Titan tests were compromised, it’s necessary to choose a definite cutoff date for acceptance of scores on the tests. The date chosen, December 31, 1994, is approximately right and it has the mnemonic advantage of dividing the early from the late 1990’s. There might be reasons to revisit the question of the cutoff date, but if we don’t vote to confirm the suspension of admission via these tests, we will have to admit anyone with a 43 or better on either test, regardless of the date taken, and we will have no protection from cheaters.