Board Meeting, Minutes - December 6th, 2015

Chippewa Valley Civil Liberties Union

Board Meeting Minutes for December 6, 2015

Herrick and Hart Law Office, 116 Grand Ave., Eau Claire

Present: Lindsey Brandrup, Ann Heywood (recording), Mildred Larson, David Rice, David Shih, Sara Thielen, Stephanie Turner (presiding), Paul Wagner

Absent: Myron Buchholz, Marni Kaiser, Dr. Mahmoud Taman

1. Stephanie called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.

2. The minutes of the September 20, 2015, meeting were approved as emailed.

3. David reported income since our September meeting of $903 from reservations at our fundraising dinner and a donation; and debits of $650.82 for our fall expenses (Local Store rental, sexton at UUC and Houligans ($583.82). Balance on hand is $5.01 in savings and $868.68 in checking. He has not received a bill for the newsletter or postage. The report was approved.

4. The state board report was distributed and was previously also emailed to the board. It included a reminder to vote in the upcoming state board election and a progress report on state level goals in order to give the board a broader idea of the work of the ACLU. Mildred added information about events at a Mt. Horeb school, where a parent objected to the reading of I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Hennings, an elementary level book with a transgender character. The publicity brought a big counter action when supportive parents lined up to meet the author who came to read the book. We also discussed the question of whether the ACLU might get involved in the problem of our local Planned Parenthood clinic losing its lease at the end of February. A new site has been long sought but not yet found.

5. We discussed the good and the could-be-better aspects of our annual event. The Houligans site was pleasant and efficient for the dinner. Trying to move to the UUC for the annual meeting was cumbersome. Should we have the meeting start at 7:00 p.m. instead of 6:45? Should we have the meal catered at the UUC and not have to move? Mildred pointed out that we need to have plenty of hard copies of the minutes and the ballots. An overhead projection or hard copy of the program is also important to advise our audience who the panelists are and what is the order of business/presentation. The order of presentations this year was planned but not really followed when the panelists chose their seats. The panelists should go to the podium for their initial presentations. We heard mostly very positive responses to the panel presentation, but the order did throw off the narrative effect.

6. Mildred shared notes from the meetings at UWEC among Chris Ahmuty, Stephanie, Mildred, Selika Ducksworth, Debra Barker, and Ari Anand. There were lots of issues dealing with racial profiling, structural racism, police pressures, and much more on campus. David Shih and Lindsey Brandrup followed up with more observations about life on campus and at Memorial. This whole big topic we should revisit at the next meeting.

7. Elections were not on the agenda, so we need to elect a president next time. Paul will chair the meeting. We thanked Stephanie for her years of service, outstanding projects she made happen, and excellent letters she composed when needed.

8. The next meeting will be January 10, 6:30, at the same Herrick and Hart office.

9. The meeting adjourned about 8:15 p.m.