vol. 65, no. 2

Lye | 4 |

MarcH-APRIL 200 I

NEWSPAPER OF THE AMERICAN Civil LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

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San Francisco, CA

ACLU Seeks to End Anti-Gay Harassment

BY STELLA RICHARDSON

MepIA ASSOCIATE

he ACLU-NC filed a lawsuit on

|" January 24th in U.S. District Court in

Fresno on behalf of a former high

school student and the Gay Straight

Alliance Network, seeking to end harass-

ment and discrimination of students who

, are gay or lesbian or who are perceived to

be gay or lesbian in the Visalia Unified

School District. The lawsuit charges that

students are persistently harassed because

of their actual or perceived sexual orienta-

tion by school administrators, teachers,

and classmates, who refer to them in

school as "faggots," "queers," and "homos."

Some students have been physically

assaulted by other students. The suit,

Loomis v. Visalia Unified School District,

seeks to eliminate the hostile and intoler-

ant climate through changes in the policies

and practices of the District.

"We are filing this lawsuit because the

Visalia Unified School District and its

employees are depriving students who are

gay or lesbian or perceived to be gay or les-

bian of their constitutional rights to equali-

ty and due process under the law," said

ACLU-NC staff attorney Robert Kim. "When

public officials not only ignore pleas for

help by gay and lesbian students but in

some cases contribute to the harassment

that they are experiencing, the result is an

unsafe and hostile environment in which

learning is all but impossible."

HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT

John EKichhorst, a partner at the law

firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady,

Falk and Rabkin added, "A hostile learning

in Visalia School District

| George Loomis (center), a former student at Golden West High School, and Carolyn

Laub (left) of the Gay Straight Alliance Network are represented by ACLU-NC cooper-

ating attorney John Eichhorst in their suit against the Visalia Unified School District.

environment harms not only the actual

targets of the harassment, but the entire

community. The Visalia schools are teach-

ing all students, including heterosexual

students, that discrimination is acceptable

in our society. No student should have to

witness harassment or be forced to learn

in an environment in which peers or class-

mates are taunted, harassed, physically

attacked or, in some cases, removed from

the school altogether."

In addition to making federal constitu-

tional claims, the lawsuit is one of the first

to utilize the California Student Safety and

Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (AB 587),

a measure sponsored by state Senator

Sheila Kuehl and passed in 1999, which

forbids discrimination based on actual or

perceived sexual orientation or gender |

identity in any state-funded school in

California.

"As a former student at Golden West

High School, I faced unrelenting harass-

ment from my peers and in some

instances, from my teachers," said plaintiff |

George Loomis. "In the classrooms and -

hallways, people spit on me or called me |

`fag' or `homo' and no one did anything to |

stop it. During my senior year, a teacher

repeatedly made statements about `fag-

gots -referring to me-in front of the

whole class. Everyone laughed at me, and

it encouraged other students to call me

derogatory names too. When I reported

this to the administrators, none of them

did anything about it. That is why it is so

important that this be stopped; there are

too many students who suffer in silence

and are deprived of their education simply

because of their sexual orientation."

The Gay Straight Alliance Network

(GSA), a plaintiff in the case, is a youth-

led nonprofit organization made up of gay,

lesbian, bisexual, transgender and hetero-

sexual students and adults who are dedi-

cated to eliminating homophobia and

intolerance in California schools. The GSA

Network has over 150 clubs in northern

and central California, including an office

in Fresno.

"T think it is critical that this climate of

intolerance in the Visalia schools be

stopped," said Carolyn Laub, is Executive

Director of GSA Network. "In surveys that

we've conducted in California schools, we

have found that 538% of students at public

and private high schools surveyed indicat-

ed that each day they hear homophobic

comments at school. The same survey

shows that 84% of students surveyed said

that teachers or administrators never or

rarely intervene when anti-gay comments

are made. How can a student who is gay or

lesbian feel safe, much less learn, in such

an environment?"

The plaintiffs are represented by the

ACLU-NC and cooperating attorneys from

Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk and

Rabkin. @

COOHOHOHOSHOOSHOHOHOHHOHSSHSHHSHHHHSHSHHOHSSHOHOHHHOHHHOHHSHHSHHHSHSHHHOSHSHSHHHHSHHSHHSHHSHHSHHHHSHSHHHHSHHSHHHHHHHHHHHSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOHOOO

VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH

Court Upholds Library's Right to Provide

Uncensored Access to Internet

na resounding victory for civil liber-

| ties, the First District Court of Appeal -

in San Francisco ruled on March 6

that a parent may not force a public

library to censor the Internet access of its

patrons in order to control her own child's

use of the Internet.

"The Court's decision in this first-of-its-

kind case is a true vindication for public

libraries committed to preserving the First

Amendment rights of their patrons," said

ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann Brick, who

helped argue the case for the library in the

Court of Appeal and submitted a friend-of-

the-court brief on behalf of the national

ACLU, People for the American Way and

the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Kathleen R. sued the City of Livermore

when her 12 year-old-son downloaded a

number of explicit pictures at the

Livermore Public Library and then took

the disk to the home of a relative, and

printed the pictures.

The Alameda County Superior Court

had twice dismissed the case, in which

Kathleen R. first argued that the library's

open-access policy constituted a "public

nuisance," and then argued that the library

"No longer are libraries faced with a

`damned if you do, damned if you don't'

choice when it comes to providing uncen-

sored access to the Internet," added Brick.

| "The court's opinion is unequivocal in ruling

_ that libraries may not be required to blue-

| pencil content on the Internet, nor may they

The court's opinion is unequivocal in

ruling that libraries may not be required

to blue-pencil content on the Internet.

has a constitutional obligation to censor

Internet access. The Court of Appeal

upheld the lower court's rulings dismissing

the case.

| be required to take over the role of parents

in monitoring the library use of minors."

In 1998, in a related case, a federal

appeals court in Virginia ruled that a

See Inside: 2000 Annual Report

library's policy of using blocking software

to censor materials online "offends the

guarantee of free speech." The ACLU rep-

resented Internet content providers in

that case against the Loudoun County

Library. In voiding the library's blocking

policy, the judge noted that the software,

which claimed to "filter" out only obscene

material, blocked sites including the San

Francisco Chronicle as well as the web site

| of the Maryland affiliate of the American

Association of University Women.

The issue of censoring library Internet

access will soon be before the courts again

| when the ACLU files its challenge to the

recently enacted federal Children's' Internet

| Protection Act. The ACLU contends that the

_ statute, which requires libraries that receive

_ certain federal funds to install blocking soft-

ware to censor Internet access, violates the

First Amendment.

Dear ACLU News Readers

arly in my tenure as editor of the ACLU News, our affiliate

EC ciepera its 50th anniversary. We decided to publish an

anniversary edition of the newspaper, and I took down from my

bookshelf five dusty black volumes of the ACLU News, dating

back to 1936 (although the affiliate was founded in 1934, we

began publishing the paper two years later).

In the very first issue, editor - and former Executive

Director - Ernie Besig wrote about winning damages for

strikers who had been attacked by vigilantes during the

General Strike. He also wrote about the ACLU defense of a 9-year old Jehovah's

Witness who had been expelled from her Sacramento elementary school for refusing to

say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I thumbed through the yellowing newsprint, fascinated by the history and proud of

the role that our affiliate played in facing the injustices of the times. I read about

union members tarred and feathered in Sonoma, the segregation of Mexican high

school students, and the deportation of anarchists, Communists and anti-Fascists.

In the 40's, editor Besig wrote about the "Gestapo-like conditions' of the Japanese

Americans interned at Tule Lake, Tanforan and Manzanar, and about our solitary

defense of Fred Korematsu for defying Roosevelt's Executive Order.

It was impossible to stop reading. And it was then that I realized how fortunate I

was to be the editor of the ACLU News.

As I leave the ACLU-NC after two decades as Public Information Director, I still

believe that this is a dream job. Where else can you wake up in the morning hearing

news of an injustice - a cutback in reproductive rights, an expansion of the death

penalty - and go to work and do something about it? I will never forget the first exe-

cution in California in 25 years, when we stayed through the night to report on the out-

rage, the appeals and the anguish. Or the huge press conference the day after the

passage of the Proposition 187, when we announced our challenge to that anti-immi-

grant measure. Or the meeting with our Coalition partners, in the wee hours of a

November morning following the vote count in Proposition 209, where we pledged to

fight the rollback of affirmative action.

[ have been inspired by our clients - from Fred Korematsu, to the veterans who were

pummeled by military policemen for unfurling anti-war banners at the Presidio, to the

hospital workers who were disciplined for speaking Chinese, Spanish and Tagalog, to

the students who insisted on expressing their ideas on murals, T-shirts and websites.

I have learned something every day from my colleagues on the staff and Board:

sword against those who would violate our civil liberties. I am especially proud to have

shared the title of ACLU News editor with our Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich,

whose courage, leadership and comradeship | will always treasure.

And I am profoundly grateful to you, dear readers, the members and supporters of

the ACLU. I am in awe of your continuing generosity in building this organization and

your willingness to act for justice.

I hope that the two decades of civil liberties battles that I have chronicled in the

ACLU News will be as inspiring to future editors, readers and activists as the stories I

read in the dusty volumes when J first arrived.

With many thanks

HL 44 O20x00A7_

their cooperative spirit, creativity, intelligence and tenacity have wielded a mighty (c)

laine Elinson, Editor

ACLU-NC Board,

Staff Members Honored

MARLENE DE LANCIE

The San Mateo County Board of

Supervisors and the Commission on the

Status of Women will induct ACLU-NC

Board member Marlene De Lancie into the

Women's Hall of Fame on March 22. Citing

De Lancie's "never-ending spirit," the

Commission lauds her "for fighting for her

beliefs and bringing about changes in our

schools and legal system." De Lancie, who

helped to desegregate the San Mateo City

Elementary and Union High School

Districts, has been active with the ACLU

for four decades. She has led the Bill of

Rights fundraising campaign for more than

15 years; she serves on the Development

and Field Committees and is the North

Peninsula Chapter representative to the

Board. The ACLU-NC gave De Lancie the

Lola Hanzel Courageous Advocacy Award

in 1997 for her outstanding volunteer ser-

vices to the affiliate.

QUINN DELANEY

The San Francisco Women's Foundation

will honor ACLU-NC Board member Quinn

Delaney at its 22nd Anniversary Gala on

March 22. Delaney is being honored with

' the Foundation's Dream Maker Award for

her contributions as a Founding Donor of

the Economic Development and Justice

Fund Donor Circle of the Women's

Foundation and as Director of the Akonadi

Foundation. Delaney is a Vice-Chair of the

ACLU-NC Board of Directors, and Chair of

the ACLU-NC Development Committee.

She has played a leadership role in help-

ing the national ACLU build its endow-

`ment campaign, the Trust for the Bill of

`Rights, and was a delegate to the 1999

Biennial Conference.

Ep CHEN

The Asian Law Caucus is honoring ACLU-

NC staff attorney Ed Chen as a "civil rights

warrior" at its 29th Anniversary Celebration

"In Defense of Civil Rights," on March 23.

Chen is being honored for his willingness to

"take on the most unlikely cases and to rally

the troops to challenge the establishment,

because he believes that justice can be

done." Chen, who volunteered with the

Caucus before, during and after law school,

has been a staff attorney at the ACLU-NC

since 1985, and Co-Director of the

Language Rights Project. Working with the

Caucus, he represented Vietnamese

American fishermen banned by federal law

from commercial fishing because they had

not yet attained U.S. citizenship. Chen has

worked on landmark civil rights cases, par-

ticularly on race and language discrimina-

tion; he has consistently fought against the

scapegoating and stereotyping of Asian

Americans. In May, Chen will become the

Continued on page 4

New DWEB Bill Defines

Racial Profiling;

Provides Mandatory

Data Collection

, new bill AB 788, introduced by

A ssennomees Marco Firebaugh

(D-LA) and Assemblymember

Jerome Horton (D-LA), canbe a "critical

step in ending racial profiling in California

and providing greater protection for

motorists of color," said Michelle

Alexander, Director of the ACLU-NC Racial

Justice Project.

The bill would make it illegal for law

enforcement officers to rely on race "in any

fashion" and "to any degree" when decid-

ing whom to stop, detain, interrogate or

search (except where there is a specific

suspect description that identifies a sus-

pect by race). The bill also seeks

statewide mandatory data collection, and

restricts the funding that is available to

support voluntary data collection efforts

to those agencies that are already collect-

ing the data described in the new bill.

"One might think that defining racial

profiling is unnecessary, because everyone

knows what it is," said Alexander. "But

surprisingly, law enforcement agencies in

California continue to insist that they can

use race as a factor in deciding whom to

stop and search. This bill clarifies what

should be obvious - namely, that race may

never be relied upon when an officer

makes decisions regarding whom to stop,

detain, interrogate or search - unless

there is a specific suspect description.

There is no excuse for the police to be rely-

ing on race in any other situation."

An officer found to violate the provi-

sions in the racial profiling bill would be

liable for damages no less than $5000.

The bill also mandates statewide data

collection on the race of those stopped and

searched by the police. In California, more

than 60 of the state's 300 law enforcement

agencies have voluntarily agreed to collect

data. However, fewer than ten are collect-

ing the basic data that is necessary to

make meaningful analysis possible.

"Without the right data, it is impossible to

track, monitor or prove discrimination by

the police," explained Elizabeth Guillen,

Legislative Counsel for the Mexican

American Legal Defense and Education

Fund (MALDEF). "Statewide mandatory

data collection remains absolutely critical.

Continued on page 3

SOSHHOHSHSSHOHSHSHHSHOHSHHSHSHSHSHHSHHHSHOSHSHSHHSSHSHHSHSHSSHOSHSHSCHHSHSHSHSHOSSESSEE8S

ACLU Honored by

he Society of Professional

Journalists, Northern California

Chapter, honored the ACLU of |

Northern California with the James

Madison Freedom of Information Award

for an organization that promotes and

| defends free speech and public access

to government.

"Throughout its 67-year existence,

the ACLU-NC has been a leading defend-

er of free speech and freedom of informa-

tion, taking on major legal battles, public

information campaigns, and legislative

efforts to ensure the public's basic rights

under the First Amendment," said Randy |

SPi Freedom of |

Lyman of the

Information Committee. "Last year it

won two Califor-nia cases preserving

individuals' rights to post public infor-

mation on the Internet; and in alliance

with the national ACLU, it won a perma-

nent injunction from the U.S. District

Court of Northern California that bans

the government from revoking the

licenses of doctors who discuss medical

marijuana with their patients.

ACLU News = Marcn-Aprit 2001 = Pace 2

Journalists' Association

The James Madison Freedom of

Information Awards, named for the cre-

ative force behind the First Amendment,

honor local organizations and individuals

who have fought for public access to gov-

ernment meetings and records, or have

promoted the public's right to know, pub-

lish, broadcast, and speak freely about

issues of public concern.

The 12 winners were honored at the

16th annual James Madison Freedom

of Information Awards dinner on March

27 at the Fort Mason Officers Club in

San Francisco.

Also honored were San Jose State

University Professor C. James Schmidt, a

long-time advocate for freedom of infor-

mation in libraries, and the former head

of the American Library Association's

Intellectual Freedom Committee and

Freedom to Read Foundation; the

Berkeley Daily Planet; the Stockton

kecord; the Sonoma Index-Tribune;

Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center, the

First Amendment Project and several

local journalists and educators.

Court Overturns Key Part of Proposition 21

DECISION TO TRY JUVENILES IN ADULT COURT BELONGS TO JUDGES NOT PROSECUTORS

By STELLA RICHARDSON

MeEpIA ASSOCIATE

of Proposition 21, on February 7th the

California Fourth District Court of

Appeal in San Diego ruled 2-1 that a provi-

sion which allowed prosecutors rather

than judges to charge youths as adults is

unconstitutional and a violation of the sep-

aration of powers provision of the state

Constitution. The Court stated that the

decision of whether to prosecute a juvenile

l n the first major victory for opponents

as an adult was essentially a sentencing |

decision, which is the constitutional

province of the courts.

"This is a major ruling that strikes at

the heart of Proposition 21," said ACLU

staff attorney Robert Kim. "One of the core |

purposes of the initiative was to treat |

minors more like adults and transfer more

juvenile cases to the adult criminal court

system. The Court of Appeal is saying that

it is not permissible to resort to unconsti-

tutional means in an effort to increase

incarceration and punishment of youth."

Governor Permitted

to Pursue Attack on

School Districts

n February 8, San Francisco

O Superior Court Judge Peter Busch

ruled that California Governor Gray

Davis's counter-suit, which attempts to foil

ACLU's landmark education lawsuit over

substandard conditions in 18 school dis-

tricts, could proceed. The Governor's suit

transfers responsibility from the state to

the school districts themselves. While

Judge Busch conceded that Davis' counter-

suit is "cumbersome," he found no legal

ground to dismiss it.

"The state is completely denying its

responsibility to the children in our pub-

lic schools," said Michelle Alexander,

Director of the ACLU-NC Racial Justice

for equal access to education. Rather

than responding to the pleas for up-to-

date textbooks, credentialed teachers, |

and sanitary and safe conditions, the |

Governor responded by hiring O'Melveny |

Myers, one of the largest law firms in |

the country, and filing a counter-suit to -

cover its lack of responsibility over the

school districts.

The ACLU suit, filed by all three |

California affiliates and other civil |

rights groups, details the appalling con-

ditions that persist in 18 school districts

in major cities and rural areas through- |

ranging from San -

Francisco to West Contra Costa County, |

out the state,

"The state is completely denying

its responsibility to the children in

our public schools."

ERO|ECh iicte 1s no Control and 10

responsibility, and as a result many of

California's students still don't have

books or an adequate place to learn."

The ACLU lawsuit, Williams v. State

of California, filed last year on behalf of

100 students in 46 different schools,

charges the State of California with fail-

ing to provide the bare essentials neces-

sary for every student's education and

violating state and federal requirements

Oakland, East Palo Alto, and Visalia. _

The charges include classrooms infested

with rats and mice; falling ceilings in

gymnasiums; textbooks that must be

share by several classes of students or

are out-of-date; lack of heat; and a lack

of credentialed teachers.

Both the original ACLU lawsuit and

the Governor's counter-suit will now

proceed in San Francisco Superior

Court.

New DWEB Bill Defines Racial Profiling...

Continued from page 2

Nobody should be misled into believing

that the voluntary data collection efforts of |

a handful of agencies is going to solve this _

problem."

Marcos Contreras, Executive Board

Member of the League of United Latin

American Citizens (LULAC) added,

"Numerous law enforcement agencies are

currently in the process of developing train-

ing regarding racial profiling for their

offices. That is why a statute that establish-

es a proper definition of racial profiling, a |

clear statewide standard regarding what is |

prohibited, and mandatory data collection |

is extremely important at this time."

The bill will also require law enforce-

ment agencies that receive taxpayers' -

funds for voluntarily collecting racial pro- |

filing data to publish their data and to

include five elements of data in their col-

lection and reporting. Those elements are

the race/ethnicity of the motorist stopped, -

the reason for the stop, whether a search |

was conducted, whether drugs or other evi- |

dence of illegal activity was found, and

whether a citation was issued or an arrest

was made.

The bill was endorsed by the Racial |

Justice Coalition, the group that has led

statewide town hall meetings and other

actions against racial profiling. The

Coalition includes the ACLU, LULAC, |

NAACP Branches, Lawyers Committee for

Civil Rights, United Farm Workers, Asian

Law Caucus, National Network for

Immigrant and Refugees Rights, SEIU |

locals and numerous other civil rights and |

community organizations.

ACLU News = Marcn-Aprit 2001 = Pace 3

The ruling comes in the case of

Manduley/kose v. Superior Court of San

Diego County, in which eight San Diego

youths were charged as adults in the

alleged beating and robbing of five

elderly Latino migrant workers. In

September, a judge of the Fourth

District Court of Appeal issued an emer-

gency stay in the proceedings in order to

allow the constitutional issues to be

decided before the youths entered pleas

in adult court.

"Today the court reaffirmed a basic

principle underlying our system of govern-

ment - that the authority to prosecute

someone for a crime and responsibility for

sentencing the guilty should not be placed

in the same hands," said William LaFond,

an attorney for one of the juveniles. "The

By Stan Yoel

DIRECTOR OF PLANNED GIVING

bequest to the ACLU Foundation.

hitchhiked across the country during the

height of the depression to study citri-

culture at Chaffey Jr. College in

field was sparked by a trip he took with

his family to Israel (then Palestine),

where he witnessed the reclamation of

arid lands and the development of citrus

crops. After two years, however, he real-

ized that his true calling was his facility

for and love of language. With the aid of

a scholarship, he transferred to Pomona

College and earned a bachelors degree

with honors in French. He eventually

learned to speak six languages.

Romance Language Philology at UC

Berkeley in the late 1930s, he awakened

to the rise of fascism in Europe. Many of

his professors were emigres who escaped

persecution in Europe. Rosen himself

got a taste of this oppression when he

was detained in southern France by

police officers that suspected him of

attempting to cross the border to sup-

port anti-Franco forces in the Spanish

Civil War. The political crises of World

War II and the resulting human misery

ultimately compelled Rosen to leave

help people impacted by the war.

His first post-academic job was with

the Farm Security Administration,

the United Nations

resettle refugees in Germany and Poland.

Maurice Rosen:

A Life and a Legacy

for Justice

ong-time ACLU member Maurice |

[me saw first-hand in Europe |

and California how the denial of |

civil liberties impacted people. These |

experiences contributed to Rosen's life- _

long commitment to liberty and justice. |

He manifested his beliefs not only |

through his professional and volunteer |

work but also through a generous |

Born in Pennsylvania in 1913, Rosen |

Southern California. His interest in that |

While working on his Ph.D. in-

academia, just short of completing his |

doctorate degree, and work directly to |

through which he aided migrant farm |

workers. He worked for the Red Cross and |

Relief and |

Rehabilitation Administration, where he |

was stationed in post-war Italy and helped |

decision of whether or not to prosecute a

juvenile as an adult is, in effect, a sentenc-

ing decision, because it pre-determines

what will happen to a young person if he or

she is convicted. Proposition 21 took that

authority away from an impartial judge

and gave it to the district attorney, who is

by definition a biased advocate in an adver-

sarial system. The Court, by striking down

this provision, restored the proper balance

to our system."

The ACLU affiliates in California

| joined the challenge to Proposition 21 ini-

tiated by the defendants' legal team... The

ACLU case challenging Proposition 21,

| League of Women Voters v. Davis, filed

immediately after the initiative was passed

in March 2000, is currently pending in the

Court of Appeal.

In 1948, Rosen joined the staff of the

California Department of Social Welfare,

where he worked until retirement in

1978. He traveled throughout California

doing fieldwork and saw firsthand the

results of economic injustice in the state.

He was also one of the first non-lawyers to

become a referee for the Department, and

he conducted hearings throughout

Northern California. One of Rosen's more

notable decisions was a ruling that teach-

ers could receive unemployment benefits.

For this decision, he earned the ire of

then-Governor Ronald Reagan.

During his 22 years of active retire-

ment, he devoted his time and financial

assistance to numerous peace and

justice organizations, including the

Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Gray

Panthers, American Friends Service

Committee, as well as groups working for

peace in the Middle East.

According to his nephew, Stephen

Rosen, Maurice Rosen devoted his nearly

50-year career "to ameliorate social, politi-

cal, and economic injustice both in the

United States and the rest of the world"

and was always aware of the important

role the ACLU played in protecting unpop-

ular viewpoints and liberty for minorities.

"Maurice Rosen led a truly inspira-

tional and remarkable life," said ACLU-

NC Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich.

"His compassion and generosity have

made the world better, and we are deeply

honored that he left the ACLU a bequest

to defend the principles he cared about so

passionately." Hf

If you would like to leave a legacy to

the ACLU, please contact Stan Yogi at

415/621-2493 ext. 330 or by e-mail at

syogi@aclunc.org.

Theater Benefit for the

Playwright

Berkeley, CA 4712-2141

Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-Kensington Chapter

The Laramie

Project

Moises Kaufman will

premiere of his work about the aftermath of the murder of

21-year old gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

Thursday, May 24th at 8PM

Berkeley Repertory Theater.

You may purchase tickets at a reduced rate of $38.50 through the B.A. R.K.

Chapter. Send checks only to: ACLU BARK Chapter, P.O. Box 11141,

(Some low-income/student tickets are available for $30.50)

direct the West Coast

ACLU Honors...

Continued from page 2

first Chinese American federal magistrate

judge in the U.S. District Court for the

Northern District.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER

At its 24th Annual Convention in San Diego

on April 20, the California Association of

Black Lawyers will honor Michelle

Alexander, Director of the ACLU-NC Racial

Justice Project. Alexander is being awarded

one of the Loren Miller Lawyer of Year

Awards, named for an admired African

American jurist. Alexander, who launched

the ACLU-NC Project three years ago, has

led the campaign against racial profiling in

the state. She helped found, and serves as

co-chair of, the Racial Justice Coalition, a

diverse group of dozens of organizations that

spearheaded a statewide grassroots cam-

paign against the practice of Driving While

Black or Brown. She is litigating a suit

against the California Highway Patrol for

racial profiling, as well as a challenge to UC

Chapter Meetings

(Chapter meetings are open to all interested members.

Contact the Chapter activist listed for your area.)

B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-Kensing-

ton) Chapter Meeting: (Usually first Wednesday)

For more information, time and address of meetings,

contact Diana Wellum at 510/841-2069.

Chico Chapter: If you are a member in the Chico/

Redding area, please contact Steven Post-leyes at 530-

345-1449,

Fresno Chapter Meeting: (Usually fourth

Tuesday). Please join our newly reorganized Chapter!

Meetings are held at 7:00 PM at the Fresno Center for

Non-Violence. For more information, call Bob Hirth

209/225-6223 (days).

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender

Chapter For more information, contact Chloe Watts at

sions policy and a landmark education suit

seeking a safe, adequate learning environ-

ment for California's public school students.

WILLIAM WALKER

William Walker, the first Fellow of the

ACLU-NC Howard A. Friedman First

Amendment Education Project, was hon-

ored by Coleman Advocates for Children

and Youth at its 25th Anniversary Gala

Reception on March 15. Walker was cited

as "a creative and energetic leader in San

Francisco's emerging youth movement."

Walker joined the ACLU-NC Youth

Advisory Committee when he was a senior

in high school; since then, he has orga-

nized conferences, spoken in high

schools about civil liberties issues; and

been a participant and a chaperone on |

the Project's summer exploratory jour- |

neys. A leading activist in the campaign

to defeat Proposition 21, the juvenile

injustice initiative in March 2000, Walker

helped to build coalitions to empower

youth of color and to fight the growing

effort to criminalize youth.

510/763-3910 or Jeff Mittman at 510/272-9380.

Marin County Chapter Meeting (Usually third

Monday) Meet at 7:30 p.m. at the Marin Senior

Coordinating Council, "Whistlestop Wheels,"

Caboose Room, 930 Tamalpais Ave., San Rafael For

more information, contact Coleman Persily at

| 415/479-1731.

Mid-Peninsula Chapter Meeting: (Usually fourth

Thursday) Meet at 7:00 PM, at 460 South California

Avenue, Suite 11, Palo Alto. For more information, con-

tact Ken Russell at 650/493-2437.

Monterey County Chapter Meeting: (Usually

third Tuesday) Meet at 7:15 PM, Monterey Library. Call

| ourhotline: 831-622-9894 or for more information, con-

| tact Matt Friday at 831-899-3000.

_ North Peninsula (San Mateo area) Chapter

_ Meeting: (Usually third Monday) Meet at 7:30 PM, at

700 Laurel Street, Park Tower Apartments, top floor.

Berkeley's racially discriminatory admis- |

ACLU News = Marcn-Aprit 2001 = Pace 4

a panel discussion with

Fred Korematsu

eT

Next Generation of Lobbying

Sign up for the ACLU-NC Electronic Action Network!

t's easy - just fill in the coupon below and we will keep you posted on all our grass-

roots lobbying campaigns! Your voice is just a click away! :

Name

Paul Robeson Chapter, ACLU-UC Berkeley

Chapter and The Asian Law Caucus present:

A documentary film followed by

and film director Eric Fournier

iN person.

Friday, April 20

7:30 PM

Asian Pacific Cultural Center

388 Ninth Street, Oakland, CA

Admission Free/Donations Welcome

For more information, contact Grover Dye: 510-530-1712.

Address

City

Phone

Zip

E-Mail:

__ Yes! I am willing to call/write/fax my elected representatives on civil liberties issues

__ Yes! I am willing to write letters to the editor

__ Yes! I am willing to pay a lobby visit to elected officials.

Do you have any special interest/affiliation that would be useful in lobbying?

Please clip and send to Field Department ACLU-NC 1663 Mission Street Ste. 460, SF 94103

Or E-Mail your name, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number to:

Field@aclunc.org

Check-out our web page at: http://members.

aol.com/mpenaclu. For more information, contact Marc

_ Fagel at 650/579-1789.

Paul Robeson Chapter Meeting (Oakland):

(Usually fourth Thursday) For more information contact

Stan Brackett at 510/832-1915.

| Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter

Meeting: (Usually every third Tuesday) Meet at Fiesta

Cafe, 850 Crescent Way, Sunnybrae, Arcata at 7:00 PM.

For information on upcoming meeting dates and times,

please call 707/444-6595.

Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting: For

more information, contact Lisa Maldonado at

415/621-2493. _

_ San Francisco Chapter Meeting: (Third

Tuesday) Meet at 6:45 PM at the ACLU-NC Office,

1663 Mission Street, Suite #460, San Francisco.

Call the Chapter Hotline (979-6699) or

www.ACLUSE org for further details.

Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting:

(Usually first Tuesday) Meet at 7:00 PM at the Peace

Center, 48 S. 7th St. San Jose, CA. For further chap-

ter information contact 408/293-2584 or acluscv@

hotmail.com.

Santa Cruz County Chapter Meeting: (Usually

third Monday) Meet at 7:15 PM. For more information,

call the hotline at 831/429-2262.

Sonoma County Chapter Meeting: (Usually third

Tuesday) Meet at 7:00 PM at the Peace and Justice

Center, 540 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa. Call David

Grabill at 707/528-6839 for more information.

Yolo County Chapter Meeting: (Usually third

Tuesday) Meet at 7:30 PM, 2505 Sth Street #154,

Davis. For more information, call Natalie Wormeli at

530/756-1900 or Dick Livingston at 530/753-7255.

at

port

American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

he full impact of the extraordinary drama of the

November election had barely been felt as we

ended the year 2000. The December 12 decision

by the U. S. Supreme Court. was shocking for

those of us who respect and value the indepen-

dence of the judiciary, as well as the importance of

the right to vote and to have our votes count.

The Court's decision ushered in a new administration

that has already embraced a platform that will undo many

of our hard-fought victories for civil liberties: it aims to

weaken the precarious gains we have made to protect repro-

ductive rights, not only in the U.S., but throughout the

world; it vows to expand the government's role in religious

matters with a staggering expansion of "charitable choice;" |

it intends to push for vouchers for private schools to further

harm public schools. Any hints of unifying a divided nation

were surely muted by the appointment of an Attorney

Ta oe

_ tl ryt

General known for his hostility to core civil liberties issues.

These new challenges from Washington are layered on

top of our already full agenda here in northern California.

In fact, we had already significantly expanded our pro-

gram in the past several years to respond to deep and

growing injustices.

With nearly seven decades of experience to guide us

through times of grave danger, the ACLU of Northern

California confronts these challenges armed with a long and

distinguished history of facing injustice. As you will see in

our Annual Report, in the past year we have further devel-

oped our multi-faceted approach to protecting civil liberties.

But even with our dynamic program, we have not

accomplished all that we aspired to do, for we live in a soci-

ety willing to close its eyes to injustice. Just think about the

inhumanity of incarcerating nearly two million people in

prison in this country, and the unconscionable impact of the

Three Strikes law-here in California. Or the fact that nearly

one-third of young African American men are currently

locked up in prison or on parole or probation. These are

numbers that many are aware of, but they are callously

ignored. Witness the overwhelming vote for Proposition 21,

which aims to incarcerate a whole new generation of youth.

We have spent much of the past year building a pro-

gram designed precisely to pierce this silence and indiffer-

ence. Our aim is to expose a criminal justice system imbued

with racism: from the very first traffic stop, to sentencing, to

the imposition of the death penalty.

Our new Racial Justice Project, now expanded to five

full-time staff members, has put the ACLU at the forefront of

a strategy to fight these injustices. Our statewide effort to

fight racial profiling has become a model for a national cam-

paign. In fact, the national ACLU "borrowed" the director

of our Police Practices Project to coordinate the national

campaign against racial profiling. The innovative work of

the Project, along with our spirited fight to defeat

Proposition 21, and our legal efforts to overturn it when we

lost at the polls, have created vehicles to begin to change

public policy, and to publicly expose grave injustices while

we do so.

We also continue to fight on many other fronts. Our

work has had an impact on a broad range of issues: defend-

ing reproductive rights and the right to die; helping to end

the prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee; challenging the contin-

uing fallout from the War on Drugs - including asset forfei-

ture laws and a gag order on doctors who want to talk

about medical marijuana; protecting free expression in

cyberspace; and training a whole new generation of civil lib-

erties activists.

Our pioneering program to train teachers and admin-

istrators about their responsibility to protect gay and lesbian

students from harassment - especially focused in rural

parts of northern California - is now being developed as a

national model. We are collaborating on a plan to intro-

duce the program in five states next year.

Our capacity to fight on so many fronts, employing

many different strategies, has been made possible by the

steady growth of the ACLU of Northern California. The suc-

cess of our annual giving program, and the direct involve-

ment of our Board of Directors and its Development

Committee in insuring that success, have enabled us to fund

our innovative programs. In addition, our important work

has attracted even greater support from both regional and

national foundations. Our Planned Giving Program,

strengthened by the loyalty of so many ACLU members and

supporters, has resulted in significant increases in support

for the ACLU through bequests.

Finally, our most generous supporters

have invested in the Trust for the Bill of

Rights - a joint venture with the

national ACLU to develop an endow-

ment that will provide enduring sup-

port for the organization.

Thus we confront the 21st Century

as a strong organization with deep

experience to guide us through a peri-

od of transition. In the coming year,

national ACLU Executive Director Ira

Glasser will retire from his post. At the same time, the

ACLU of Northern California will be losing three senior

staff members who have made extraordinary contributions

to the work of this organization: veteran Staff Attorney Ed

Chen, Elaine Elinson, who has served as the Director of

Dorothy Ehrlich (L) and Margaret Russell : -

Public Information for twenty years, and the Director of our

Police Practices Project, John Crew. We thank them for their

outstanding work, and we look forward to welcoming new

faces to the fray.

Finally, we mourn the death on June 18, 2000 of Dick

Criley, an inspiring leader who blazed new paths for civil

liberties during his more than 60 years of activism. Dick was

part of an extended family of ACLU-NC supporters - our

26,000 members, activists in 15 chapters, dozens of coop-

erating attorneys who volunteer their time and talent, and

30 dedicated staff members. On behalf of this extended

family, we dedicate ourselves in honor of Dick, to insure

that his principled and courageous fight for justice is vigor-

ously pursued.

Dorothy M. Ehrlich

Executive Director

Margaret Russell

Chair

COVER PHOTO BY SUSANNA MILLMAN

2000 ACLU-NC Annual Report

rom racial jus-

Pc ] A

tice to censor-

ship in cyber-

space, from repro-

ductive rights to

asset seizure - the :

ACLU-NG "Tegal 2 Se

Docket reflects the a

wide range of liti-

gation handled by

our Legal Department.

Managing Attorney Alan Schlosser leads the team of staff attorneys:

Michelle Alexander, Ann Brick, Edward Chen, Margaret Crosby and Robert

Kim. Attorney John Crew, Director of our Police Practices Project, was "on

loan" to the national ACLU, where he coordinated the Campaign Against

Racial Profiling. Our staff attorneys were ably assisted by Frances Beal, Beth

Feinberg and Cynthia Williams.

We share the accomplishments of our legal program with more than 100

dedicated lawyers who donate their services to the ACLU-NC as cooperating

attorneys. Almost one-half of the 59 cases

on our docket this year were handled by

cooperating attorneys working with staff

counsel. Without their expertise and advo-

cacy, we would not be able to address

many pressing civil liberties issues. A list

of the 2000 cooperating attorneys and

firms is on page 19.

The Legal Department also oversees the

work of the Complaint Desk. The Desk,

staffed by committed volunteer counselors,

receives more than 200 calls and letters

each week from people who feel their

rights have been violated. Advised by the

staff attorneys and law students who clerk

for the ACLU-NC during the year, these lay counselors screen requests for

assistance and often provide the advocacy needed to resolve grievances.

Though we cannot describe here every one of our current cases, we sum-

marize here the highlights of our legal docket.

In addition, you will read of the activities and achievements of our many

programs - public information, organizing, legislative advocacy, - that

reflect our collaborative approach in the fight for civil liberties.

ERIC ELEMS

Table of Contents

Freedom of Expression.............. eee secede reset Beem ede ree etc oer er

Racial JUStICe..............cceeeeeeeees Sie pee tee wands wavavede serait eee

Fighting Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation ............... gs node 8

Lepmnep bent RNG oot cs ect cc cee cce evens cee oder erstereiete cies 9

CUE UUSUCB or ic oe oes ete dtee ceteneccass IN

RIGQGUUO PRIMACY (c) ooo. cei ciecs serie sec eee sens Geode oe ced sujecan eu stieebores ore des 15

FusicienaON ke

FisliPinaN ee ices

Howard A. Friedman First Amendment Education Project......... i cee dese "1d

Legislative Program ..................000: course cae Pee, fo ed eee i

Many Thanks to Our Donors........... Fe eee ss ca ID

Development, Finance and Administration .................2.cccceceeeccuscsees eee 2D

= = = El = =

Facing Down Injustice | anes

: 2000 AGLU-NC Annual Report lesTop

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1 American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Howard Quinn Co.

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TB 415/621-2493 www.aclunc.org MNNg @ae

M@he ACLU-NC's legal challenge to the state's practice of concealing lethal

" gas execution procedures from the view of journalists and other wit-

nesses continues its journey through the federal courts. In 1996, when

William Bonin became the first person in California to be executed by lethal

injection, prison officials prevented reporters and other witnesses from

observing the complete execution procedure. Unable to offer first-hand

accounts of the entire process, including the difficulties prison officials admit-

ted they encountered in inserting the IV needles for the lethal injection, jour-

nalists could not thoroughly inform the public on the state execution. Thus,

the public had to rely solely on prison officials for information about how

the death penalty is being implemented by this new method of execution.

In our lawsuit, California First Amendment Coalition v. Woodford, the

ACLU-NC argues that these procedures prevent witnesses from observing

critical parts of the execution process and conceal from public view actual

and potential problems in execution procedures, impeding democratic dis-

cussion of the death penalty and its implementation. After a trial in February,

the District Court issued a permanent injunction against the restrictive pro-

cedures, finding that prison officials had exaggerated their security con-

cerns and that they were in part motivated by a desire to prevent the press

from reporting on problems that might occur. The

case is now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Redwood Forest

Demonstrators

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May

that a jury should decide whether sheriffs' applying

pepper spray to the eyes of nonviolent protestors

engaged in civil disobedience was excessive force.

The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of the

demonstrators, arguing that the use of pepper spray as

a kind of chemical cattle prod on peaceful demonstra-

tors constitutes excessive force and violates the

Constitution. The ACLU brief summarized a wide

range of empirical, scientific and toxicological research

on pepper spray, including animal studies, research and

case studies, which show that pepper spray's active

ingredients, solvents and propellants create a dangerous chemical weapon.

In defense of old-growth redwood trees, activists of the Headwaters

Forest Defense engaged in acts of civil disobedience in government offices,

company offices, and at the logging site. In a novel and dangerous experi-

ment in the removal of demonstrators - several of them minors - who had

locked themselves together, Humboldt County sheriffs directed pepper spray

at the protestors' eyes, sometimes swabbing the chemical directly onto the

eyelids and sometimes spraying demonstrators' faces at close range.

The protestors' lawsuit, Headwaters Forest Defense v. Humboldt County, in

U.S. District Court resulted in a hung jury. The ACLU brief,

supporting the protestors' request for a new jury trial, argued

that the District Court and Humboldt exaggerated the consti-

tutional authority to use pain compliance on demonstrators,

and underestimated the dangerous impact of pepper spray.

Tenants' Speech Rights

The ACLU-NC is urging the California Supreme Court to reject a landlord's

absolute prohibition on the distribution of written material by a tenants'

organization to fellow tenants of a high-rise apartment complex (Golden

Gateway Center v. Golden Gateway Tenants Association). The association was

distributing its newsletter and other materials about tenants' issues at the

apartment doors. The landlord prohibited all leafleting in the building. The

ACLU-NC argues in an amicus brief that landlords of such a large complex

should not have the absolute power to bar door-to-door dissemination of

information to residents who seek to receive it. The guarantee of freedom of

speech in the California Constitution is broader than the First Amendment

and is not limited to restrictions on speech by the government. Under the

principles used to recognize free speech rights in private shopping centers,

the Court should recognize a right of apartment residents to free speech in

their buildings, subject to reasonable regulation by the apartment owner. The

case will be argued in 2001.

Commercial Speech

In October the ACLU-NC took on the difficult question of distinguishing

commercial speech from speech entitled to full First Amendment protection.

In a friend of the court brief filed with the California Supreme Court in Kasky

v. Nike, the ACLU argued that Nike's public responses to charges about the

conditions under which its products are manufactured abroad are entitled to

full First Amendment protection and may not be treated as commercial

speech. Our brief argued that, in distinguishing commercial speech from

fully protected public discourse, the court must take into account the context

in which the communication arises, its content, its medium of communica-

tion, and its intended audience.

Library Internet Access

The ACLU continued its defense of on-line free speech in libraries,

opposing a lawsuit, Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore, that would require

the Livermore Public Library to censor Internet use. The Alameda

County Superior Court has twice dismissed the lawsuit; those rulings

are now on appeal.

The lawsuit, which is a direct challenge to the library's open access

policy allowing all library users unrestricted access to the Internet, was

filed by a woman whose son downloaded sexually explicit material. If suc-

cessful, it would require the library to censor the Internet access of all

patrons. The ACLU argues that libraries have a vital and longstanding

role as an information resource for all people and are protected from law-

suits such as this one both by federal statute and by the First Amendment.

Nancy OTTO

Just as the year was ending, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Free Speech Coalition v. Reno, a

case in which the ACLU-NC has filed friend of the court briefs in both the

federal District Court and in the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit held that

the federal Child Pornography Protection Act (CPPA) violates the First

Amendment by outlawing sexually explicit images that only "appear to be"

minors or "convey the impression" that a minor was used in their produc-

tion. We argue that because the law criminalizes non-obscene materials

that do not involve the participation of minors, writers, filmmakers and

other artists are restricted from using even young-looking adults or com-

puter-generated graphics in their work. We plan to file a similar brief in

the Supreme Court.

rhen you wake up to a headline,

"ACLU Sues State over Deplorable

Conditions in Area Schools," nod in

agreement over an_ editorial chastising

Governor Davis for not signing a DWB bill, or

hear powerful arguments by an ACLU

spokesperson on a radio talk show speaking

about the death penalty, the incarceration of

juveniles or English-only laws, you are witness-

ing the work of the ACLU-NC Public

Information Department. Through creative

outreach to the media, hard-hitting opinion

pieces and analyses, and publications that

address key civil liberties issues, we work to

ensure that the voices of civil liberties advocates

resound throughout northern California.

Our Public Information Department is known

as a reliable and comprehensive resource for

local, state and national media. Reporters call

our office every day for comment and back-

ground on civil liberties issues - we field more

than 100 press calls a month. In addition to

providing timely and comprehensive informa-

tion on our litigation and legislative efforts,

ACLU spokespeople provide expert background

and thoughtful opinion on cutting-edge issues

ranging from racial profiling and DNA testing

to Internet censorship and equal protection for

lesbian and gay employees.

Through press conferences, press releases,

radio and TV talk

shows, op-ed

columns, letters to

the editor and well-

crafted media strate-

gies, we affirmatively

reach out through

the media to deliver

our civil liberties

messages to the pub-

lic. This year we sent

out more than 60

press releases; and

held numerous press

conferences on

issues ranging from

our landmark educa-

tion lawsuit to the

janmenine. Ol a

Spanish-language ad

campaign targeting Latino victims of racial pro-

filing. We also encourage reporters to attend

court hearings to hear our attorneys' powerful

arguments. We have made a special effort to do

outreach to the ethnic media, and civil liberties

stories are now regularly featured in outlets serv-

ing the African American, Latino, Chinese,

Southeast Asian and Indian communities.

This year, we collaborated with the

Racial Justice Project on an unprecedent-

ed publicity campaign - using both paid

and unpaid media - to promote our

"Driving While Black or Brown" -- DWB

- hotline and to mobilize opposition to

the practice of race-based police stops.

Working with local media outlets, we

garnered publicity for Town Meetings

about racial profiling from San Jose to

Oakland to Stockton; the local media

coverage helped build momentum and

statewide coverage for the mass rally on

April 27 at the state Capitol. We contin-

ued our publicity campaign throughout

the year, with editorials, opinion pieces

and feature stories on people who had

called our hotline to detail their DWB experi-

ences. During the Democratic National

Convention in August, we worked with the

national ACLU to place a full-page ad in the

New York Times asking "Governor Davis:

Why are You the Only Governor to Veto a

Racial Profiling Law?" signed by dozens

of national civil rights leaders. This year,

with the pro bono assistance of Head

Quarters Advertising, we expanded our

Spanish language radio ad campaign, tar-

geting stations in the San Jose area and the

San Joaquin Valley. The ad campaign gen-

erated numerous news and feature stories

on the Spanish television and radio net-

works, and in newspapers and magazines,

leading to even more exposure for the hot-

line. Our ad campaign was adopted by

the national ACLU and used as a model

0x00B0 for other states.

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0x2122 Our affiliate web site www.aclunc.org

gives us new opportunities to provide informa-

tion to those seeking to learn more about civil

liberties in northern California.

This year, we began a monthly column, "Taking

Liberties" in the statewide legal paper, the Daily

Journal, allowing us to share our views and

analyses with the legal community on a regular

basis. ACLU staff members, drawing on their

expertise, have contributed opinion pieces on

Governor Davis's dismal civil rights record,

asset seizure laws, immigration policy and

other key issues. ACLU-NC Executive Director

Dorothy Ehrlich is a regular contributor to

KQED-FM's "Perspectives" series. Ehrlich's

insightful and provocative commentaries on

issues ranging from juvenile justice to reproduc-

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tive rights are heard by tens of thousands of

NPR listeners throughout northern California.

The ACLU News, published bimonthly and dis-

tributed to our 25,000 members in northern |

California, is our primary means of informing

our constituency about current activities and poli-

cies of the affiliate. It also serves to alert con-

cerned people about the need for public support

of key civil liberties measures at a time when

grassroots activism can have the greatest impact.

Our popular publications - on topics ranging

from drug testing at the workplace to free

speech rights at shopping centers - are dissemi-

nated widely around the state. This year, we

published a new, updated edition of our student |

rights brochure, We Have Rights Too...But What

Are They?, our question-and-answer booklet on

the rights of youth. The earlier edition of this

brochure was distributed to 160,000 high

school students free of charge. Our pocket-sized

Rights on Arrest cards, available in English,

Spanish and Chinese are always in demand;

and How Do I Make My Choice? Reproductive

Rights in California is distributed widely in

health clinics and women's organizations.

We also produce fact-filled literature on cru-

cial campaign issues distributed by the thou-

sands door-to-door, precinct-by-precinct. This

year we published background materials on

juvenile justice for Proposition 21, lesbian and

gay rights for Proposition 22, and vouchers and

civil liberties for Proposition 38.

Our Public Information Department often

serves as a consultant on media strategy for the

many civil rights and civil liberties organiza-

tions with whom we work in coalition.

Throughout the year, we have helped create

public education campaigns on issues ranging

from the death penalty to affirmative action in a

post-209 California. Public Information

Director Elaine Elinson is a member of the

national ACLU Public Education Group, which

helps create materials and coordinate public

information efforts throughout the country.

The Public Information Department is |

directed by Elinson with assistance from |

Public Information Associate Stella

Richardson and Program Assistant Melissa |

Schwartz. We are fortunate to have the assis- |

tance of long-term, committed volunteers

who help to monitor the press and maintain

our extensive subject files as well as a number

of students who intern with

our Department throughout

the year.