Regent's Report
February 1996
Kevin Langdon, P.O. Box 795, Berkeley, CA 94701; (510) 524-0345; [old e-mail address].
Sharp-eyed readers of Vidya will have noticed that we have had a change. Cyd Bergdorf has resigned as Regent for personal reasons and I have been appointed by the Executive Committee to this position until new officers are elected.
According to the TNS Constitution, ``The Regent shall be a part of the democratic and collegial processes, not superior to them.'' I intend to honor both the letter and spirit of the Constitution, to be available to members of TNS, and to work with other interested members to solve the problems facing the society. We have already made a start in this direction. I will outline some of the issues before us below.
I would like to make one other pledge to the membership. I will absolutely not indulge in the kind of rah-rah boosterism that makes me want to puke when others do it. I assume that others choose to maintain membership in TNS for their own reasons and don't need cheerleading or to be herded into participation in various ``worthy causes.''
Results of Voting on Motions
The following motions have been approved through recent votes of the Executive Committee:
KL motion #95-9, November 8 ExCom Memo, page 17:
Passage of a motion shall require a majority of votes cast; a quorum shall be defined as four votes cast on a motion.
KL motion #96-1, January ExCom Memo, page 2:
The Executive Committee shall assume as a body the duties of Loren Harris' position as Member-at-Large.
(Loren resigned recently because of a death in his family.)
KL motion #96-2, January ExCom Memo, page 3:
A call for statements of candidacy shall be published in the earliest available issue of Vidya, with a postmark deadline 30 days from the postmark date of that issue. This issue shall also contain proposals for Constitutional amendments, including those I proposed in the last ExCom memo (with certain technical modifications) and any others anyone reading this memo cares to submit, with petition forms to formally place them on the ballot. The forms shall contain a box to check for each amendment supported, so that members may support any amendment or any combination of amendments they wish without the need for multiple petition forms. Members shall be asked to fill in the form and send it to the Editor, who shall determine which amendments have received the signatures of the square root of the membership and are thus eligible for the ballot. The following issue of Vidya shall contain the statements of candidacy, comments on the proposed amendments, and a ballot. The postmark deadline shall be 30 days from the postmark date of this second issue.
KL motion #96-3, January ExCom Memo, page 6:
An advertisement for TNS shall be published in the (American) Mensa Bulletin, to run three times at two-month intervals, with the following wording:
Triple Nine Society. The only democratically-organized society at the 99.9th percentile. Journal approximately monthly. $20/ year. Partial list of qualifying scores: Cattell Verbal, 173; LAIT, 150; Mega, 24; SAT, 1470; write for brochure. Contact Membership Officer, Jacquelinne White, [address omitted]. Not affiliated with Mensa.
(Financial Officer John Cooper will make arrangements for publication of this ad.)
Bob Kopp's motion #1, contained in his memo of January 5, included in the January ExCom Memo, page 16:
Kevin Langdon is appointed Regent, to serve until a Regent is chosen by vote of the membership in the 1996 election.
Bob Kopp's motion #2, contained in the same memo:
The following statement by the Triple Nine Society Executive Committee shall be published in Vidya:
The Triple Nine Society regrets the negative characterization of Kent Shultz by former Editor Clint Williams in the context of the publication of Mr. Shultz' essay, ``The Mind of the Molester,'' in Vidya.
(This statement represents a compromise between members of the Committee who supported a stronger statement and others who did not feel that an apology was appropriate.)
All seven members of the ExCom voted. (There are currently two vacancies on the Committee.) All the motions passed unanimously, except Langdon #96-2, the election procedures motion (Kerry Williams voted no, with an explanation indicating that he objected to a single combined petition form), and Kopp #2, the apology motion (John Cooper and Kerry Williams voted no).
I will report the results of all motions voted on by the Executive Committee in my Regent's Reports during my term as Regent.
Psychometrics Committee
It has been quite a few years since the Psychometrics Committee determined which tests are accepted for admission to TNS and the cutoff score on each test accepted. Since then, some tests have been retired, new tests have appeared, and it has become apparent that there are some errors in our qualifying scores (e.g., we recently lowered our qualifying score on the SAT).
A new Psychometrics Committee is badly needed. If you have a background in psychometric statistics and are willing to do some research into the statistical meaning of scores on the tests we accept, please consider volunteering to serve on this committee. If you are interested, please write to me, including a statement regarding your credentials in this field.
TNS Web Page
As many of you probably noticed, Bob Kopp has indicated an interest in setting up a TNS page on the World Wide Web. Laura Lansberry has written to me for the ExCom Memo, also indicating an interest in this project. I would like to establish a TNS Web Page Committee. Anyone interested in this project should contact either Bob [contact info omitted] or Laura [contact info omitted].
1997 Annual Meeting
An announcement will be made soon about the 1996 Annual Meeting in October. We hope for a little more lead time next year. Therefore, I would like to request bids from local groups that would like to organize a meeting in October 1997.
ExCom Memo
Any member interested in participating actively in the organizational affairs of TNS may write to me and be placed on the mailing list for the monthly Executive Committee Memo. I anticipate publishing the next ExCom Memo in mid-March. Submissions for that memo should be by e-mail (preferred; [old e-mail address]), or as hard copy, with margins of at least one inch, to P.O. Box 795, Berkeley, CA 94701.
[>] [May 1996]