NEIUFEMINISTMAJORITYLEADERSHIPALLIANCE

Hi everyone- here are the minutes from our summer retreat planning session. Once again, thank you Maureen for having all of us!

Members Present:  Sophia, Ellen, Heather, Anne, Robin, Talia and Maureen
8-1-03

Meeting was called to order, one of the first things that we discussed was the upcoming chalk talk to be held September 23 outside of the Student Union (hopefully they will be finished with the construction).  The student Hispanic Heritage Month Committee had expressed interest in co-sponsoring the event and possibly bring a band along to play while we chalk it up.  We will also have an open mike for poetry readings, etc. (if band is not available)  Please plan to show up to this event and keep an eye out for great feminist slogans to chalk out on the sidewalks.

September 9 and 10 is the Student Organization Fair in Village Square, this is a great time to recruit new members and show people that the FMLA is ready for another active year.  We will be sending out an email sign up sheet for people to volunteer to sit at the tables for an hour or so on either of the days. (Tues and Wed I think) While we are on the subject of recruitment, we all decided to pair up and pick a day to go to all the Women's Studies classes and talk about the FMLA and pass around a list-serve sign up sheet- we are hoping that this will be a way to get some new members.

We reserved Golden Eagles for November 11 in the hopes of putting together some kind of panel and luncheon.  The Panel Topic that we all agreed on was something about how different cultures perceive feminism/enact feminism.  We are also hoping that we can use this panel as a recruiting opportunity and dispel some myths about feminism at the same time.  Sophia brought up concerns regarding the lack of many women of color in our organization, we have discussed this in the past and agreed we all want our organization to more closely resemble the student body, hopefully this panel will be a great way to make some connections with women of different backgrounds on campus.

Also on the agenda for this upcoming semester, we would like to hold as many fundraisers as we are allowed (I think 3?) each semester to earn enough $ to send FMLAers to Washington D.C. April 25th for a huge Reproductive Rights rally sponsored by NOW, Planned Parenthood and Feminist Majority.  We are thinking about renting a bus to get us all there and back.  Also, besides funding for the D.C. trip, the National Women's Studies Association annual convention is in Milwaukee this next summer and it would be great to fund as many people as possible who would like to present at the conference/just meet new people/listen to conference panels, etc.
We all brainstormed about fundraising activities because under the new Student Activity rules we don't just have to sell "home baked goods" anymore. yay!!!  get us out of the kitchen! Ellen brought up the fact that the events in Village square that seem to draw the biggest crowds are those with palm reading/face painting/ (fun interactive events) Talia and Heather suggested selling crafts/ornaments or having a car wash somewhere.  We are also able to sell subscriptions to Ms. Magazine but were wondering how people would buy it at our school.  Other ideas included a bingo night at a local bar in Andersonville, hosting some kind of NEIU idol karaoke contest, and a 50/50 raffle. Any suggestions?? please put them out on the listserve!

Some members who were not present emailed us with issues they would like the FMLA to address this year.  Tina Marie suggested that somehow the FMLA set up tutoring/support groups for women who are a little anxious about their math requirements.  All of us at the meeting agreed that our math classes were what we dreaded the most so far in our college experiences and that since so many people feel the same we should do something.  Just not sure exactly what, since all of us are anxious about math we wouldn't exactly be the best tutors....but we are going to contact the Math department and talk to them about our concerns and see if they can suggest any tutors/seminars for all students (don't want to exclude anyone) but these sessions will have a women friendly emphasis towards them, including exploring why so many women dread math.

Becca Raven Gilmore suggested that the FMLA help plan AIDS awareness month in December at NEIU and that we work on getting the AIDS quilt back to Northeastern for a week in December.  We all agreed that we definitely want to be part of the planning for these events.

Other ideas for activities for the fall semester included holding self-defense workshops, having a menstrual health table in Village Square, and also that November is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and that we should have some tables/speakers come in to educate NEIU about DV.

This meeting was starting to go a little long so we only planned out the fall semester's activites and goals.  One note about the Spring semester though, the FMLA film festival will be held in early January, this fall we need to form a committee fairly early to put together a budget, start asking professors to bring their classes (before they plan out their entire syllabi's) and figure out what films we want to show.  Also a suggestion was made last year that we work on getting some student films in the film festival if you or someone you know is working on a film that has something to do with a feminist issue please think about submitting it to the (as yet unformed) film festival committee.
If you would like to be part of planning for any of these events please email me (anniee8m@Msn.com) and I will contact you when we start working on them.  Also if you feel there are other issues that the fmla should work on at NEIU please let me/listserve know-

peace,
anne