Columbia University Science Fantasy Society

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Columbia University Science Fantasy Society /
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In 1966 Columbia University student Fred Lerner placed a classified advertisement in the Columbia Daily Spectator to see if anyone was interested in starting a science fiction club. The resulting Columbia University Science Fantasy Society (CUSFS pronounced "cuss-fuss") came into existence on 15 April 1966, and elected Lerner to the post of Grand Marshall. The names of the two other officers (Petit Marshall and Seneschal) have been lost to history. Two past graduates of Columbia, Asimov and Silverberg, were given the title of Honorary Director.

(CUSFS was one of the few examples in the history of Fandom where an SF club was the parent organization of a mundane one. The Outing Club Committee of CUSFS was established to use CUSFS's official status with Columbia University to allow the formation of an outdoors-oriented Outing Club, which circumvented university regulations that required a proposed organization to adopt a constitution and elect officers, but did not allow it to meet on university premises until it had achieved official recognition. Once the Outing Club gained university recognition as an independent organization, the CUSFS Outing Club Committee disbanded.)

Soon after Lerner's graduation in June 1966, CUSFS ceased operation. It was followed by FSFSCU.

See Fandom at Columbia for a history of Columbia's various clubs.


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