Proposed Constitution of the Mega Society

Chris Cole and Kevin Langdon

Published in Noesis #146, November 1999

Article I. Name, Purpose, Official Address

1. The name of this organization is “The Mega Society.”

2. The Mega Society is an organization of people who have scored at the one-in-a-million level on a test of general intelligence which is credibly claimed by its authors to be able to discriminate at this level. The Society exists to facilitate interaction among its members and to assist them in gaining access to resources to accomplish their individual purposes.

3. The name of the Mega Society’s official journal is Noesis.

4. For legal purposes, the address of the society is that of the Administrator.

Article II. Admission Standards

1. All present and former members of the Mega Society as of the date of ratification of this Constitution are presumed to have qualified for Mega membership.

2. Members shall be admitted to the society upon presentation of proof of performance at the required level on one of the tests accepted for admission purposes.

3. Tests accepted for Mega membership and the scores accepted on them shall be established or changed only by a vote of the membership, as described in Article IV below, except that the officers of Mega may suspend acceptance of any test they believe to have been compromised, by majority vote, for a maximum of six months. This action shall be announced to the membership in the first issue of Noesis published after the action is taken and a ballot on whether to make the action permanent shall appear in the following issue. In order to suspend admissions on a test which has been the subject of a suspension within the preceding three years, all the officers who voted against the previous suspension and are still members of the Society must agree, even if they are no longer officers at the time of the second vote of the officers on suspension of acceptance of that test.

Article III. Officers

1. The officers of the Mega Society are enumerated in the following sections of Article III. All officers must be members of the Society.

2. The Editor(s) shall prepare Noesis for publication and send the camera-ready copy to the Publisher. If there is more than one Editor, the Publisher shall schedule which issues of Noesis are to be produced by which Editors.

3. The Publisher shall print and mail Noesis to members and subscribers, maintain the mailing list of members and subscribers, and collect subscription fees. The Publisher may waive the dues of members who present a claim of indigence.

4. The Administrator shall receive all applications for membership, evaluating them according to the standards enacted by the membership, and notify the Publisher of the admission of each new member. The Publisher shall send one free issue of Noesis to each new member. The Administrator shall receive ballots in all elections and handle them as specified in Article IV.

5. The Internet Officer shall coordinate Mega Society Web pages, electronic mailing lists, and other Internet activity.

6. Dues and subscription fees shall be established and changed by majority vote of the officers. The officers sall be responsible for ensuring that the society remains solvent and that member funds in excess of six months’ operating expenses of the Society, at current levels, not be retained.

7. All officers shall have the right to inspect documentation of the Society maintained by other officers, including ballots, membership applications, and subscription lists. Otherwise, this information shall be kept confidential, except for periodic publication of a roster of members and subscribers, subject to the privacy restrictions of Article V, Section 2.

8. The powers and duties of the officers shall be solely as defined in this Constitution. In particular, no officer may claim to speak for or represent any member of the Society or the Society as a whole. Each officer shall be bound by all the provisions of this Constitution and all propositions enacted by the membership.

Article IV. Elections

1. An election for officers for the next calendar year shall be held each year, with a call for candidates in the September issue of Noesis.

2. If there is no candidate for a postion, the current office holder shall be automatically elected for another year.

3. If a vacancy should occur during the year, a call for candidates shall be published in the next issue of Noesis. Statements of candidacy shall be published in the issue following the call for candidates, comments on the candidates by members and a ballot in the next issue, and announcement of the results of balloting in the following issue. The officers, by majority vote, may appoint a temporary officer to serve until the results of balloting are known.

4. Any member may propose that the Mega Society take a particular action, or refrain from some type of action. Arguments for and against the proposition shall be published, along with a ballot, in the issue of Noesis following the call for a vote. All sides of every issue shall be given sufficient space in Noesis to be fully and fairly presented.

5. A proposition shall be enacted if it receives a majority of the votes on that proposition on valid ballots, except for the specific propositions requiring a two-thirds vote listed later in this Article. Each officer shall be bound by all propositions enacted by the membership.

6. Any member may call for the recall of any officer at any time. The officer shall be entitled to up to four pages to present a defense in the issue following the call for a recall election, which shall also contain a ballot; each member shall be entitled to one page to present his or her views for or against the recall.

7. Any member may call for the expulsion of any other member at any time. An expulsion vote shall be held only if after the call for expulsion has been seconded by another member. The member whose expulsion is proposed shall be entitled to up to eight pages to present a defense in the issue following the appearance of the second to the call for expulsion (which may be the same issue in which the original call appears), which shall also contain a ballot, and every member shall be entitled to present up to two pages for or against the expulsion. Expulsion of a member shall require two-thirds of the votes cast on the expulsion. The member whose expulsion is proposed shall be allowed to vote in the expulsion election.

8. Any member may propose an amendment to this Constitution at any time. Arguments for and against the amendment, and a ballot, shall be published in the issue following that with the call for a vote on the amendment. Ratification of an amendment shall require two-thirds of the votes cast on the amendment.

9. All ballots shall be sent to the Administrator, who will tally them and report the results to the Editor for publication in the next issue of Noesis. Members must be allowed at least 30 days from the postmark date of one issue before the deadline for receipt of responses. The individual ballots shall be kept secret, except that the Administrator shall retain the ballots for at least one year and make them available to the other officers if asked.

10. A member’s failure to vote on, or ballot marked invalidly for, a particular office or proposition shall not invalidate his or her vote on any other office or proposition on the same ballot.

11. When there is more than one alternative initiative or amendment on the same subject or more than two candidates for an office to be voted on (other than Editor), voting shall be preferential. On the first tally the first-place votes shall be counted. If no candidate or alternative has a majority the candidate(s) or alternative(s) with the lowest total shall be eliminated and votes for that candidate shall be distributed to the remaining candidates or alternatives according to second-place votes for that office or proposal, and so on. This shall continue until only one candidate or alternative is left or there is a tie. Ties shall be broken by means of a second round of balloting.

12. When there is more than one candidate for Editor, members shall vote “yes” or “no” on each candidate. All candidates who receive a majority of votes cast for or against that candidate shall be elected. If no candidate receives a majority of “yes” votes, the candidate with the greatest number of “yes” votes shall be elected Editor.

Article V. Member Rights

1. All members of the Mega Society shall have the right to vote, run for office, and participate in the affairs of the society.

2. All members shall have the right to confidentiality in officers’ handling of their postal and e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, test scores, requests for dues waivers, and ballots in society elections. When a roster is published, each member shall have the option of being listed c/o the Publisher, who will forward communications from other members on request.

3. Except as provided in Article III, Section 7, and Article V, Section 2, all records of the society shall be made available to any member on request.

4. Members’ rights may not be abrogated, nor shall they be lost even if not fully exercised, nor may these rights be surrendered or bargained away, nor may anyone be permitted to violate these rights. The society shall act promptly and diligently to protect and defend the rights of members.