From: ellie@usenix.ORG (Ellie Young)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Summary of USENIX Board of Directors Meeting
Keywords: USENIX, Board Meeting
Date: 9 Jan 93 23:30:57 GMT
Organization: Usenix Association Office, Berkeley


Board Meeting Summary

by Ellie Young
Executive Director

Below is a summary of the actions taken at the regular quarterly 
meeting of the USENIX Board of Directors held in Berkeley, CA on 
October 24 and 25, 1992.

Attendance: Rick Adams, Eric Allman, Tom Christiansen, Lori Grob,
Steve Johnson, Kirk McKusick, Evi Nemeth,  Mike O'Dell, 
Barry Shein, Ellie Young, Judy DesHarnais


Budget, Funding, and Fee Proposals

Budget.  Young explained that while a small deficit had been budgeted for 
1992,  current projections revealed a substantial net.  She said that 
while she would like to have a better way to predict the budget more 
accurately, the major factor affecting the predictions is the difficulty 
in correctly estimating attendance at the smaller conferences.  A discussion 
ensued regarding conference and workshop attendance, ways to save in expenses, 
and factors that effect variable vs. fixed expenses. 

O'Dell expressed concern that membership was flat.  Shein felt this could 
be linked to lower conference attendance.  Grob stressed the need to think 
about promotion, to have some goals concerning membership growth, and to 
use the database to extract information.  Allman volunteered to take a
look at the technical issues concerning the database.   

Young explained that the 1993 preliminary draft budget contained 
conservative estimates for attendance at the conferences.   Johnson went 
through the details and assumptions made  on the cover report.  It was 
decided to create a general promotional line item in the budget 
of $20,000 to be overseen by the promotion committee. Young reported 
that the SAGE interim board had approved its budget.

Standards IR and Snitch Editor. The IR search committee had agreed 
on a candidate to replace Collinson and recommended Jeff Haemer as 
the next Institutional Representative.  Funding for snitch and 
IR activities was approved.

ISO Monitor Representative. Walli resigned from his post of ISO Monitor 
to USENIX/EurOpen because of his work schedule. The proposal
for funding would be discussed by both organizations in the future.

Student Stipends.  It was agreed to increase the amount for workshops 
from $15,000 to $20,000 for 1993.

USACO Proposal. It was agreed to allocate $3,000 to fund the
International Computing Olympiad (USACO) in order to foster
computing at the pre-college level.

Membership Dues.  It was agreed to raise corporate member dues by $25 to $325.  

Conference Fees.  It was decided to raise conference fees after January, 
1993, as follows:
1 day of tutorials	$275
2 days of tutorials	$495
3 days tech sessions    $295
2 days of tech sessions $275

Student fees would remain the same. 

motd.  It was decided to replace the current motd conference newsletter
at the San Diego conference, with a one page schedule of events.

Honorary Member

It was agreed to make Lou Katz, one of the Association's founders and 
president for many years, an honorary lifetime member.   

SAGE Report

Christiansen reported that most of the SAGE board attended the
LISA conference; that 12 candidates came forward for 6 slots in the upcoming
elections; and that there was a very successful candidate's forum.
It was suggested that for the SAGE budget the items for Board Travel, 
Awards and Other be combined into a Misc. Other item and the value be 
set to $5,000,  with the incoming SAGE board being able to allocate 
these funds as they see fit.

Special Technical Group (STG) Document Committee Report

Johnson reported that the committee had made revisions to the STG 
portion of the document, but the Local Technical Group portion needed to 
worked on. Allman and Johnson volunteered to work on a proposal 
regarding the vote by email clauses in the USENIX Bylaws. 

C++ Conference.  It was reported that while attendance was somewhat
less than the previous year's event, interest remained high.  Young was 
beginning plans for having another one in Spring '94 with Doug Lea
as program chair, and more promotion of this event would be needed.

Security Symposium.  Young and DesHarnais reported that interest and 
technical content of the meeting was high.  Ed DeHart did an excellent 
job as chair. Young was discussing with him plans for another event 
next year, and  Bill Cheswick was interested in serving as program chair. 

SANS II.  It was agreed that SAGE/USENIX would co-sponsor (with FedUNIX)
the Spring '93 Conference on Tools & Techniques for System 
Adminiatration, Networking and Security per the enclosed proposal. 

Site Selection for Summer '97.  It was decided that we should investigate 
holding it in Chicago.

Mobile Computing Workshop Proposal.  Shein explained that the 
attached proposal from Geer was a great topic, and it was approved.

Network Administration Workshop Proposal.   It was felt that while 
the proposal from Chapman was  an interesting topic, there were 
concerns that it might effect the LISA conference in November.  
It was suggested that the proposal be discussed further with the 
newly elected SAGE board.

Awards 

O'Dell brought a sample of the glass sculpture, which would be the 
first USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize and celebrate 
singular contributions to the UNIX community in both intellectual
achievement and service that are not recognized in any other forum.
The committee would be making a proposal for the first award, and
it would be presented at the Winter Conference.

UniForum, EurOpen & Cooperation with Other Groups

UniForum.  Johnson explained that he and Young had been contacted by 
Mike Tilson,  who is on their board and was a former director of USENIX. 
UniForum's board would like to have closer cooperation with USENIX.  
We would explore the possibility of perhaps holding an event alongside 
the UniForum Conference in the future, as well as cooperating in 
educational and standards activities.

EurOpen.  It was agreed that we don't want a hierarchical relationship 
with the national groups of EurOpen, and that we might be able to
assist them by providing tutorials and publications, and that
we should look for specific opportunities and proposals in the future.

SUG.  It was decided that USENIX is interested in discussing the 
possibility of making SUG an STG associated with USENIX, as there are 
some areas that we might have some synergy. Several of the Board and 
Executive Director would discuss this with SUG, and possibly make a 
proposal in the future.

Policies

It was decided to:  1) eliminate default complimentary registration 
for speakers, with the program chair being allowed to comp a registration
on a by-request basis for events with anticipated attendance of over 300;
and 2) increase the office's petty cash fund account limit to $6,000.

Revised STG/SAGE Resolution

Nemeth said that paragraph 4 of the the resolution passed at the 
previous meeting need to be changed as follows:

4.  That the USENIX Association will administer an election for the SAGE
board of directors.  Nominations for that board will close at noon on
Thursday, October 22.  All members of records on November 11 are eligible
to vote. The new board will take office January 1, 1993.  The board will
consist of 7 members:  the past president and 6 elected directors.  In 
the first year, 3 members will be elected for 2-year terms (top 3 vote
getters), and 3 members elected for 1-year terms (next 3 vote getters).
Subsequent elections will turn over only 3 members of the board each
year.  

Other Business

Johnson felt we need to do something about NT. Grob said she has been 
actively trying to get someone to give a tutorial at the next 
Microkernels symposium.  Grob took on an action item to increase NT 
awareness and involvement in USENIX.   Grob also suggested that we 
consider offering spouse and family memberships, and Young would 
make a proposal.

BSD/USL  

After discussion, it was decided to send the following letter regarding 
the USL/UCB lawsuit:

October 25, 1992

Roel Pieper
UNIX System Laboratories
190 River Road
Summit, NJ  07901

Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien
200 California Hall
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720

Dear Mr. Pieper and Chancellor Tien:

The USENIX Association's membership has been saddened and concerned by 
the USL/UCB lawsuit.  We would like to offer any help we can to assist
in resolving this matter in a way that removes the chilling and divisive
influence this suit has had on our community.

Since the UNIX operating system has been widely distributed to 
universities, we believe it is essential that USL, universities, and 
students clearly agree on the extent to which exposure to the UNIX
system in the classroom compromises students in their later professional work.

While the court process may eventually lead to such a resolution, we are
concerned that the extended time scale will be chilling at a time when 
UNIX vendors must forge relationships to respond to new market forces.  
There is significant risk that the legal process will not fully explore 
the technical issues, and/or be influenced by legal technicalities that
will not satisfy the legitimate needs of the parties.

Perhaps USL and UCB could enter into a technical mediation process to
clarify and explore possible remedies.  We would like to offer
our assistance in any way that you would find helpful.  For example, we 
could serve on, or help to organize, a committee of technical experts 
that might help both sides resolve this issue.  The role model for 
cooperative resolution of differences between two of the premier 
organizations in the UNIX arena could only strengthen our industry at a 
critical time.

We stand ready to assist you, and would urge you to move towards a quick and 
equitable resolution of this matter.

Sincerely,

Stephen C. Johnson
President

cc: Marshall Kirk McKusick, CSRG
     Dennis Ritchie, AT&T Bell Laboratories
     David Hodges, Dean of CCEE, UCB
     Joseph Cerny, Provost for Research, UCB 

Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix