Individuals for Freethought

General Meeting Minutes

3/29/00

 

15 people present

 

1)      Heath Harding, secretary of the Queer-Straight Alliance, spoke with us on the “Proclamation of Freedom, Justice and Peace.”

a)      According to Heath, there are three purposes behind the proclamation:

i)        to seek truth and understanding

ii)       to observe equal, inalienable rights of all humans

iii)     to seek out freedom, justice, and peace

b)      When the floor was opened for questions/comments, several IF members raised their concerns about the proclamation.

i)        Some people thought that the wording of the proclamation implied that it was aimed at banning hate speech.  Heath made it clear that this was not the intention.

ii)       Others thought that the proclamation was not specific enough and that it sounded reactionary.

c)      We also discussed the potential formation of a liaison between IF and QSA to revise the proclamation.

2)      John Franson gave his last speech as IF President

a)      He briefly stated his reasons for founding the group, and he also mentioned that he was pleased with the organization’s progress over the last two years.  After saying his good-byes and thank yous, he turned the floor over to Paul Youk.

3)      New President Paul Youk also gave a brief speech.

a)      He outlined some of his goals for the coming year:

i)        To continue building the community of freethinkers (and keep the one we already have)

ii)       To have interesting and upbeat activities, such as…

(1)   a fire walk

(2)   a soul auction (8-10 people raised their hands to volunteer for this)

(3)   an unbaptism

iii)     To raise the awareness of IF on campus

4)      Paige Crowson showed off her drawings.

a)      She finished the hybrid CRU logo T-shirt (the overall consensus was very positive for her design).

b)      People talked about putting the IF website address (http://www.ksu.edu/freethought/) on the shirt, but no definite decisions were made yet.

5)      John talked about Open House, which is on 4/1/00.

a)      We’re looking for volunteers.

b)      We discussed having a computer at the table on Saturday so we can show our website to those who are interested.

6)      Next general meeting: Paul said that IF members will have the chance to read selected pieces from their favorite literary works (any topic).