Board Meeting, Minutes - February 11th, 2018

MINUTES

CVCLU Board Meeting. February 11, 2018, 5:30 pm

Unitarian Universalist Church, 421 South Farwell St., Eau Claire, Seekers Room

Board members present: Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, Paul Wagner, Teresa O’Halloran, Ann Heywood, Mohammed Alasagherin, Mildred Larson, Lindsey Brandrup

Board members absent: David Shih, Kailee Berg, Anna Leffel, John Wiltrout

The meeting was called to order at 5:37 PM

1. The board discussed the minutes of its 1/7/18 meeting. Teresa will send those minutes to the board via email, and board members will review and email any edits to Teresa.

2. Ann presented the treasurer’s report, which included a $134.35 charge for the website fee. The checking account balance is $815.39.

3. Selika presented her report from the state board meeting of February 10, 2018.

· They will focus on the following major issues this year

o Prison Industrial Complex

o Prisoner’s Rights (e.g., Lincoln Hills)

o Resist Governmental Intrusion (e.g., Stop and Frisk)

o Criminal Justice Reform

o Voting

o Immigration

· They want to step up recruitment, fundraising, education, engagement, communication, and development

· They would like to increase online presence, including from our chapter (e.g., Twitter/FaceBook/blogs/Instagram)

· They discussed the letter written by the state ACLU legal department to Eau Claire City Council regarding breastfeeding at meetings. They would like our chapter to monitor the situation.

4. The board discussed old business.

· Lindsey reported that Nazish Khan had agreed to be nominated as a student representative to the board. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton moved that Nazish Khan be appointed to the board as a student representative, and Mildred seconded. The motion passed.

· Ann reported that Charlie Huff will meet with us to discuss the Menomonie school district diversity policy. Mohammed said he had heard that the eighth grade teacher said there would be no Muslim speaker and that possibly a Bahai speaker would be invited.

· The Martin Luther King Day table at the St. James church event was well attended. Paul reported that five people signed up for our local portion of state email list. Selika reported that the programs at the event were stuffed with ACLU literature including “Let People Vote” and the membership flyer/envelope (485 people attended and 300 programs were distributed)

· The board discussed the need for new tabling materials

o Mildred will continue to keep the materials

o Mildred will see how many of each item we have

o The board would like to have a supply of the bookmarks, the white cards that say how to contact the ACLU (and the student version), and the Let People Vote cards

· Ann reported that she has completed the transfer of our records to UW-Eau Claire archives.

· The board discussed how to archive board activities that are mentioned in local media. It is a Secretary job. Teresa will send links to Paul.

· Selika reported that she will be reaching out to political science and history classes about interest in a student alliance. Selika has been in touch with Emilio, who will visit to help organize after student contacts are identified.

5. The board discussed new business.

· Ann reported that she had received a request for assistance from a man in Washburn whose daughter is in custody case. The judge asked the father (the caller’s former son-in-law), about his religion, a question that should not be relevant and which seemed to put the grandfather’s daughter at a disadvantage, even though she told the judge she attends the same church sometimes. Ann wrote to Larry Dupuis and Larry responded that he knew of nothing in custody guidelines that would make the judge’s question proper, but that custody is complicated. The man may pursue by going to the ACLU-WI website or contacting the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It seems unlikely at this point that the ACLU would take the case.

· The board discussed the state ACLU letter regarding City Council Member Catherine Emmanuelle and the issue of breastfeeding on the council dais. Mildred said she’d like to see the letter and get any talking points from state. Ann will write to State ACLU staff to ask for a copy of the letter to Eau Claire city council. Other board members echoed the desire to be informed of upper level happenings or corollary happenings when they concern situations in our chapter.

· The board discussed what process we should follow when asked by local reporters or others seeking information to speak on behalf of ACLU. We will typically refer to chapter President, who will then be able to comment or refer to or attempt to contact state ACLU.

· The board discussed plans for the joint ACLU/Uniting Bridges public panel on the issue of school resource officers. Selika will contact Molly Collins to recommend an expert on school to prison pipelines. The event will take place one of the first two Mondays in March. ECASD will do printed posters, and will send a district email, CVCLU can send a membership email with enough notice.

Announcements

· Selika will be a panelist for the screening of the 13^th movie on 2/27 in conjunction with Jonah.

· CVCLU will co-host/co-sponsor the Uniting Bridges Juneteenth event

· Civil Liberties conference coming up in April at UW-Stout.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:47 pm