Motivation

About 5 years ago, ACM asked me as SIGCSE Chair for permission to post the SIGCSE Bylaws on the Web. I noted several problems:

• ACM did not seem to have a current copy that reflected changes approved by the SIGCSE membership in 2001. Altogether there was an apparent version control problem.
• A few parts of SIGCSE Bylaws were outdated.

Membership Dues and Voting

Through part of the 1990s, ACM required SIGCSE members to also be members of ACM. SIGCSE-only membership was possible, but at a disadvantage:

• SIGCSE-only membership (e.g., $25) was subject to a surcharge
  (1/3 of ACM's membership: 1/3 of $99 or $33)
• The surcharge would more than double SIGCSE-only membership.
• The total vote of non-ACM members in SIGCSE elections was not allowed to exceed 50% of the total votes cast.
  (If 500 SIGCSE-only members and 250 ACM/SIGCSE members voted in an election, then a SIGCSE-only member vote would count only 1/2.)

I thought this situation was simply unacceptable. ACM had changed its policy regarding ACM membership, the SIGCSE membership dues policy had changed immediate, but the bylaws had not changed. I started the process to work with ACM to change the bylaws ASAP.

created 6 March 2009 last revised 6 March 2009

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