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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-16-2012 Human Rights Commission49 Years of Advancing Equality 1963 -2012 AGENDA CITY OF IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION HELLING CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL October 16, 2012 6:00 P.M. 1. Call Meeting to Order/ Roll Call 2. Approval of Minutes from the following meeting: September 18, 2012 3. Public Comment of Items Not on the Agenda 4. Old Business: a. Human Rights Breakfast (October 30, 2012) b. World Human Rights Day Proclamation (December 10) (Packet Item) 5. Updates /Reports: a. Immigration Subcommittee b. Ad Hoc Diversity Committee c. Building Communities d. University of Iowa Center for Human Rights e. Commission I. Staff 6. Set Next Regular Meeting for November 20, 2012 at 6 p.m. 7. Adjourn The Iowa City Human Rights Commission meetings follow the Iowa City Community School District closings for inclement weather except for early dismissals for heat. Minutes Human Rights Commission September 18, 2012 — 6 P.M. Helling Conference Room Members Present: Members Excused: Staff Present: Others Present: Page 1 of 23 PRELIMINARY Harry Olmstead, Connie Goeb, Orville Townsend Sr., Dan Tallon, Kim Hanrahan, Shams Ghoneim. Diane Finnerty, Jessie Harper, Howard Cowen. Stefanie Bowers. Gregory Hamot. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Human Rights Commission meeting of September 18, 2012. Recommendations to Council: None. Call to Order: Chair Olmstead called the meeting to order at 18:00. Consideration of the Minutes of the August 21 2012 Meeting: Townsend moved to approve minutes, seconded by Ghoneim. Motion passed. 6 -0. New Business: a. University of Iowa Center for Human Rights GH: What am I exactly here to do for you today Harry and Stefanie? HO: Well we'd like some more information on what's going with the center and its future. GH: There will be an article tomorrow in the Press Citizen that describes a lot of this, which is serendipitous that it's going to be tomorrow after the meeting today because they just started to interview people two days ago. I was the last person to interview this afternoon. KH: I'm sorry I don't know who you are. GH: My name is Greg Hamot and I'm the Professor of Education at the University of Iowa and I'm the Director of the Center for Human Rights, at least at this point. A very brief overview of the history of the center might be helpful to start with because it will help you to understand where we are today. The center is an outgrowth of an event that took in 1998, actually 98 -99, which was what was called Global Focus `98 headed up by Burns Weston. I was on that committee with people from all over the University, all the colleges and all the schools had members on that committee. That committee was put together by Provost John Whitmore in order to celebrate the 50" anniversary of the signing on December 10, 1948 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you were around in 1998 you might remember that we brought in Lech Walesa, we brought in and Desmond Tutu as speakers. We brought in Page 2 of 23 many scholars from around the world who did small seminars with our students and community members and so on. It was a yearlong event. At the end of that yearlong event the four people who were very instrumental in the town gown combination of all of these ideas. Burns Weston, Gina K , which wasn't her name at the time. She got married since then to George and I can't remember what it used to be. She is in sponsored programs at the University, the grant office. Rex Honey from the Department of Geography, and Dorothy Paul who was a member of this Commission for a long time. Dorothy and these four decided well what are we going to do now? We've done this wonderful thing and what are we going to do now. They were adventurous enough and visionary enough to then decide to create a center, which literally was one desk in Rex's old office in the international programs building, which was the old law school that is now where the public health college is. We had a phone and a desk and we started the center. Burns wrote up the by -laws and we had a committee or an executive board, which we still do and Harry is a member of that board. A member from this Commission has been on that board for years, probably forever, is one of the standing seats on the board. We did a lot of tremendous things over the 13 years we were in existence, including a huge contract with the Department of Labor. It was called Child Labor Research Initiative. We helped subvent scholarly books and articles. We had book readings and article readings that were offered to the university community for the last ten or eleven years now. We've done One Community One Book, which used to be called all Johnson County Reads. One Community One Book is a book that centers on a human rights issue. We try to shoot for a non - fiction, and this Sunday the author of this year's book will be presenting at 5:00. The name of the book is Late Homecomer, and she is from Minneapolis but she is Hmong. It's about the Hmong community and their diaspora. It's a pretty good book. We now have a certificate program for undergraduates that we design, this is the third year and we have about 75 students enrolled. Harry has the flyer if you want to come and see her talk. It's in the packet and if you want to come Sunday. It's usually about an hour long and you can ask questions afterwards. We usually have a nice crowd. If you're not familiar with One Community One Book it's done throughout Johnson County, so we have libraries in North Liberty and Hills, and all the librarians participate. They have about 21 discussion groups during the course of the fall and then we bring the author in. We have the Cmiel Internship Program, Ken Cmiel Professor of History at the University of Iowa who passed suddenly and unfortunately for us about six years ago, was a director of the center and a scholar in human rights history. We named an award after him for an internship program in the summer where we send students, both undergraduate and graduate to all parts of the world to work with _ on human rights issues. There is the Weston Internship, which is sponsored by Burns Weston and it's always a law student who will work with an advocacy group like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. So we send them to London, New York and places like that over the summer. We have our own internal internship program for undergraduates and graduates, about ten interns a year who help run our Careers for Change Program which brings in people from all over the country to talk about different careers in human rights, or human rights related activities. We have always brought in for instance the world food prize recipient from Des Moines the week that they are here to give a talk, and have a sponsored lunch for them. I'm probably leaving some things out Harry. The Burns Weston Essay Contest, which is for all three Regent's Universities on both the undergraduate and graduate level. There are monetary prizes and we put together peer review boards from our board members and faculty members to read these papers and decide the winners. There are lots of other things we do that are ad hoc such as, maybe a better way to say it as spur of the moment such as community forums on for instance two years ago we did the right to health care during the great health care debate in Congress. We did Islamaphobia a few years ago. So we do things of that nature. All of this will be coming to an end at the end of this fiscal year on June 30, 2013 as the university has deemed that unworthy of financial support. Consequently as you probably well know being involved in human rights as much as you are our only option was to become self - supporting, and in order to be self - supporting you need to be able Page 3 of 23 to get grants and find people with lots of money who want to endow your center. There aren't a lot of people who want to do either of those two things because human rights is not unfortunately a big ticket item for the United States government right now, as far as funding is concerned, nor does it appeal to anyone in the universities wider community of donors. One would think with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State that we would have had a fighting chance, but it's just a monetary issue. If we were to do human rights activities that are funded there are things like creating schools in Ghana and we don't do that kind of work being a university. I mean literally you put in the proposal how many planks of wood you need and how many PVC pipes you'll need, you build the school. We just can't do those kinds of things. The Child Labor Research Initiative was something that we got from the Department of Labor almost at the dawn of the center, and we're using the last of that million plus dollar contract this year to pay salaries. That was designed for us to develop the first ever digital database on child labor laws and abuses in key nations across the world that Congress was giving foreign aid to. So that when a foreign aid to a certain country would come up they'd be able to go to our database and say here's what your laws are and here is what you're doing. You need to straighten these things out before the American public gets their large _, give you their tax dollars to improve your condition. That's what generated that project, but there was, I was editor of a curriculum for middle school and high school students that went online worldwide as part of that project. We wrote a book as part of that project. There were many seminars that shot off of that as part of that project. That kind of money is not available anymore. DT: What was your budget prior to or? GH: The center does everything I just mentioned and more that I haven't mentioned because Ijust can't remember it all with three half -time staff members and a graduate assistant. The budget is between programing monies to do all this and salaries are $150,000 a year. HO: I don't think you mentioned Human Rights Certificate Programing. GH: I did mention that, but I didn't mention the Human Rights Index that we publish in the Iowa Review every edition. It's kind of like the one what is it the Atlantic Monthly. It's modeled after one of the other big named journals or magazines in the country where they have an index in the front cover, where you read what is the update on that particular concept. So it's about $130,000 for salaries and benefits and about $20,000 to support the activities. DT: What is the future of some of your programs? GH: Well here is what happened. When we started it and we never did have huge financial backing from anything other than the grant, the contracts that we had in grants. The provost on three year increments agreed to support the center if we could find self - funding, and about four years ago that was stopped. So through fund raising efforts and donations I was able to keep the place open to pay the salaries and international programs, which is part of the Provost Office subvented in part the program monies, but we just don't have anything left after this year. DT: What programs do you do now will continue? GH: The Certificate Program will continue in the College of Education where I reside with my appointment and I'll be directing it. Our dean has been gracious enough to take it in. The College of Law will take the Cmiel Internship. I'm sure the Weston Internship because that's from the College of Law. That's all that has been taken. Page 4 of 23 DT: Will the One Community One Book continue? GH: That will die yeah unless someone picks it up. As Harry knows from being on the board we had a suggestion from one of the Associate Provosts, not the one in charge of International Programs, to come up for a vision for the center, kind of a five year prospectus and to present it to key deans at the University who would be involved in issues of human rights like the College of Law, the College of Public Health, the College of Education, the Associate Vice President for Diversity Georgina Dodge, who I'm sure you are all familiar with. The Associate Provost for Continuing Education, and the Associate Provost for International Programs. Burns and I presented this to them and they were just not interested in supporting the center. So we did the best we could internally to get some kind of support, but at this point we are going to close on June 30". OT: That _ that you mentioned about child laws and things like that, that seems like a real _ of something to have access to. Is anybody going to pick that up and take it over? GH: Do you remember the tomado a few years ago? That actually destroyed the server on which all that data were contained, and if you remember that was about six or seven years ago, and we didn't have the kind of security for these things we have today. We had no backups and it got lost as a result, so no one will pick that up. Quite frankly you know it's a decision the University has to make based on its own finances. We are not like most centers in the country. They are attached mainly to law colleges, but they are very focused on just human rights law. We didn't want that and Burns didn't want that and the others who started it. We wanted something that was more cross collegiate and cross disciplinary because you deal with human rights in medicine and dentistry, in pharmacology and education and all the liberal arts. It's not something that is a concept that fits in a discipline, all the disciplines fit in a concept you see. That's how we envisioned it, but it never was able to become self - generating. SG: Since regrettably the University vision has been altered, is there any possibility that the center become like others in the country under the law school? GH: Burns has requested from Dean A_ has sent a proposal to do so. Her response has been at this point and time they can't afford it is basically her response. SG: Do you really feel and maybe that's not a good question to ask. But do you feel that $150,000 is such a hardship for the University or the law school? I have to ask that question because to me it's just like... GH: You're recording this aren't you. SG: That's fine. GH: It's a drop in the bucket. It's the north end zone for one football game. DT: How does the Certificate Program compare with other Certificate Programs in terms of like enrollment and things like that? GH: It's smaller, on campus or nationwide? DT: The Human Rights Certificate Program compared with like the philanthropy certificate program or the non - profit certificate program. Page 5 of 23 GH: We're going to be bigger than most of those because students are attracted, I mean they have 75 students in less than three years, two years plus _. It's pretty popular and that's why it's worth maintaining as best we can. There was an idea at one time of trying to put as much of it online as possible if not make the whole version of it online because then you can accrue revenue from those courses. But it's very hard to get people to do that at our university and most universities. The professors are set in their ways and so we never were able to get enough, large enough and fast enough to beat this rush to close it down. Maybe in the future that's something, I mean I know my dean wants to explore doing it because we were looking for worldwide audience. We weren't just looking for Iowa students or people from Iowa. We were looking for people from all over the world to be a part of this, and down the road in that five year prospectus that we wrote, we included things like you know having particular areas where if you were a nurse in Switzerland in Lucerne you can get a Human Rights Certificate with a nursing focus. If you're a doctor in Bali you can get one with a medical focus, and we would have this menu that would be constructed, but that takes time to develop that. It takes a commitment to vision as Reverend Al Sharpen wants to quote from scripture, "without a vision people the people perish." I think this goes back to your question to be honest with you other than the bottom line. SG: But really to me I'm trying to be optimistic here and grasp at anything because I'm so for the center to keep going. If say the College of Education under the current leadership, which apparently quite supportive, has the opportunity or the time or the resources, how long would it take them to have sort of like that virtual center? There are a lot of now issues about how there's virtual medicine, there's virtual courses all over the... GH: What do you mean by virtual? SG: Sort of remote courses, online courses as well. GH: Really if we could... SG: I mean how long it takes I guess. GH: This is a great question and I'll give you an answer and a dollar figure. I would really like, see I'm gonna have to let all the staff go. Liz Crooks our secretary is leaving on Thursday, day after tomorrow. She's gotten a job at the Graduate College and I wrote her a recommendation. Part of the reason 1 fought so hard to keep it open when I didn't have any money was to, people have families to feed. I wanted to make sure the staff who did such a great job had the opportunity to find other places to work. Liz has found one over at the Graduate College and Joan _, who runs One Community One Book, she does work part-time from home and I think she's going to concentrate on that. She is a medical record archivist for the University of Missouri and a few other places. But if I could keep Amy Weismann because her dedication to the certificate program is really important. If I could somehow, and this is we're talking between $30- 40,000 a year. My dean has committed to paying for the graduate assistant Kelsey Kramer and whoever succeeds her to continue to work on the certificate program. I really need someone like Amy who has a broader and more mature view of things. I can't do it all myself. I mean I have my own, I'm Professor of Social Studies Education and I've got my own work to do. I can't do all the course teaching. I teach an overload of six course and you're supposed to teach four. I direct the center, run this new program on living with floods to educate kids across Iowa about the 2008 and 2011 floods out of the College of Education in conjunction with Hancher and the College of Engineering. I run the convocation for the college. I'm the program coordinator for Secondary and Elementary Social Studies. If I could have Amy supported somehow to keep the certificate Page 6 of 23 program going and we build up over time this revenue from the online courses we could reinvent the center in a decade maybe. SG: The other thing too is if you partner with say the Health Science Colleges. GH: We would do all that if I had someone like Amy who could get rid of all of her other duties as Deputy Director of the center because it's gonna end, and just concentrate on that until its full blown. She would do that yeah. See I can't get away enough to do that from what I have to do. It would be terrific if I could somehow come up with the revenue stream that would commit to paying her. She's half -time because she has a child at home, that would be great, but off this record I'm very tired. I'm tired of knocking on doors with hat in hand because it's the only way we've been able to make it survive for the last couple of years. SG: We're very grateful that it has. GH: It's the only way we could do it and there are really nice people in town who have given $5,000 or $1,000 or $100. The faculty gave a $1,000 each. They challenged each other two years ago on the board, the faculty members all pitched in. Burns has done a tremendous amount of financial contribution. He's very upset about the decision. SG: It needs institutional commitment. GH: You can't get a grant to support yourself unless you have institutional commitment. How could you go to the United States Department of State and say we want to do a human rights project or we want to do one of your projects that you have on your menu, and they say write a proposal. What do you write in the proposal? We have no staff unless you give us the money. They are gonna say well then you have no foundation to build on. It's a catch -22 and the administration of the University feels that there are too many centers, and feels that there is no room for something like us at this point and time. HO: One of the large losses I see coming from this is One Community One Book project, and I was wondering if this Commission were to decide at some point to pick it up, what sort of price tag is involved in that program? GH: Well what Joan does if you wanted Joan to do it I think you should hire her to do it. What she does is she solicits funds and raises some money, and I think this year we're going to do the whole thing for less than $3,000, not counting her salary. But as far as you know we create based on the book, I don't have it here, but it's based on that poster you have in your packet. There are bookmarks we hand out to the students and the members of the community that come to the readings and the discussions. We do a lot of promotion of it in these communities so people know where to go and what time, which library is hosting that one that day. Pat Schnack who is a long time Iowa Citian. You might know Pat and she's the co- director of it with Joan. You'd have to talk to Joan, Harry but I think that she'd probably be amenable to keeping it going. It would be great if the community did pick up a little chunk of the center and like the College of Education is picking up, and the Law School is picking up, and we maintain some of these things. The big losers here are students. The careers for changes, the internship programs, and all the things we did for the different human rights clubs and organizations on campus. Just through promoting their interests through our e- digest, our little newsletter that you get for instance electronically every week or so. It was tremendously helpful to the students on campus. They won't have that anymore, that advocacy. The One Community One Book you'd have to sit down with Joan, but I think we didn't have more than $3,000 this year to spend on it, and she's bringing Page 7 of 23 the author in from Minneapolis and has done all the posters. I don't know if we put them on the busses anymore, but we used to. The buses and the cambuses, on the walls that curve like that you could put them in frames. I think that's something if you're interested email Joan and have her come to the Commission and have her talk a little bit about what it would take. I don't know what your wherewithal is so I can't even imagine how you would do it, but that's up to you. SG: Some thought ah was in the Iowa City Press Citizen editorial today and they were talking about some of these issues. GH: Well I asked Jeff if he would delay this and Tara, because we have a board meeting November 2nd and you got an email from me this evening about announcing this article tomorrow. I didn't want the board to be the last to know. They knew already it was on, it was going to close. The reason I asked Jeff and Tara to delay the story is because we don't want, I mean I didn't say it this way to them. But I don't want the article to antagonize the administration into not wanting to do anything, and what I really would like to see is if they would wait until at least maybe Burns is back in a couple of weeks. They did interview Burns in the article, but to see if there are other entities on campus who will pick up some of the stuff still. I don't know yet. SG: I don't know what tomorrow's article is gonna be specifically word for word, but what I was saying that some of the information that they were sharing today was that the One Book specifically, that there are other options maybe through the , Iowa City . GH: What do we call the city of literature. Joan has been talking with them. SG: Right so there are I think other possibilities. Maybe through the Iowa City Public Library. I'm hoping that that article is going to do so. GH: I think One Community One Book is really one of the less expensive things we do considering how many people it touches. You have to realize that One Community One Book in Iowa City is very unique. It's a program all over the country, it's not just here. I think we're the only one that has the book always have a human rights theme. In other communities it's not that way, it's whatever the committee decides on, non - fiction or fiction or whatever. It could be Alice in Wonderland, it doesn't have to be a human rights issue. DT: Was the book a couple years ago about child soldiers? GH: Yes we brought Ismael Baya here. This was an idea that other universities had tried and again they weren't interested in keeping it going. There has always been this urge at Iowa to try to get the students retained better, more retention percentage and they are doing better now. One of the things that they thought might help is if all the freshman read the same book, and it was taught in the rhetoric classes because every freshman has to take rhetoric. It's part of the general education requirements. The rhetoric department was on board, but their policies are they don't tell their graduate assistants who teach courses because there are 4,000 freshman. They don't tell them what to teach so not all of them taught it, but those who taught it they were successful results. We did do an evaluation of analysis of the project and there was positive response. It's a $70,000 a year price tag and they weren't interested in it, and that's not bad. That's counting buying every kid the book. That book, the publisher of his book because of the deal that we had if you opened the book the first thing you saw was a letter from the President of the University to the students on University letterhead on that little page about this program. I told the Associate Provost and I told the President this is something that during your capital campaign would be, I can't imagine you can't find someone who will endow this. For a million bucks, I mean half a million bucks or Page 8 of 23 less than that. What's twenty times seventy? Ali $140,000, well we'd be 1.4 million then actually. For 1.4 million in endowment they can have their name on every book read by every freshman until they are dead and long be composed. That's a hell of a tribute to a donor. SG: It's a living legacy. GH: Exactly, you know the Harry Olmstead all freshman read's program. It will go on until you're long gone Harry. My point simply being that no interest because if you're gonna do that you've got to go through the foundation and it is the University that tells the foundation what they need and then they go out and look for it, and we're not on their radar. HO: Greg I want to thank you so very much for coming. Hopefully something in the future will happen. GH: I mean there are miracles, whether they're man made or not, and we have until June 30`h for manna to fall from heaven or for someone to say this is a worthy enterprise for the University of Iowa and the State of Iowa. The endowment would have to be about, what is 20 times $150,000? Three million? Three million dollars would keep the center open forever, but that's a lot of money but it would named after whoever gave that three million dollars. Then that would include One Community One Book, that would be part of that. That would be for staff and for programming so. HO: Thank you so much. SB: One question, do you think the article tomorrow may help keep the center open? GH: I've been around and teaching for 37 years, and I've been 15 years as a high school teacher, over 20 years now as a University Professor. When administrations make up their minds it's over, it's over. There is nothing that they are going to do. That's why I say if someone showed up with three million bucks they'd be more than happy to take it. They probably convinced them first to see if they could build another scoreboard, but if they didn't say that they said no we want it for the center of human rights they'd take it. They're not gonna turn it down. SG: But maybe the article will give other people from the community food for thought. GH: It will to maybe think about investing yes. It won't budge the University and nor will public sentiment, nothing will budge the University. SG: No I mean to donate directly to the program under the auspice of the education. GH: We could do it through donations to the foundation account that the College of Education has. In a way I don't blame the Provost, I mean his point is centers need to have collegiate homes or self - supporting, collegiate home meaning the college that it's in pays for it or self - supporting. Well we just don't do something that people are willing to give money for, but they all want it. They all want the human rights, but they just don't see it as something worth supporting so. It's kind of a conundrum but true. Thank you for your time and thank you for listening. Harry we have a meeting November 2 "d and you'll be getting a briefing on it soon. b. Iowa Latino Conference Page 9 of 23 HO: We sponsored this last year _. SB: Yes the Commission gave $100 last year. It looks like its October 12 -13" and the various activities of the conference will be held on campus at the University, and then also it looks like some of the activities are at the Iowa City Public Library. One of the reasons just to summarize the letter is that they're asking for donations is to assist with keeping the registration fees low for participants or people who would register. Also it helps them advertise so it increases their visibility. That is the primary reasons why they are asking for supplemental funds. OT: I move that the donate $100 to fulfill the request. HO: There is a motion on the floor, any further discussion? SG: What is our budget? SB: I mean this is how, my answer really never changes because generally the Commission co- sponsorships is between $1,000 41200 a year, but you know everyone's budget is getting smaller so what Professor Hamot was talking about I mean that's everywhere. I say that today but in January it could be less than that. SG: How much did we spend or what is our present balance? SB: To date I think you're only at $250 or maybe $300 because it would have started July I", so pretty low. SG: That's all we have right now. SB: That's all that has been spent. SG: What do you think is our projection until the next fiscal year? SB: It would probably still be that $1,000 41,200 range, but I mean if there are budget cuts or something like that generally we wouldn't take from the Commission, but I can't... KH: As a new Commissioner I'm not clear what we've sponsored in the past. SB: When everybody joined they should have gotten, I send out what I call a brag book, and it has all the flyers of events. Look at the packet it has the annual reports, it has flyers of activities, the annual reports would give you what the Commission has done and the case resolution numbers and all that information. In fact I've kind of wondered with Dan and Jesse if it's worth sending out because I'm not real clear that people are responsive to the packet. DT: I was interested in the case resolution portion more, but I did read it. SB: I think now we have a better copier now so it may be easier to do it electronically in the future too, which would be a pretty good sized file to send. I'll have to talk to ITS to see if we can condense it down. I didn't know if anybody read them. SG: So this time of the year you think if we give the $100 we're okay for whatever is presented for the rest? Thank you. Page 10 of 23 Townsend moved, seconded by Tallon. Motion passed. 6 -0. Old Business: a. Human Rights Breakfast SB: The nominations and the press release went out today, well I should say the press release soliciting nominations went out today, and 1 sent it via email to all the Commissioners too. I'm still working on the flyer for the actual breakfast that would advertise the speaker, which would hopefully garner some ticket sales as well as nominations. The speaker this year will be Chad Simmons, who is Executive Director of Diversity Focus. The breakfast will be held on October 30'h, which is a Tuesday. The date was changed, and the day. Usually since I've been here for whatever reason just out of tradition I guess it was always held on a Thursday, but this year Tuesday just works out better so. SG: What time is it Tuesday? SB: I advertise it as the program starting at 7:30 sharp which it does, and it will be held at the Sheridan again. I advertise on the ticket and the press releases 7:15 because the breakfast is ready usually around 7:00. So some people may show up right at 7:30 kind of thinking there's more of a window there and there's really not. At 7:30 somebody is at the podium speaking, and so I think most people who attend are regulars and so they know that, but for those new folks getting there before 7:30 is probably best. SG: And for us the Commissioners what time do you want us? SB: What time have you guys shown up in the past? It's like 6:45 is the earliest time, and that primarily depends on the roles people are playing too. We'll get that figured out at the next meeting I think we'll be fine there, but you always need two Commissioners at the table in front of the ballroom to collect tickets. Then you have the Commissioner who would be doing the introduction of the speaker, and then you would have the Commissioner who was introducing the honorees, and then you have the Commissioner who wraps it up and says have a good day. If anybody has a role in mind just send me an email, but I think we can probably get that worked out at the next meeting. In the past I think we've always given preference seniority wise if there is somebody who has been on the Commission longer who would want a specific role. I mean people have never fought over the various positions. I would say Jerry and I show up at like 5:30 and Jerry is the person who records it each year for us from City Cable. We'll get that figured out, but if anybody has a specific role in mind let me know. Ticket sales at the door you know 1 really discourage that even in advertising because you have to give a number. I usually cut off the ticket sales three days before, but of course you always have people who may show up. It's primarily collecting tickets and if somebody is paying at the door, you know making sure you get their name and how they paid. If they paid in cash particularly because I need to know who made the cash payment. HO: The city pays for the Commissioners. SB: Correct thank you and the cost is $25 this year and each Commissioner gets a ticket on behalf of the city so. DT: What does the money support? Page 11 of 23 SB: Well there is no money; the money goes to pay for the event. There is no profit and we get plaques for the winners, and if anybody would like to I can certainly send you the DVD of last years. I mean it's literally an hour so if you just wanted to take a look at it to kind of get a feel for how it goes, or when we meet up I can give you a copy too. If I forget just remind me. HO: Any other discussion on the Human Rights breakfast? SB: I do have one more thing to add. Burns Weston who you heard Greg Hamot speak of just a few moments ago expressed interest in speaking at the breakfast for 2013. I told him it was kind of early, but that I would let each of you know and that I would get back to him as far as whether you wanted to wait until it was closer in time next year to make that decision before making a commitment this early. OT: So what would most likely his topic be? SB: Human rights and any more specific than that I really don't know. He didn't expand and I didn't inquire. HO: I personally don't feel comfortable making that decision this year when we have a new Commission board coming in January. I'd rather postpone that decision until next year. CG: You never know what issues are gonna come up in the meantime also, more pressing or more relevant or something specific that's going on. I agree with Harty and I wouldn't want to make the decision now. SB: If that's what the Commission is wanting me to do I can just send him a short email or even, right now he's out of the country. He comes back I want to say in late October. SG: Maybe how we can present it or respond to him is say that each year we have a pool of potential candidates to be speakers, and we would have your name on the list. I think this is just the way to do it since he was one of several and he wasn't available this year, we can say well we're gonna transfer your name to next year's list again. KH: Stefanie how are the tickets working for the breakfast? Are we responsible for any of the sales? SB: That has always been encouraged. Some Commissions were better at that than others. Some felt more comfortable with it than others, but I mean any sale a Commissioner can make is terrific. KH: What is the capacity for the breakfast? SB: I mean really they could do up to 200 in the Sheridan. They could do more, I mean they do the I Club there, it's huge. They could accommodate quite a large number so. It would be great, but I'm not fearful of that. CG: We have an average of about how many? SB: It's changed over time you know the ticket prices have gone up, and so that takes away from the number of people who would buy. Speakers sometimes influences the number of tickets you sell or honorees sometimes influence the number of ticket sales. I would say anywhere I've seen as Page 12 of 23 high as 165 to maybe kind of 125 or 130. If anybody wants tickets to sell I would more than happy to put those tickets in your hand and have you sell them. That would be terrific. HO: Stefanie don't we need to get a committee together for the nominees to make decisions? SB: Yes and I think the next meeting date will still be okay because the due date for the nominations is not until the 15`h which is a Monday at 4:30 just so that there are not some that may be in the mail postmarked. The next meeting is October 10h, so if you want to set up a sub - committee tonight that would probably be good so that we would know who would be doing that. It can be anywhere from, I mean obviously more than one Commissioner but no more than four. KH: Is there a scoring sheet or is it just informal discussion? SB: It's an informal discussion. Certainly you can create a scoring sheet. That hasn't been done in the past, but that is certainly permissible if that's more of the comfort level of that group who is making the decisions. DT: Would it be appropriate at the breakfast to not ask anyone for support of the University Center for Human Rights, but at least let them know that its closing and if they're interested in more information to contact them? SB: I certainly think that's fine and I think that can be written into the opening. DT: I know I've heard that the center is closing and I've gone to some of their events HO: Do I hear some volunteers to serve on the sub - committee? KH: Is that a one meeting to review? SB: Correct. HO: Stefanie usually sends out the emails over the applicant's scores and it's a matter of reviewing those and then getting together as a committee to make decisions. Connie and I served on it last year along with David Brown. KH: I would volunteer. SG: I would but I'll be overseas from the 3`d to the 14`h. HO: Do I hear someone who is going to be the convener to get the meeting together? SG: When would be the deadline for the sub - committee to give to you? SB: I would say if they could meet that 15th that would be terrific, if not the first thing on the 16`h of October because I have to get letters or emails. I have to notify the folks and get plaques made, and ads made with the winners announced so it's a pretty short turnaround. HO: Okay we have two people, anybody interested to be on that committee? DT: I actually plan on nominating somebody so. Page 13 of 23 SB: Well you could probably just our for that particular yeah. DT: Okay I'll do it. HO: Okay Dan. KH: Can we tentatively look at the morning of October 16th? SB: Sure and if you want I can try to reserve a room here or you can meet at, I mean in the past at people's homes too. Discussion was ongoing on when and where to meet - SB: It would really be great if it could be so I would have that day to kind of get going on that stuff. That would be preferred but I realize schedules don't always permit that. KH: So what would you prefer? SB: The earlier the better would be best. SG: So what time are we talking about? OT: October 16`'. KH: At around 9:00. SB: You want me to reserve a room here? KH: Yes please. SB: To answer Kim's question about advertisements. The advertisements ran in the Press Citizen and there's a city -wide press release, which goes out to virtually any media in the area. In addition it goes out to all subscribers. It also goes out via email, postcards and usually there are advertisements put up at city facilities on the buses and an ad is ran on city channel four. So quite a lot of different ways. b. Letter in Support of Center for Human Rights HO: Draft letter for University Iowa Center for Hunan Rights. It's in your packet Item 5 -b. It's addressed to President Sally Mason. I think in light of what we've heard tonight I think we should go ahead and send a letter of our support. I think it's very important. DT: I like that it asks for an update too so. HO: Okay do I hear a motion to accept this letter of support or are there any changes? Ghoneim moved, seconded by Tallon. HO: Are there any changes to the letter that anybody wants to make? Page 14 of 23 CG: Should we copy our visitor tonight as well? SB: Sure. Motion passed. 6 -0. SB: I should mention that the Press Citizen made contact with the office concerning this matter and they probably tried calling you. SG: They did already. SB: So they are familiar with the draft letter and whether they would incorporate that into the article I don't know, but it's a possibility. I made clear it was a draft. I mean it's definitely not a final copy. HO: I did not have time to call them back yesterday, but I would have just told them it's a draft letter. SG: She never mentioned even the letter when she called me. She wanted to know my experience with the center. OT: One of the things just from listening to Greg is we might consider two options of the letter. The first option is we would send the letter you know expressing concern in support of the center and asking for them to reconsider, which will be at one level. Or we could take a look at what he was saying and basically come to what would be a secondary _ because what I hear him saying is it would be ideal to get that to keep the whole thing . I thought I heard him saying that to keep it from dying they could have a secondary plan that would have certain people doing certain things, and basically that would keep it going. If we're gonna send a letter you know do we want to just ask for the whole bundle or do we want to give them an option? DT: Could we ask what would they be willing to support? SG: I don't think we're really in a position to do that. I mean we are trying in my humble opinion anyway. We are trying to, I mean what's in the letter think in my opinion kind of covers we're first saying we are supportive and why, and then we're asking what is the feasibility of keeping it open and to keep us abreast of what's gonna happen next. So I think that covers it. DT: I like the feasibility part because I think that if they come back and say well we just don't have $150,00 we can say like do you like this One Community One Book? Why don't you continue that or... SG: Yes because right now, this is our first response. They obviously will have to respond back. Then when they respond back we can think about how or if even we want to address these issues. OT: The reason I made my suggestions is because I'm pretty sure I already know what the response is going to be, and they don't have to justify it. They're going to say that due to budget restraints, but I think that they're gonna be getting pressure from every side, and basically if they get enough pressure they might just want to throw a bone to get us to shut the hell up. So if we could indicate some things that give them another option. SG: 1 don't know, I think it should be left that way. Page 15 of 23 HO: I guess I'm just going to say as chair that we forward and pass the motion to accept the draft letter in support for the center, and I think we should at this time move along. Okay draft of World Human Rights Day Proclamation, December 10`h and packet item 5C. c. World Human Rights Day Proclamation SB: The only things when I read through it that I noticed if the Commission chooses to move forward with this is number one that starts with all people are equal before the law. I went through and highlighted the ones that they mentioned that would not be covered here locally, and then I put down the ones that they don't have that are covered here. I don't know if I need to go over that list for purposes of this meeting, but just to make a note that the political, other opinion, social origin, property or birth or that of their parents. Those would not be things that would be covered here under the Human Rights Ordinance. HO: So we'd probably be best off _ proclamation at this time. SB: And then adding age, marital status, sexual orientation, creed, familiar status, presence or absence of dependents, public assistance source of income and gender identity, and those would be the ones that they didn't mention that are covered. Then number eight that starts with all residents are entitled to the protection. 1 would just suggest that for the utilities, that second sentence first page. The last sentence on the first page I should say utilities _ building departments into unfettered access to the municipal court of the City of Iowa City. The county really runs the court system here, and so I would probably just omit that just because it may, for people who aren't familiar with the judicial system in town it may cause more confusion. OT: So what are you omitting? DT: All of number eight? SB: No I think you can put all residents are entitled to the protection by the city's police, fire, housing, health, utilities and building departments and then period, thank you. OT: And then get rid of the rest? SB: Correct. HO: Okay we have some changes to the document before you that was presented. Do I hear a motion to accept the proclamation with the changes mentioned? Tallon moved, Ghoneim seconded. HO: Any further discussion or any change that you see? Motion passed. 6 -0. SB: I will get it edited and I can even put it in the next packet just for one more review to make sure it's the way you absolutely want it before I submit it to the City Clerk. It's not until December anyway so we have a pretty good opportunity to really look it over for a few months up until that time if you so desire. HO: Draft the Youth Awards Letter advertisement and that's item 5d right after the proclamation. Page 16 of 23 d. Youth Awards Letter DT: Who do you send this letter to? SB: Well when the Commission initially proposed it it was meant to go, my understanding was to guidance counselors and people within the school system who worked directly with kids. I think over time it's expanded to kind of include any community person who would interact or have activities, programs with children that they could get the word out about this award, and encourage them to nominate an adult that they think has gone above and beyond as far as encouraging and promoting human rights. DT: When will ? SB: The awards are in May and I think the hope was to get this out at least sometime in the fall so that it was kind of on the radar. The nomination forms at earliest probably would not be available until January 2013. DT: Is this something that or do they talk _ youth, is it Youth Commission? SB: No it's actually separate from that, but the city does have a youth commission. At one time there was a pretty good relationship with the Youth Commission and the Human Rights Commission, but this actually was an award that was established just last year by three Commission members. The youth awards have, that program or ceremony has, I think it started in 2003 I think, but this was an addition to that. So that the youth awards is what it sounds like, its where kids are honored similar to the breakfast, but it's for kids and it's a lot bigger event because we're trying to encourage the youth to perform or to do good acts for others and to promote human rights. So this was just a sub - committee last year came up with this suggestion that they thought an adult who often times has helped or assisted the children who are receiving the awards also be recognized. HO: We have two nominees for the breakfast awards and that's where it came out of that we came up with the idea and maybe we need to have a youth leader, and not just at the breakfast awards be nominated, but at the youth awards and be properly recognized. SB: There were two adults who were nominated for their outstanding work with children. DT: Could it be an opportunity to engage the Youth Commission with like some target demographic anyway and to get them to...? SB: Sure I think that's a great idea. HO: Okay we have before us a draft of the letter of advertisement for the Youth Awards letter. Do I hear a motion to accept it? Goeb moved, seconded by Hamahan. HO: Any further discussion or any change that you see? Motion passed. 6 -0 Page 17 of 23 6. Updates /Reports: a. Immigration Subcommittee KH: So I'm happy to report that there's been some activity since the last time we spoke. There was a lull during the summer when the co -chair of the sub - committee had a lot of scheduling conflicts. Since that time we've met one time a couple weeks back, and this morning we were able to tour city hall, the rec center and the library. Stefanie actually led that tour and took notes, and also took pictures recommendation portion of what we're doing. We are attempting to schedule another to ask more people to join and get more input. I thought this morning went really well, and I thought that they felt listened to and I thought that they had some really good comments. SG: What were their comments? KH: It was Maria and Gloria came. I had a group of five cancelled this morning at around 8:00. They worked part-time and they got called in. They are janitors at the school district and if they're gonna have a chance to work then that's what they are going to do. You can't fault them for that, but that's why we're scheduled again for the 4`h of next month at 10:00 in the morning and we were hoping to get at least that group of folks. I also contacted Karla at the First Mennonite Church to see if she had anyone that she would be interested in inviting to come. So the one interesting idea that I thought came from that is that in several states or at least one state they actually have a city or a community ID, that once you're gotten that ID you can use that to access any city services that need an ID. So it's not that you have to get a different one from different departments, but once you actually have that city ID then you can use it at the library or the rec center or anyplace that requires an ID. We'll meet again on October 41h. DT: Are there city services where you need an ID besides the library? SB: Well for water, for housing authority, for the rec center you need some, I think he said you need something to check out a basketball or something. There are probably others I'm forgetting, did we mention a bus pass? I'm not sure what is required for a bus pass. SG: Do you have any idea then Kim what would be the possibility of our city to give such IDs? KH: I think Stefanie can better answer that. There's a history that the Commission has had and moving with city council and the city to do a number of things. Now what we're prioritized for the sub - committee is signage for city services, and the second would be the IDs and trying to uniform IDs HO: expanding where? KH: Well the next meeting will be the 4h at 10:00 during the tour. I know there was a discussion from the minutes of last meeting, that there was a thought that maybe another Commissioner could step forward and I really appreciate that. Now that Gloria is back on board who is the co -chair who we really need, and she's one of the leaders and we really are trying to promote more immigration representation on the committee. I'm feeling like we're moving more forward at this point so I can certainly let you all know when the next meetings are, and if you can join us that's fine. The other person who is also on board is Diane _, who is really strong in the movement last year. She wasn't able to come this week, but she plans on coming to the next one and she actually I Page 18 of 23 think is feeling more comfortable being more involved and attending every meeting that we have so. It feels a lot better. HO: Thank you for your time. b. Ad Hoc Diversity Committee OT: Well we had two meetings. The first meeting we just kind of had introductions and got to know each other and talked about our perception of things as a committee, individuals and what it is that we want to maybe focus on. The two charges that the city council gave the committee is to come back with a recommendation on law enforcement and transportation. So we basically decided that we would have law enforcement to meet with the committee first, and we started out with one meeting, but then the more we talked we decided that we would have two meetings with law enforcement. The first meeting was yesterday. The chief of police and two of his captains came in and met with the committee. The captain talked about all the certification and how the police officers are prepared and things like that. Then you know the committee members began to ask questions and basically started asking for specifics because we want to meet again with law enforcement next Monday. One thing that kind of stood out is one of the individuals on the committee asked could they come up with statistics. A breakdown of arrests by race and things like that, and so we're supposed to get that information before the next meeting. We asked the chief of police what is his vision for bringing the committee together pointing out that obviously when police officers are called to a situation they have to arrive and they have a relationship with the individuals on that level. But you know we're wanting to know what type of contacts or what type of things are going to be done or are being done or will be done in the future. Contact with the minority community that aren't related to negative situations. We just kinda threw that out and basically giving him a chance to get his thoughts together. So our next meeting next week with him will be getting some specifics based upon the request that we gave yesterday. I had to leave early because I had a commitment with my wife, so some of the things went on after I left. I thought number one I think the committee is really well rounded. I think it's nice that nobody appears to be coming in with a set agenda or vindictive so. Basically you know hoping that we can not only get the police department and law enforcement to look at what we feel they need to do, but also what do they feel that we as citizens, the community can do to assist them in making things happen. At this point I'm feeling fairly positive. SG: I know you said you had to leave a bit early, but did you feel from what the captain and the other police officers that they are receptive to sort of pointed questions regarding race or lack of it in their perspective? OT: I could be misreading, but personally I felt that they were somewhat _. I think basically they want to come in right off the bat and show exactly that they're qualified. No one brought it up you know, but it's like you can take all the training, all the courses in the world and be the most qualified on the face of this earth, but there are just certain things when you have to deal with people. That training is not going to get you through. It's your ability to adjust, issue compassion, it's your desire to be fair. There are a lot of things that come into play that creates a positive environment. Training helps you know. We asked you know all this training that your officers go through, but how much diversity training have they had? Of the training they had once you get it when you have staff meetings are you following up on it. Well their response to that is that's a very difficult thing to do, and I have to agree that it is somewhat difficult because they're not like the average staff where everybody is there from nine to five. You've got your day shift and night shift, and you have captains that run the shift that meet with everybody before the shift to let them know what's going on and give them updates, and then send them out to take Page 19 of 23 care of business. So you know diversity training, but I still feel that that's not I mean that's not an excuse, that's reality. The question is how do we get each individual to the point that they're getting some exposure to diversity training that will help them to be more knowledgeable of how to deal with the minority populations. That's a conversation we're going to have next week. I accepted his explanation of that in terms of the reality that we have, but I think a bigger reality is okay, okay with that now. How do we get these individuals so that we are comfortable that they are getting diversity training, and if you can't get everybody together, then what mechanism can you put in place to see that somebody is going to be doing follow -up with them. SG: Do you know Orville the percentage of minority police in Iowa City, Coralville force? OT: I asked the question and I think there are three. I asked them how many black police officers were there and I think the response was three. HO: Do any of those have rank? OT: I didn't ask that. I just asked how many officers, but I would say probably not because I feel, and I'm cynic because if you had a black officer that had any rank he probably would have had him there . This is a unique situation and it's a very sensitive situation. I feel that there definitely needs to be change, but where we're making change we need to make sure that we're making change in a manner that's going to not only take care of the public needs, but it's going to give assurances that our police officers are safe. We got some work to do, but you know I'm hoping that at the next meeting we'll get a little more information. KH: One of the things that stood out for me for the Iowa City Police Review Board, presentation that they did was that's there is no tracking mechanism to identify if one officer is getting more complaints than others. Do you recall that? I know there's something in the logistics with how you track, but it seems if they could at least try and figure out if one officer has more complaints. OT: I asked that question and basically it was one of those things where probably could have answered it, but it's a thing that you probably want to stop and think about it and say I'll have to get back to you with that. I know for a fact from talking to the black community that there are some officers that KH: You talk to people on the streets and they know. OT: But at the same time we don't want to get into he said, she said. We want to ask them to give us facts and then I'm hoping that that's gonna be that the committee is gonna be meeting with the public to get their perception of what's going on, and able to get specifics. It's easy to complain about something, but I personally feel that if you, if it's important to you and you really want change, then to be fair to the person who is being accused. You really need to step up and be willing to put it on the line and come to a meeting or talk to the right people, give your concerns and put it in writing. HO: Thank you so very much for that report. c. Commission HO: Reports of the Commission. Sham do you have anything? SG: No thanks Page 20 of 23 HO: Dan? Connie? CG: No HO: Kim? KH: No. HO: Orville? OT: Well I've got our community committee. We were supposed to meet last week and there were only three of us, myself, Stefanie and one other committee member. So I've sent out another email stressing the importance of attending meetings because everybody had agreed at the previous meeting that that was an acceptable date and then didn't show up. I've sent out an email stressing the importance keeping meetings and then scheduled a meeting for September 20. We'll see if we can get people to attend. Frankly I think it's a committee that, we're looking at some things you know especially getting the community involved. I see that as being very important. I asked the question do we want to keep the community going, the committee going. If people are not giving input or participating, and the answer is yes. We feel that it's an important committee so we're gonna keep going. If there are three of us or if there are five of us, but basically we're gonna keep on trying to get the community involved because I think we all agree that that's essential and making some things happen in our community. CG: I have one question to Orville that goes back to the other committee that you are on. I read recently about changes in the bus system in terms of how they're picking up kids and dropping off kids. That there are more direct or a more non -stop routes or something. Does that ease that question or is this you're just gonna go and address that for transportation...? OT: That basically has taken care of itself. I mean the issue there was that instead of getting a bus that goes directly to take the black kids directly to the communities that they live in because of economics of whatever. They decided that hey you know they're on their own due to transportation. That works for the school district and saves them money, but it takes all of these kids who _ class all day and are hyper, and it puts them down in one spot together. But again it goes to show you about how cultural things happen. What they were doing is there was a bus stop, an identical bus stop in St. Louis or Detroit or Chicago there wouldn't have been a problem, but because its Iowa City and we are so used to having it quiet where you can sit down at the bus stop and listen to opera. You know read a novel and play chess, that's what we are accustomed to from the good ole days. The good ole days are gone. When it comes to diversity we are a community that is in transition, and that's a good example. Because it was a problem and it was impacting people negatively, it was corrected I think when they changed the route if I'm not mistaken. There's a bus going directly taking these kids directly home. In all fairness to them I really don't think it was fair to expect a bunch of kids to be together like that you know another 45 minutes or an hour onto their day and something not to happen. I'm not saying that what they were doing was right, but I'm saying that we did have other options. I think basically that's been corrected with the routes. I'm not sure about that but I haven't heard anything. CG: 1 was just wondering if that would just go off your agenda or if you're still gonna look at the transportation issues. Page 21 of 23 OT: I'm hoping we'll look at it in terms of can we learn, did we learn from the reality of what happened. It's not necessarily the _. People made decisions based on what they felt was advantageous for them, but I think if we're going to be looking at being a diverse community we've got to look at all of the pros and cons. It can't be like business as usual. I think that's one of the things where we talked to the transportation people that I know I will bring it up and say in hindsight would you do the same thing or would you do it differently. KH: I think what they're finding is that you said was underutilized because they underestimated the socialization aspect with all these youth hanging out in downtown after school. HO: I have one Commission thing to report. I was contacted by Jeff Cox about the new Jim Crow comes to Iowa City. You have a copy of the article he wrote in your packet. He was invited to attend tonight's meeting as well as the October meeting. I don't know if we want to put it on the agenda for October under new business, but of particular concern is the courthouse which goes up for a referendum on the November ballot. SG: You mean the justice center? HO: Right. I don't know how you feel about putting it on the agenda, but that's the only way if we're gonna do it we have to do it for the October meeting to talk about it, and then whatever action we may want to take whether it be a letter to the editor or an open letter to the public in some form to take a stand. OT: What type of stand do you feel would be appropriate for us to take? HO: I don't know that's why I invited Jeff to attend the meeting and talk to us tonight about what his concern is and how he sees us addressing the concern. KH: Who is he? HO: Jeff Cox is a Professor of History at the University. CG: And he approached you Harry? HO: Yes. SG: He actually wrote a letter to the editor regarding that a few weeks ago. I think he was against it if I remember correctly. He was against the justice center. I'm biased. I've taken a tour of the jail. I've taken a tour of the courthouse. We really need one desperately. OT: I have some concerns about that, but as a compromise I feel more comfortable if you request Mr. Cox that he sends us a written statement outlining what his concerns are, or what he would like for us to address so that we can look at it before we met with him. SG: Yes some time to talk it over and so close to the elections. OT: But this is a political thing, it's not just building a building. There are so many pros and cons involved in it, and I guess my thing I'm always willing to acquire new knowledge. If he's got something that I feel that I could benefit from, then I'd like to have it. I think Pd like to have it before I sit down to talk to him. Page 22 of 23 HO: Well like I said he was invited to tonight's meeting. He was aware of the time and the place and everything, and he did not show up. I just wanted to bring it to your attention that I was contacted by him. Staff reports? d. Staff SB: I just have a very light list here. I have three vacancies for the Human Rights Commission I believe were just posted with the city council tonight. Of course every year we gain three and lose three. The deadline for those applications to be into the city clerk's office will be Wednesday November 7`" at 5 pm. HO: We're losing Howard, Connie and myself. SB: Correct. The reports of the complaints are I believe it's the last item in the packet. We were able to clear out a lot of cases over the last few months, so we're back to fewer complaints than what you've seen in the past. I do want to mention that the city recently closed their document services department, and so as a result of that I am learning to become a document specialist. So I do apologize for this. If you have it discarded it, and I will provide an updated and correct one in the October packet. Orville was left off the bottom of the sheet and I didn't list Harry as the chair. I'm learning and I'm getting good at this stuff, but obviously I still have a lot of room for improvement. SG: Can I ask a question to everybody? It's kind of off the radar here. SB: If it's not a Commission related question then he can end the meeting and then you can ask. Adiournment: Motion to adjourn at 19:31. Next Regular Meeting — October 16'h at 18:00. Page 23 of 23 Human Rights Commission ATTENDANCE RECORD 2012 IMeetina Datel KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting /No Quorum R = Resigned - = Not a Member TERM NAME EXP. 1/17 2121 3/20 4/17 5115 6/19 7117 8/21 9/18 10116 11/20 12116 Dr. Howard 1/1113 X X O/E X O/E X O/E X O/E Cowen Constance 111/13 X O/E X X O/E O/E X X X Goeb Harry 1/1/13 X X X X X X X X X Olmstead (8 -1 -2010) David B. 111/14 X O/E O/E O/E R R R R R R R R Brown Diane 1/1/14 O/E X X X X X O/E X O/E Finnerty Orville 111114 X X X X X X X X X Townsend, Sr. Henri Harper 1/1/15 O/E X O/E R R R R R R R R R Kim 1/1/15 X X X X X X X O/E X Hanrahan Shams 111115 O/E X X X X X X X X Ghoneim Jessie 111115 - O/E X X O/E Harper (Appointed 6-5-12) Dan Tallon 1/1114 - X X (Appointed 7- 31 -12) KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting /No Quorum R = Resigned - = Not a Member Agenda Item 5b Proclamation Whereas, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of Iowa City's various religious, racial, ethnic and cultural communities is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace; Whereas, those living in the City of Iowa City have reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human being and in the equal rights of men and women, and have determined to promote social progress, justice, and better standards of life in larger freedom; Now, Therefore, the Mayor and City Council of the City of Iowa City, Iowa proclaim this affirmation of rights as a common standard of achievement for all who live, work, pray and strive to raise their children, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, shall strive to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and to secure their effective recognition and observance, among all of our communities: l.All people are equal before the law and are entitled without discrimination to equal protection, irrespective of race, color, sex, language, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, creed, familial status, presence of absence of dependents, public assistance source of income, gender identity, national, ethnic, disability, or. 2.No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. 3.No one should be subjected to arbitrary interference with one's privacy, family, home ,correspondence, or to attacks upon one's honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. 4.Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, color, nationality, disability, gender, ethnicity, or religion, have the right to marry and to a family that is entitled to recognition and protection by society and this City. 5.All persons have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, of peaceful assembly & association in conformity with valid promulgations of the City, and freedom of religion; this right includes freedom to change one's religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest one's religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. 6.Ethnic, religious, or racial profiling is not allowed because it can send a dehumanizing message that people are judged by the color of their skin, their religion, or their ethnicity and harms the City's criminal justice system by eviscerating the trust that is necessary if law enforcement is effectively to protect our communities. Recognition & celebration of our diversity is of paramount importance in preventing the isolation and alienation of any persons which can adversely impact our community's unity. 7.The marginalization of any population pursuant to official policy, practice or procedure is contrary to the interests of the citizens of the City of Iowa City. Iowa City will not tolerate any deprivation of rights, privileges or immunities, nor life, liberty or property, without due process of law nor the denial of the equal protection of the laws solely on account of any person being undocumented, or on the basis of any person's color or race. 8.All (residents are entitled to the protection by the City's police, fire, housing, health, utilities, and building departments. 9.In order to facilitate the performance by all residents of their respective duties and responsibilities, freedom from fear or reprisal is essential. All residents are encouraged to participate in the civic and governmental affairs of the City of Iowa City without fear of reprisal. 10. The undersigned recognize and understand that federal and state law may operate to preempt or supersede one or more of the foregoing provisions and in such case the City acknowledges and shall conduct itself in accordance therewith. CORRESPONDENCE UI center threatened with closure I Iowa City Press Citizen I press - citizen.com Page] of 6 Submitted by staff on 9/21/12 JOBS CARS HOMES APARTMENTS CLASSIFIEDS /PLACE AN AD DEALS News I Hawk Central I Pr( FEATURED: Local TV Times Movie times Group photos Coupon Mania UI center threatened with closure Provost funding for Center for Human Rights to end next year 9:34 PM, Sep 20, 2012 1 Comments AA Tarra Ba now The funding shortage that's threatened the existence of the Iowa City Press- Citizen University of Iowa Center for Human Rights for years finally appears to be forcing its closure, much to the dismay of those FILED UNDER closest to it. News Local News The UI Provost's Office has provided a significant portion of the center's funding since 2007 under the assumption that it eventually would be able to stay afloat on its own. But that funding stream will stop at the end of the current fiscal year, June 30, 2013, U officials said. Until then, the three - person, part-time staff that runs the 13- year -old center — the only academic human rights center in the state — slowly is being culled, and some of its programming shifted elsewhere. Amy Weismann, the center's associate director, said UI's stance that the center must be 100 percent financially self sufficient is http://www.press-citizen.com/article/2012092]/NEWSOI/309210002/ 9/21/2012 UI center threatened with closure I Iowa City Press Citizen I press- citizen.com Page 2 of 6 "completely unrealistic" and undermines the university's commitment to human rights education. Unlike other human rights centers, most of which are operated by college law schools, UI's is not within a specific college, so it doesn't have a designated source of funding within the university, said Downing Thomas, dean of International Programs, of which the center is a part. International Programs is not within a college. The center's certificate program in human rights will be offered through the College of Education in the future, run by the center's current director, Gregory Hamot. Thomas said he's also trying to get the College of Law to take on some of the programming, including an internship program. When the announcement came that the provost's office was cutting funding to the center, Hamot said he made a plea to the deans of colleges to see if any could take it in. "They were all like, 'We really love what you do, but we don't have the funding, "' he said. Hamot said he tried for years to create an endowment for the center. Since it was founded in 1999, the center has been funded through a mixture of private contributions, grants and university dollars. Until 2007, the center's staff was paid by a Department of Labor grant to study child labor, its most significant source of funding. When the bulk of that money ran out in fiscal year 2008, however, the provost's office began supplying between 34 percent and 86 percent of the center's budget, which it continued to do until fiscal year 2012, Thomas said. When Burns Weston, a professor emeritus in the UI College of Law, founded the center, he said he made the deliberate decision to keep it outside of a specific college within the university. "The provost is saying all centers must be based within colleges, which to me makes absolutely no sense when you're talking about http://www.press-eitizen.com/article/2012092]/NEWSOI/309210002/ 9/21/2012 UI center threatened with closure I Iowa City Press Citizen I press - citizen.com Page 3 of 6 a center that is inherently multidisciplinary," Weston said. "It's like putting a square peg in a round hole, or vice versa." Although that structure is "visionary," it also complicates funding the program's operations because no college is responsible for doing so, said Barbara Frey, director of the University of Minnesota's Human Rights Program in the College of Liberal Arts. The University of Minnesota also has a human rights program within its law school, and the programs receive a significant portion of their funding from their respective colleges. Universities tend to provide at least funding for human rights centers' directors and administrative staff, Frey said. "It takes money to make money," she said. "You have to have enough staff to be able to go out and raise money in the general population." Over the five years Weston served as the center's director free of charge, he said staff spent the majority of its time trying to raise money to keep the center open. But that task was made even more difficult, he said, by the fact that UI administrators told the center that major UI donors were off limits. Likewise, Weismann said she was told earlier this year she wasn't allowed to seek grant funding related to ongoing academic programs that would require a matching contribution from International Programs or the provost's office. A similar situation occurred in 2009, when the provost's office said it was going to withhold a portion of the center's usual funding. At that time, the center undertook a significant fundraising campaign that included enthusiastic support from students, including a Facebook group that garnered nearly 1,000 members. The difference this time, Weismann said, is that with no UI funding coming in the future and termination notices trickling in for staff members, it no longer makes sense to solicit donations. http: / /www.press- citizen. com / article /20120921/NEWSOI/309210002/ 9/21/2012 UI center threatened with closure I Iowa City Press Citizen I press - citizen.com Page 4 of 6 Weismann said she's not sure what her position, if any, will be with the university in the future. The center's secretary has accepted a new position at UI and will be leaving next week. Hamot is a professor in the College of Education. Weston, the centers founder, said he's "profoundly sad" about its closure. He said UI is not stepping up to the plate. "The university, instead of rising to the occasion like all great research universities do, is deciding to let the center fold up," he said. Reach Tara Bannow at tbannow @press - citizen.com or 887- 5418. 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Users of this site agree to the Terms of Service, Privacy Notice/Your California Privacy Rig'. http://www.press-citizen.com/article/2012092 I /N E W SOl /309210002/ 9/21/2012 Stefanie Bowers From: Matthew Skuya <matt @oneiowa.org> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 12:D9 PM To: rbp @oneiowa.org Subject: Five Conversations that Matter Dear Friends, At One Iowa we would like to thank you for your commitment to marriage equality in Iowa. Your support means the world to us. In fact, we count on our friends and allies like you to help expand and deepen Iowa's commitment to equality for all of its people. Today I would like to ask you to do one thing that moves us even more. Please, over the next week or so, have five conversations about why marriage matters. You might begin by having that conversation with a friend or a family member. And then you might want to expand that circle to have that conversation with a colleague, your clergy, or even a complete stranger. If you and I did that over the next week there would be ten new conversations about why marriage matters. What if one hundred of us had that conversation? That would be five hundred new exchanges. And, what if a thousand of us had that conversation and then invited the folks we spoke with to have five more and five more and five more conversations. That would be astounding! So, may we count on you to have five conversations about why marriage matters in Iowa? And, would you be willing to shoot us a quick email and let us know how that went? Share your stories with us by emailing matt @oneiowa.ora. You can find more information about having the conversation at www.whymarriagemattersiowa.org. Again, thank you for all that you do and all that you will do. Let's start talking, and changing hearts and minds across this great state. Sincerely, Matthew Skuya Field Director X, S 0;'1 8 01 '.U3 aneimv Submitted by WRAC on 9/26/12 October 2, 2012 President Sally Mason University of Iowa 101 Jessup Hall Iowa City, IA 52244 Dear President Mason, Submitted by staff on 10/2/12 I ? 1 CITY OF IOWA CITY 410 East Washington Street Iowa City, Iowa 52240 -1826 (3 19) 356 -5000 (3 19) 356 -5009 FAX WWW.icgov.org It came to our attention that the much respected and longtime University of Iowa Center for Human Rights will be phased out by June 30, 2013. The City of Iowa City Human Rights Commission has had a healthy and effective partnership with the Center for Human Rights for many years and we regret to learn of its future closure. The Center for Human Rights has proven to be a vital resource not only for the faculty and students associated with the University but also for the greater community. For obvious reasons we would like to see this vital Center at the University remain open. We would appreciate an update on the feasibility of keeping this Center open or any plans the University has in filling the void that will be left both locally and globally due to the closure. We look forward to hearing from you and to continued partnership with the University on issues of human rights. Thank you. Sincerely, City of Iowa City Human Rights Commission Harry Olmstead, Chair Connie Goeb, Vice Chair Dr. Howard Cowen Diane Finnerty Orville Townsend, Sr. Jessie Harper Shams Ghoneim Kim Hanrahan Dan Tallon CC: Gregory Hamot, Director Center for Human Rights Amy Weismann, Associate Director, Center for Human Rights 29th Annual Iowa City Human Rights Commission Awards Breakfast SEEKING NOMINATIONS Submit the name of a person, organization /business or both, who has made a significant impact in this community or abroad to human rights. Nomination forms are available at: www.icgov.org/humanrights Nominations due by October 15th at 4:30 pm! Keynote Speaker: Chad Simmons Executive Director, Diversity Focus Program will be held on: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 7:30 AM Amos Dean Ballroom - Sheraton (Iowa City) Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at the Cashier's Desk at City Hall (410 E. Washington) or by calling 319 - 356 -5022. 'V.Tickets must be purchased in advance. ryt More information at www.icgov.org /humanrights IN CITY OF IOWA CITY 29th Annual Iowa City Human Rights Commission Awards Breakfast Keynote Speaker: Chad Simmons Executive Director, Diversity Focus Tuesday, October 30, 2012 7:15 -8:30 AM (7:30 -8:30 Program) Amos Dean Ballroom, Sheraton Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at the Cashier's Desk at City Hall (410 E. Washington) or by calling 319- 356 -5022. "Tickets must be purchased by October 26th. Status of Complaints (As of October 10, 2012) EMPLOYMENT Complainant believes past employer treats him differently due to race, national origin, disability, creed, sex, color, religion and unlawful retaliation. Decision letters being mailed 10- 12 -12. Complainant alleges that he was fired due to race. Investigative summary in progress. Complainant believes she was terminated based on sex and disability — pregnancy. Administrative Closure, complaint resolve. Complainant believes he was discriminated against based on race and color. In mediation. Complainant believes she was discriminated against based on race and color. Successful mediation. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION Complainant alleges he was discriminated against based on disability when he was issued a no trespass at a store. Complainant believes the ban was in retaliation for conduct he reported earlier. Administrative Closure. Complainant requested further review. Decision letters being mailed 10- 15 -12. HOUSING Complainant feels that property owner mislead her on availability of condominium unit based on race, age, color and marital status. Investigative summary in progress. Complainant alleges management company did not renew his lease because of race and national origin. Administrative closure.