Minutes of Board Meeting of March 16, 2003

Location: IRC server irc.webchat.org, channel #asfar
Time: 9:00 pm eastern time

Board Members Present: Andrew Jennings, Kevin McCormack, David Schneider-Joseph, Oliver Traldi, Susan Wishnetsky

Members Present: Ty B., James G., Jacob K., Justin M., Jillian N., Ben PS

Visitors Present: Kelli

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 pm eastern time.

Reports of Officers

The President, David Schneider-Joseph, reported that he had posted the Playboy piece on ASFAR at <http://www.asfar.org/playboy.png>.

The Vice-President, Winston Featherly-Bean, was not present.

The Secretary, Susan Wishnetsky, reported that she had been neglecting her secretarial duties while working on Youth Truth, and was behind on approving new members.

The Treasurer, David Schneider-Joseph, reported $139.66 in the PayPal account and $620.25 in the bank account. ASFAR made $1.91 selling books since November.

The Fundraising and PR Director, Andrew Jennings, reported that he had begun looking into foundation grants and affirmed the need for ASFAR to obtain tax-exempt status. At a local newspaper where he is doing an internship, he "turned on" a local reporter to the youth rights movement, getting a favorable response. He is researching other media contacts. There was discussion of contacting the media about voting age protests.

The Recruiting Officer, Kevin McCormack, presented his vision of his role in ASFAR, including identifying prime locations for chapter creation, assistance with chapter formation, and working closely with the demonstrations committee and fostering publicity in promising locations. He urged that protests and publicity focus on moderate positions, such as supporting bills that lower the voting age to 16 or 17, which aid youth rights without clashing too harshly with the current political climate. There was discussion of the California voting age bill, which would grant partial votes to people 14 and older, and some other drives for lowered voting ages in other states.

The Webmaster, David Schneider-Joseph, reported 28,985 pageviews in February.

Reports of Committees:

For the Zine Committee, Susan Wishnetsky reported that a 12-page Spring 2004 issue was completed, but she wanted to make some changes before taking it to the printer. She also reported receiving a request for all back issues and an ongoing subscription from the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.

The Chair of the Demonstrations Committee, Andrew Jennings, reported that the committee had discussed venues and publicity for voting age protests. He had submitted a request for a freelance graphic designer to design t-shirts pro bono, but had gotten no takers. David Schneider-Joseph moved to authorize Andrew to offer up to $100 for t-shirt design. The motion was seconded and passed 4-0 with 1 abstention. There was some discussion of slogans and designs.

New Business:

The California voting age bill was discussed. While there was disagreement over whether to support the bill, there was general agreement that ASFAR should try to capitalize on the attention it gave to the voting age issue. Andrew Jennings agreed to write a press release and distribute it to California media outlets. Oliver Traldi agreed to send an announcement to ASFAR members urging them to write to their state legislators.

David Schneider-Joseph reminded board members about writing position papers and organizing local protests.

Susan Wishnetsky brought up Daniel McGuire's suggestion of a Youth Truth writing contest. David Schneider-Joseph offered to contact Daniel to see if he was still willing to sponsor this contest. After discussion, David Schneider-Joseph and Andrew Jennings agreed to serve as judges along with Daniel McGuire, if the contest took place.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:12 pm eastern time.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Wishnetsky
ASFAR Secretary