Kevin Langdon, P.O. Box 795, Berkeley, CA 94701; May 16, 1992
To the Triple Nine Executive Committee:
I vote for the first alternative on the ExCom memo response sheet of March 25. It is time
we remerge with TNS' daughter societies and it is appropriate, in light of the ongoing
abuses of power by the ISPE leadership, to offer ISPE members a democratic alternative.
I have compiled a list of Minerva and Cincinnatus members. I have not compared this with
the recently published TNS roster, because Cyd tells me that many members have lapsed and
she has a new list which will allow us to tell exactly how many of the members of these
societies are not currently TNS members.
There are a little under 300 names on the combined Minerva and Cincinnatus list, of which
more than half will turn out to be of TNS members or former TNS members (the number of
current members will probably turn out to be around 100).
If many of these people were to see an issue of Vidya under Dennis Wilson's
editorship they would be likely to join or rejoin TNS. Therefore, I move that the Editor
be instructed to print enough extra copies of the next issue for Minerva and Cincinnatus
members who are not currently TNS members, and mail them to this list.
If this produces enough new or rejoining members to put our treasury on a firmer footing,
we can do the same thing for ISPE members, lapsed TNS members who are not members of any
of the other groups, and people who have made quali-fying scores on the LAIT (these lists
combined run to about 2000 people).
Doing a mailing of Vidya will not be terribly expensive and we don't need to
commit to mailing large numbers until we see how effective this approach is as a
recruiting method.
I have talked with Cyd about the need for revisions to the TNS Constitution. We agreed
that deliberations on this matter would be expedited by the formation of a Constitutional
Revisions Committee, and also that we must take care to include the membership in these
deliberations and not present them with a fait accompli, a la ISPE. I am willing to serve
on such a committee.
I am not crazy about the whole idea of life memberships. It puts us under an ongoing
financial obligation that could be difficult to meet in the future and husbanding life
members' funds could be a temptation if another Financial Officer with sticky fingers gets
elected. I do not want to have to collect on our bonding policy.
Therefore, I move that no further life memberships be sold.
I like the idea of advertising TNS in the Mensa Bulletin; I think it's more
cost-effective than the International Journal. And perhaps we could look into
advertising in the other major national Mensa journals (England, Canada, Australia, etc.).