Location: IRC server pnwx.com, channel #asfar
Time: 8:30 pm central time

Board members present: Eric Anderson, Aaron Biterman, Matthew Havens, Justin Mallone, Daniel McGuire, Larissa Price, Susan Wishnetsky
Members present: David C, Bob M, David S-J, David S, Dylan S.
Visitors present: none

The meeting was called to order at 8:41 pm central time.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the meeting of August 9, 2000. The motion carried.

Reports of Officers

The President, Eric Anderson, reported that he would be updating the form on the "join ASFAR" page.

The Vice-President, Justin Mallone, reported that he had heard from a new contact person at the Oxygen Network, whose message was forwarded to the announcement list.

The Secretary, Susan Wishnetsky, reported on the current membership numbers and her communications with a print shop.

The Treasurer, Eric Anderson, had no official report.

Reports of Committees.

The 'zine committee reported that many submissions had been received for the upcoming issue, but it was uncertain whether any of them could serve as a cover story.

Old Business.

Matthew Havens reported that the online membership survey was finished.

Justin Mallone moved that the meeting rules of order presented at the last meeting be adopted. The motion was seconded. There was discussion of how discussion would be controlled, the establishment of formal versus informal debate, whose transcript of the meeting would be considered authoritative, and whether the rules were overly complicated. A vote was called and the motion failed.

Susan Wishnetsky moved to rescind list moderation; the motion was seconded. Eric Anderson moved to table the motion; this motion was seconded and voted on; the motion failed. After discussion, the motion to rescind moderation was discussed and voted on; the motion failed. Daniel McGuire moved to make neither the moderated nor the unmoderated list the default list for new members; the motion was seconded and passed.

New Business

Justin Mallone presented several changes to the Declaration of Principles and two new sections (concerning the right to bear arms and "gulag schools") to be placed upon the ballot of the upcoming general election. Eric Anderson moved that all of the Declaration changes be approved for placement on the ballot. The motion was seconded. After some discussion, Susan Wishnetsky moved to amend the original motion to approve only the changes in the Declaration, and consider the new sections separately. The amendment was seconded and, after additional discussion, passed. The amended motion was then voted on and passed unanimously.

Eric Anderson moved to approve the new Declaration sections for the ballot. After additional discussion it became clear that the sticking point was the use of the expression "gulag schools". Discussion of the issue centered around whether "gulag schools" was an accepted and widely understood phrase; there was also argument over the phrase as a frank and correct portrayal of the "schools" in question, versus a term which would seem biased and extremist. Eric Anderson moved to amend his own wording to add the phrase "behavior modification schools" in parentheses as an explanation. The amendment was seconded and passed, but after more discussion, the amended motion was voted on and failed. Eric Anderson moved to approve only the new section on the right to bear arms for the ballot. The motion was seconded and passed.

Eric then moved to approve the "gulag schools" section for the ballot; the motion was seconded. Matthew Havens moved to amend this motion to remove all uses of the expression "gulag schools" and replace it with "behavior modification schools"; the motion was seconded. A motion was made and seconded to table the amendment; the motion failed. After additional discussion, it was again moved to table the motion. The motion to table was seconded and passed.

Justin Mallone moved to set up an account with Paypal.com for the purpose of accepting donations online; the motion was seconded. After discussion, the motion passed.

Justin Mallone raised the issue of creating a more automated system for signing up new members, to help the secretary keep up. Eric Anderson said that it would be possible to do so, and the extent to which it should be automated was discussed. Susan Wishnetsky said she would, with some reluctance, have to approve of sending automatic letters as well as automating the sign-up to the listservs. No vote was deemed necessary.

Justin Mallone gave his opinion that an additional new section should be written for the Declaration of Principles to address parental rights, so that it could be added to the ballot. He also expressed his desire to see a position paper on this topic.

Susan Wishnetsky asked for clarification of the agenda of the annual general meeting of September 18, so that she could post an announcement. The question was addressed to her satisfaction by Eric.

The issue of the World Congress of Youth was raised. Since Bob M had already left the meeting, and had conveyed to a board member that he did not have additional information at this time, a decision about choosing representatives from ASFAR was not considered.

The matter of the voting day protest was raised. Several individual board members and other members discussed their own efforts to organize local protests.

A motion was made that Daniel McGuire be added to the "survey committee" formed at the last meeting to evaluate results of our member questionnaire. The motion was seconded and passed.

The issue of ASFAR's procedure for electing and seating board members and officers was raised, but no motion was made.

Fundraising in chapters was raised, but as the person who wanted to address the issue was no longer present, there was no discussion.

Aaron Biterman moved to approve the position paper on curfew laws. The motion was seconded. When it became clear that not everyone had seen the most current version, it was decided to postpone the vote.

Dylan S presented his web page and t-shirt designs. There was some discussion of the fonts and other aspects of the design. No motion was made.

Other Business

The next board meeting was scheduled for Thursday, September 7, 2000.

The meeting adjourned at 12:15 am central time.