Board Meeting, Minutes - May 16th, 2010

Chippewa Valley Civil Liberties Union

Board Meeting Minutes for May 16, 2010

David Rice office, Eau Claire

Present: Myron Buchholz, Shu Cheng, Ann Heywood, Mildred Larson, Nicholas Passell, Dan Perkins, David Rice, Stephanie Turner.

Absent: Eleanor Wolf (notified).

1. David called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m.

2. The minutes were accepted as previously emailed.

3. Nick distributed the treasurer’s report with a balance of $955.67 at RCU, the same balance as reported in March.

4. Five items—follow-ups from the previous meeting—were added to the agenda.

5. Ann reported that she has not yet turned over the CVCLU historical records to the UW-EC library. Colleen McFarland, archivist, is leaving the university, but she sent Ann a new contact person there.

6. Ann reported that no one from our chapter attended the last state board meeting.

7. Stephanie reported on ACLU Student Alliance (in)activity at the university. She still intends to meet with Collin Hawkins, who is graduating, and hopes to see two continuing students work for an ACLU-SA next year. We discussed several issues, hoping to help think of something that would engage students. Shu brought up that there is discussion of a prayer or meditation room in the new student center, but that may not be a controversial cause.

8. David will talk to Bess Arneson at the public library soon about a late September Banned Books Program.

9. Ann promises to ask state about getting CVCLU membership information soon. Nick added the suggestion that if we cannot get email information, perhaps state could send out any missives we might have to our members.

10. Myron reported that Kaia Simon-Power will be leaving the Eau Claire school district and thus not able to participate in our panel at the October 7-8 NWEA Convention. Rebecca Neville English teacher, has agreed to do so instead, along with Pam Gardow, librarian. Pam has the proposal form which needs to be submitted near the end of this month. We discussed how to find two more panelists to give broader perspective and appeal. We suggest contacting the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English for names of people in other districts who could help. David suggested Rob Kuchta, science teacher at Chi Hi, might be helpful since science teachers often have evolution/creation issues challenged. Myron will contact Kuchta.

11. We discussed two national and local issues. First, the Supreme Court has now issued an opinion in the Salazar v. Buono case. The Court ruled that the cross on a private “island” in the Mojave Desert is Constitutional. (Subsequently, the cross has been stolen.) Might we now expect the Chippew Falls Building and Grounds Committee to resolve the Zunker Memorial case? So far we have heard of no actions. Mildred and Ann will seek advice from Larry DuPuis, state ACLU legal counsel, before we consider for further action.

12. Second, we discussed the new legislation pertaining to Indian logos for Wisconsin schools. We will see what happens when complaints are filed with the Department of Public Instruction.

13. David called again for ideas for our annual meeting. Since we want something election related, we focused on the new campaign finance situation following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Citizens United. David will ask Chris Ahmuty, ACLU-WI executive director, to be the main speaker on this topic. By October we should have a much more complete picture of how corporate financing is working. Mildred also suggested that David contact Jeralyn Wendelberger to speak since she is Wisconsin’s representative on the national ACLU board. That board has recently refined its position on campaign financing after many years of discussion and debate. If Chris agrees to speak, David will ask him for suitable dates and then ask about reserving a room at the Unitarian Church or the public library.

14. The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., July 11, at David’s office.

15. The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.