In November 2000, American Mensa joined an organization called the Service Clubs Leadership Conference1 (SCLC). From that meeting onward, your dues money has been spent to send at least three Mensa delegates to annual SCLC meetings. Each year the AMC Chairman and the Executive Director of American Mensa have been among them. Mensa's association with the SCLC has largely been presented to the Mensa membership as a networking opportunity to share ideas about member recruitment and retention. The fact is, American Mensa has no real common ground with the other members of SCLC and should not be a part of SCLC. Information on SCLC as an organization is somewhat scarce. Various sources report between 15 and 30 member clubs. One definite list is given in press releases from November and December 2000 about an event on November 17th of that year. That list has 21 member clubs ranging alphabetically from Altrusa International to Zonta International. In between are more familiar names that include Kiwanis, Lions Clubs, Optimist, and National Exchange. Nineteen of these clubs have a cause, that of community service. This cause is expressed in various ways. Many clubs have a single area of focus, such as brain injury (Pilot) or visual impairment (Lions). Some of the clubs have an explicit political outreach or goal. This category includes the National Exchange Club and Zonta.
Of the two remaining clubs in that list, Toastmasters has the single purpose of promoting effective oral communication. Service to its members, and by extension their employers, is the focus of this club.
Twenty of these clubs were founded between 1915 and 1935. The majority were founded by 1925. Several of them name early Kiwanis members as cofounders or inspirational figures in their histories. A significant number accept members by invitation only, with any other criteria for that acceptance left open. This tends to filter out prospects who don't "fit the mold."
Twenty of 21 have service as part of their charter. These are organizations founded upon and driven by the concept of service.
The final member is American Mensa, Limited. Mensa's International Constitution states: "Mensa's purposes are to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research in the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members." Though the promotion of intelligence is a stated goal, it is not presented or executed as a service project. In practice here in the United States, we are, first and foremost, a social club. Our criteria for membership are objective and unambiguous. A score at or above the 98th percentile on a recognized intelligence test, pay your dues, and welcome!
So we are left with a question: what common ground do we have with the other members of SCLC? The answer is almost nothing. All of the SCLC clubs have members and charge dues, but that is hardly common ground. We have different reasons for being from all the other SCLC members. We enjoy the diversity of background, experience, and ideas of our mold-defying members.
At about the time American Mensa joined SCLC, the ongoing push by certain American Mensa Committee members to recast Mensa as a service club began, spearheaded by then-chairman Bob Beatty. The truth is, service is not why Mensa exists, nor should it be. There are plenty of clubs that serve that purpose, and I have no quarrel with them. There are few clubs that exist to provide a social outlet for intelligent people, many of whom have no other opportunity for social interaction with their mental peers. Mensa is the most successful of all — why spoil it?
I have realized for some time that we have no business in SCLC. I did not realize the magnitude of the problem until I did some research for this article. The expenditure of thousands of dollars of dues money on an association that does Mensa no good is an issue. The money issue will loom larger this year since American Mensa is scheduled to host the 2003 SCLC annual meeting in Fort Worth. This has been undertaken without even the formality of an AMC vote to approve the action or its inevitable costs to Mensa, even though the city of Arlington, Texas, is doing a great amount of the work associated with a host city.
An even larger problem is the violation of Mensa's basic principles as a result of SCLC membership. Here is another quote from the Mensa Constitution: "Mensa encompasses members representing many points of view. Consequently, Mensa as an organization shall not express an opinion as being that of Mensa, take any political action other than the publication of the results of its investigations, or have any ideological, philosophical, political, or religious affiliations."
You may say, legitimately, that calling joining an umbrella group with politically and religiously motivated clubs a violation of this principle is stretching a point. The violation of Mensa was in no way ambiguous. It was very clear, and it occurred on November 17, 2000. The SCLC issued a proclamation during its annual meeting in a ceremony at the Carter Center in Atlanta. The proclamation was in support of a United Nations General Assembly resolution designating 2001 the "International Year of Volunteers." In part, that resolution called upon governments to promote and support volunteerism. The proclamation was nothing if not an opinion on a political question. Bob Beatty signed that proclamation, as chairman, on behalf of American Mensa.
That is the worst incident to date, but SCLC membership continues to do damage to the ideals of Mensa. On February 1, 2002, the president of Kiwanis wrote a letter to President Bush on behalf of the members of the SCLC. The letter applauded President Bush's call in his State of the Union address for all Americans to commit two years of their lives to service. It says, in part, "We encourage you to include our organizations in your call to service." Here again the issue is not volunteerism. Although indirect in this case, by virtue of being an SCLC member American Mensa has taken a political stand. American Mensa membership in the Service Club Leaders Conference has resulted in unwise expenditure of dues money and violation of Mensa's basic precepts. It has put Mensa in a position of having ideological, philosophical, and political affiliations. It is past time to leave this path and realign Mensa with its basic tenets. Service clubs have a valuable place in society that Mensa members, as individuals, may find satisfaction in exploring. Mensa has its own, and different, valuable place in society. I hope you will join me in calling on our leaders to do the right thing for Mensa and quit the SCLC without delay. Continued association with the SCLC is a disservice to Mensa. — Carl Howes
1 Some sources have referred to it as the Service Club Leadership Conference or Service Club Leaders Conference. The name cited in this article appears to be the correct one. Background Information (all links will open in a new window)
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