(Approved, December 28, 1978 in replacement of the 1965 Constitution; amended December 28, 1985; amended December 28, 2003; amended December 28, 2008; amended January 5, 2018; amended January 7, 2019; amended October 13, 2023)
ARTICLE I — Purpose
The purpose of the Charles S. Peirce Society shall be to encourage study of and communication about the work of Charles S. Peirce and its ongoing influence in the many fields of intellectual endeavor to which he contributed.
ARTICLE II — Members, Fellows, and Subscribing Institutions
Any person agreeing to the purpose of the Society will be admitted to membership and shall continue as a member while annual dues are paid. Dues may be waived for graduate students and others for whom paying dues may present a hardship. Each individual member shall have one vote in all business meetings and mail or email ballots of the Society at large, and members will be eligible to apply for funding according to the guidelines set by the Executive Committee (see Article IX).
Any association, center, or institute agreeing to the purpose of the Society may be admitted to non-voting membership at a special annual rate.
Some membership options may include a subscription to the Society’s journal, the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, other membership options may not. Annual dues shall be fixed by vote of the Society at the annual business meeting or by email ballot on recommendation of the Executive Committee. Different categories of membership may be established by the Executive Committee and will be listed in the Society’s publications and calls for dues.
A Fellow of the Charles S. Peirce Society is any living person who has served a term of office as President of the Society. Because of their past experience in encouraging the goals of the Society, Fellows may additionally serve in advisory capacities, or otherwise assist current officers of the Society in ways that may be established by the Executive Committee, the current President, or the Society at large.
Institutions such as libraries and colleges may subscribe to the Society’s journal at an institutional rate or support its mission in other ways that shall be recognized, but may not be members and may not vote.
ARTICLE III — Officers
The officers shall be a President, Vice President, and Executive Director, in the order of seniority. The Vice President and the Executive Director will be elected at the appropriate annual business meeting of the Society by a simple majority of members present and voting. The outgoing Vice President will automatically become the new President. The outgoing President will automatically become an ex officio member of the Executive Committee for one year. Between annual meetings of the Society, a vacancy occurring in the Presidency shall be automatically filled by the next senior officer. Such a vacancy in any other elected office shall be filled by a member appointed by the President, and confirmed by a majority vote of the Executive Committee. The President and Vice President shall hold office for one year, the Executive Director for three years, renewable. Terms of office for newly elected officers begin with adjournment of the meeting of their election, and terminate at adjournment of the last business meeting of their term.
The President shall be the senior officer and will be responsible for the general administration of the affairs of the Society. The President will preside at all business meetings of the Society or its Executive Committee. The President shall present an address at the annual meeting of the Society.
The Vice President shall assume the duties of the President whenever the latter, for any reason, is unable to fulfill them. The Vice President shall be the parliamentarian of the Society in the absence of the Executive Director, and shall preside the program portion of the annual meeting.
The Executive Director shall keep a current list of members of the Society for purposes of officially establishing membership status when required for any reason. The Executive Director will make a record of both program and business meetings of the Society, and will see to it that these records are promptly recorded in the Society’s minutes. The Executive Director will be in charge of managing and certifying the results of all ballots of the Society, either at meetings or by mail or email. The Executive Director will be the parliamentarian of the Society. The Executive Director and the Editor(s) of the journal will be jointly responsible for receiving and depositing all funds incoming to the Society, including all membership dues, subscription fees, or other monies paid the Society for any purpose whatsoever. The Society’s treasury, except for subscription fees, shall be maintained in an interest-bearing bank account in the name of the Society. The Executive Director will also execute all payments and disbursements from the treasury when such are authorized by the Executive Committee or the Society at large. The Executive Director will keep a written record of all financial activities pertinent to the treasury of the Society, and will give a financial report at the Society’s annual business meeting. The Editor(s) will give a similar report concerning the journal’s financial affairs. These reports will be promptly recorded in the Society’s minutes. These minutes shall be published in the Society’s journal and on the Society’s website.
ARTICLE IV — Executive Committee
The Executive Committee shall be composed of the President, the Vice President, the Executive Director, the most recent Fellow of the Charles S. Peirce Society, the Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s journal, the Society’s webmaster, and three members of the Society, one elected each year, to serve a three-year term. In conducting its affairs, the Executive Committee will routinely inform and consult with the president of the Charles S. Peirce Foundation, the director of the Peirce Edition Project, and the chairs of committees as appropriate.
The Executive Committee shall meet at such times and places as it may determine, or at special meetings called by the President. In the interim period between annual meetings of the Society, the Executive Committee shall conduct all matters normally required to administer the affairs of the Society, except for elections of officers. The Executive Committee may conduct its business by any means of communication. The Executive Committee will supervise the treasury and will not permit expenditures in excess of funds available. With the President as chairperson, the Executive Committee may serve as the program committee for either program or business meetings of the Society. It will arrange all meetings of the Society and will require an announcement of their time and place to be conveyed to all members well in advance of Society meetings.
ARTICLE V — Other Committees
In consultation with the Executive Committee, the President shall appoint a Nominating Committee, composed of three members of the Society one of whom shall be a Society Fellow not serving on the Executive Committee, to present nominees in accordance with election procedures given in Article VII. The term of office of this committee will expire at the conclusion of the election in question.
There shall be a standing Outreach Committee the chair of which will be the Webmaster and Outreach Officer and the other members of which will be the President, Executive Director, and the Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s journal. The Outreach Committee will be responsible for updating and maintaining any and all social media accounts of the Society. It will produce an email bulletin biannually for the purpose of communicating information about the activities of the Society, recent scholarship related to Peirce, and any other news that might be pertinent to advancing the purpose of the Society as stated in Article I. The Society’s official website shall provide, at a minimum, regularly updated information about the composition of the Society’s Executive Committee, the list of Fellows of the Society, membership conditions, subscription to the Society’s journal, annual meeting and essay contest announcements, and a copy of the constitution. Annual meeting minutes shall also be posted on the Society’s website.
In consultation with the Executive Committee, the President may appoint such ad hoc committees as may be required to conduct the affairs of the Society.
Status as a committee member may be discontinued by a 2/3 majority vote of the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VI — Meetings
An annual meeting of the Society, consisting of a program meeting and a business meeting, shall be held at a time and place determined by the Executive Committee. At least one month prior to the annual meeting, the Executive Director shall send each member a notice of it, including a list of presentations to be given in the program meeting and an agenda of the business meeting. This information shall also be posted on the Society’s website. Special program meetings may be called by the Executive Committee. Members seeking the Society’s official sponsorship for a meeting they organize must apply to the Executive Committee. The programs of special and sponsored meetings may be posted on the Society’s website.
A mail or email ballot on any issue coming before the Society will be initiated upon request by five or more members present at the business meeting.
ARTICLE VII — Elections
Elections of officers and other members of the Executive Committee shall normally be conducted in the following manner. In consultation with the Executive Committee, the President shall appoint a Nominating Committee. The chairperson of the Nominating Committee will report its nominations to the President, Vice-President, and Executive Director. The Executive Director shall announce the nominated persons no fewer than four weeks prior to the annual business meeting. Any member of the Society, by petition addressed to the Executive Director, may nominate additional persons for any elected office if these persons have given their prior consent. Persons not members of the Society may not hold office. Nominations shall close two weeks prior to the annual business meeting. Upon close of nominations, the Executive Director will circulate an electronic ballot to members of the Society. The election of officers will be settled by a simple majority of members voting within one week of circulation of the ballot, and in case of a tie, by the President. The Executive Director incumbent at the start of the election will certify the results of the election, announce them at the annual business meeting, and cause them to be published both in the Society’s journal and on the Society’s website.
ARTICLE VIII — Journal
The Society publishes a journal known as the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy. The scope of the journal incorporates the purpose of the Society as given in Article I above. The Editor(s) will have control of the contents of the journal consistent with the purpose of the Society. The Editor(s) may appoint such editorial consultants as are needed to ensure high standards of scholarship for articles accepted for publication. The journal will publish such official notices of the Society as the Executive Committee may require from time to time.
Editors of the journal shall be members of the Society who are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Society, acting through its Executive Committee by 2/3 majority vote. In performance of this function, the Executive Committee shall consult the Fellows of the Society.
The title page of the journal shall include the journal’s name, the fact that it is published by the Society, a list of the present officers of the Society, the present Editor(s), the current editorial consultants, the Fellows of the Society, a recognition of Frederick Harold Young as Founder of the Society, a statement of purpose which will be Article I above, a list of sustaining members and institutions (space permitting), and information concerning membership and subscription.
ARTICLE IX — Support for Peirce Scholarship
In accordance with the purpose set forth in Article I, the Society shall endeavor to support scholarship on Peirce. Each calendar year, the Executive Committee will allocate as much money as is prudent for the support of scholarship. The monies shall be distributed first for the essay contest and second for the further support of Peirce scholarship.
The Society shall organize each year an essay contest intended to encourage graduate students and recent Ph.D. degree holders to submit a high-quality research paper on any aspect of Charles S. Peirce’s work. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the timely mailing of flyers announcing the contest, for setting the submission deadline, for circulating blind submissions to the jury, and for tallying the votes of the jury. The jury shall consist of all available members of the Executive Committee except the Executive Director, and may include Society Fellows. The essay contest winner shall receive a monetary prize the amount of which is set by the Executive Committee, shall be invited to present the essay at the annual meeting of the Society, and shall be allowed to submit it for publication in the Society’s journal. The Executive Committee shall set the contest rules and may decide not to make an award in any given year.
The Executive Committee may use any remaining money budgeted for Peirce scholarship for funding projects organized internally by the Executive Committee to promote Peirce scholarship, such as a conference organized by the Executive Committee, or (non-exclusively) for projects by members of the Society relating to Peirce Scholarship, such as presentations at conferences. The latter shall be funded only through a successful application procedure, provided that (i) availability of funds is made publicly known on the Society’s website and in a letter or email to Society members and (ii) any monies awarded be awarded according to a fair and transparent process. The details of the process shall be set forth in guidelines made available on the Society’s website.
Persons requesting funds must be current members of the Society at the time the funding application is received. The Executive Committee is debarred from using any Society funds to directly support any of their own scholarship. This does not debar Executive Committee members from presenting work at a conference funded by the Society and it does not debar reimbursement of Executive Committee members for expenses they personally incur expressly for Society functions and efforts.
ARTICLE X — Archives of Records
Records pertaining to the Society’s history, business, deliberations, and activities shall be collected and preserved physically in an archival depository the location of which shall be decided by the Executive Committee. The Executive Director will be responsible for collecting current records, while the other officers, members of the Executive Committee, Fellows, and committee chairs are expected to provide copies of their own records in suitable format. Preservation and cataloging of the archives will be the responsibility of the host institution. Access to the archives will be granted with or without restrictions to any person who applies for it in writing only after the Executive Committee’s approval has been secured and its terms communicated to the host institution. Access to sensitive materials such as correspondence dealing with matters of persons will be restricted. Such items as the Society’s constitution and its amendments, meeting minutes, committee reports, business correspondence, contracts, members’ petitions, financial records, programs of meetings organized in the name of the Society, Peirce Contest essays, ought to be deposited, preferably in original form, in the archives.
ARTICLE XI — Amendments
Amendments to this constitution may be proposed by the Executive Committee, or by petition of any five members. Motions to amend shall be circulated among the membership at least six weeks prior to the annual business meeting. Friendly amendments to these motions may be submitted either by mail or email to the Executive Director before the business meeting or at the meeting itself. Amendments shall be adopted by a majority vote at the annual business meeting, unless a mail or email ballot is requested. In the latter case, a majority of those members replying within one month of the ballot mailing shall decide the issue. No further amendments may be proposed between the time a motion to vote is approved and the completion of that vote. Amendments will be rejected in case of a tie.
The Charles S. Peirce Society 