50^th AAUW Texas Conference

50^th Anniversary of Title IX

You are invited to a “Golden Opportunity” to celebrate the 50^th AAUW Texas Conference and the 50^th Anniversary of Title IX with fellow AAUW members. For the safety of our members and their families the conference will be an all-virtual event.

We have an exciting program planned. The schedule includes five speakers, the announcement of the new slate of state board officers, a ceremony to honor 50-year members, and a slide show celebrating the accomplishments of branches and members. The impactful day will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. with scheduled breaks so attendees may join at various times during the day. We hope you plan to join us for this day of celebration. Registrants will receive an online program booklet with the complete schedule after registration. 

The state AAUW Texas board has approved funds to make the conference free to attend for all members. Registration will be required to obtain the Zoom link, but there will be no charge. Please watch your email for a registration link for a Zoom webinar. After registration, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the webinar. If you do not receive an email invitation, please check your spam folder. You will also receive a reminder email one week and the day before the conference with the link so it will be convenient to join. 

The title of my presentation is the title of my (so far unpublished) book: The Lady and the Letters. It is about one of our AAUW national staff who worked to get women academics out of Nazi-occupied countries prior to World War II. She was one of the speakers at the National Convention held in Dallas/Fort Worth in 1945, the first in-person convention after the War. The manuscript was awarded second place for Literary Non-Fiction at the Mayborn Literary Non-Fiction Conference in 2019. 

Jackie graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a degree in journalism and received her master’s degree in education from the University of Louisville. She taught in middle schools and colleges for 30 years and served as associate editor for The Docent Educator for 14 years. She was director of the New Orleans Museum of Art volunteer program and curator of education for the Clarksville-Montgomery County Museum as well as a museum education consultant for many years. 

For more information: https://www.kcslawoffices.com/

For more information: https://gofrogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/raegan-pebley/956

For more information: https://transform.laep.org/speakers/dr-taharee-jackson/

AAUW Texas State Outstanding Member and

Your branch nominees for the AAUW Texas State Outstanding Member Award and AAUW Texas State Outstanding New Member Award are due March 15, 2022. Please submit nominations for either – or both – of these awards, by submitting a persuasive narrative of (1000 words or less) describing the accomplishments of the member and why she should be named AAUW Texas State Outstanding Member or AAUW Texas State Outstanding New Member. Please submit narratives and a photo of each nominee to Barbara Cager at bcager@sbcglobal.net by March 15, 2022.

Select that exceptional member in your branch to nominate for the AAUW Texas Outstanding Member Award: 

·       The member who has made an impact on the branch

·       The person who you cannot imagine your branch functioning without

·       The person who has helped to make branch activities successful despite the unprecedented challenges we faced the past two years. 

Please nominate that special new member for the AAUW Texas State Outstanding New Member Award:

·       A member who has only been with your branch 3 or fewer years but has already made her mark

·       She has a can-do attitude

·       She has jumped right in working for the success of the branch

Winners with be announced for both categories during our Virtual 50^th AAUW Texas State Conference – “Golden Opportunity”- April 30, 2022.

The AAUW Texas Board of Directors election and voting on proposed bylaws changes will occur April 1-15, 2022. You will receive an email with a link to the ballot on April 1^st. Please vote for the board candidates and on the proposed bylaws changes before voting ends at 11:59pm on the 15th. All the information is available in this edition of the UWT so that you may prepare to vote before the ballot arrives. Please be sure to check all your email boxes if the ballot doesn’t appear in your primary box.

The seven proposed changes to the bylaws fall into two categories. Proposals #1 - #3 are clarifying amendments and Proposals #4 - #7 relate to the district representatives. Each proposal below gives the rationale for the change and shows the proposed new language in underline and the proposed deletions in strikeout. The section prior to Proposals #4 - #7 contains background information related to all four proposals.

If members have any questions about the changes, please contact Bylaws Chair, Ann Berasley at ann.berasley@gmail.com.

Proposal #1: To make the description for dual members consistent with individual members and life members in Section 2. Basis of Membership by specifying the dues paid by dual members.

Rationale:   Dues paid by dual members are not included this section as they are for individual and life members. This addition makes this section consistent with itself and with Section 3. Dues, which specifies when an individual member chooses to become a dual member, they pay AAUW Texas dues once regardless of the number of branches they join. 

Section 2.  Basis of Membership. 

a.     Individual members.

(1)  An individual member must be a member of AAUW. Membership in AAUW Texas is granted upon the payment of AAUW Texas dues. Individual members may be, but are not required to be, members of an affiliate formed as a branch.

(2)  Life Membership

    (a)     Paid. Paid Life Members of AAUW, who are members of affiliates within the boundaries of AAUW Texas are required to pay AAUW Texas dues.

     (b)     Fifty-Year Honorary. Fifty-Year Honorary Life Members of AAUW who reside or are members of affiliates within the boundaries of AAUW Texas are exempt from payment of AAUW Texas dues.

(3) Dual members. Dual members are individual members who have concurrent membership in more than one affiliate formed as a branch within AAUW Texas boundaries. A member may become a dual member without payment of additional AAUW Texas dues.

 

Proposal #2: To align the AAUW Texas bylaws with AAUW policies related to admittance and discontinuance of affiliates formed as branches.

Rationale: Over time, AAUW has changed its policies regarding how state organizations, such as AAUW Texas, participates in the process to admit new affiliates that form as branches and to discontinue existing branches. This change aligns AAUW Texas bylaws with the current AAUW policies. In addition, because this change refers to AAUW policies rather than incorporating the current policy, the AAUW Texas bylaws would not require updating when the AAUW policy changes.

Section 3. Branch Recommendations. The board shall participate in recommend to the AAUW action to be taken in regard to the admittance of new affiliates formed as branches or discontinuance of current branches within the organization as specified in AAUW policies.

Proposal #3: To clarify that the board of directors will determine the voting method or methods that each member may use to cast their vote regarding AAUW Texas business.

Rationale: The current bylaws language was added to allow AAUW Texas to implement one-member one-vote. This change clarifies the process used by AAUW Texas to implement this bylaws provision.   

Section 2. Voting.

c. Voting shall be held so that each in which all members may cast their vote. The board of directors will determine the voting method or methods in which members may vote. in person, electronically, or by mail.

Proposal #4: To eliminate the minimum number of branches in a district.

Rationale: The bylaws require a minimum of four branches in a district. In 2009-2010, AAUW Texas had 45 branches. Since then, AAUW Texas continues to lose branches, with the current count at 29 that are more geographically dispersed. Requiring the board of directors to consider the size and number of the branches along with the distance among the branches when setting district boundaries would allow more flexibility to allow district representatives to best serve the branches in their district.

Section 1. Districts. The state shall be divided into at least four geographical districts, the total number and boundaries of which shall be determined by the state board of directors no later than March 31 on non-designated convening years. When determining the district boundaries, the state board will consider the size and number of branches along with the distance among the branches in a district. No district shall have fewer than four branches.

Proposal #5: To reduce the threshold for a district representative from one for each 10 to one for each 8 branches.

Rationale: Balancing the workload of a district representative has historically considered the number of branches served along with the travel distance/time to the branches in the district. Reducing the number of branches per district director to a maximum of 8 instead of 10 will help maintain a balanced workload.

Section 2. Representation. Each district is entitled to one representative for each eight (8) ten (10) branches or fraction thereof.  

Proposal #6: To require the district representatives to join the branches in their district and for AAUW Texas to reimburse the cost of those memberships.

Rationale: Joining the branches has been an effective way to for district representatives to get to know their branches as they receive all the branch communications and are notified of the opportunities to participate in branch activities. Asking the district representatives to join three or more other branches at their own expense may be prohibitive for some members.

Section 3. Duties.

b.     The district representatives will join all the branches in their district. The state board will pay for the branch dues for the branches other than the district representative’s home branch.

Proposal #7: To eliminate the requirement that district representatives host district meetings at each state convening.

Rationale: At one time, district representatives were elected at district meetings held at state convenings. Since the district representatives are no longer elected at district meetings, the reason for these meetings to be mandatory no longer exists. However, if district representatives need or want to hold a meeting the bylaws will remain flexible.

Section 3. Duties.

c.      b. At a state convening, the district representatives will may host district meetings with attendees from their district.

-Diane Roberts

Books have been challenged, banned, and censored ever since there has been the written word. A challenged book is one that a person or group has asked to have removed or restricted from a library or curriculum, and a banned book is one that has been removed. A censored book has had undesirable words and scenes removed or changed to less objectionable ones, such as Thomas Bowdler sanitizing Shakespeare to make it more suitable for women and children in the 19^th century.

Reasons for banning books include depictions of sexuality, puberty, nudity, race, political issues, religion, and violence. Boston famously used to ban books so often that publishers liked it because it increased sales. Indeed, Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, 42 years after its publication, the only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize, rose simultaneously to numbers two (The Complete Maus, which includes a second volume) and eight (Maus) on Amazon sales charts Feb. 6, 2022, since it was banned by a Tennessee school board for profanity and nudity.

Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools too. Interestingly according to Bookriot.com, Texas State Representative Matt Krause sent a letter on October 25, 2021, to the Texas Education Agency asking how many of the schools in the state had the 850 books listed on a 16-page spreadsheet, as well as how much schools had spent on them.

The American Library Association tracks book challenges and says that in 2020 273 books were banned (removed) or challenged, down from the 2017 number of over 416. Many more challenges are never reported.

Know your battles:

Parents and guardians have a right to supervise and restrict their children’s reading materials, and such restrictions are made easier by most libraries now having computerized catalogs and check-out.

There are also important considerations of age appropriateness and community standards.

·       Not for my age child

·       Not for my child at any age

·       Not for any child

·       Not for any adult

·       Complete destruction all copies of the book in the universe forever

How to deal with objections to books:

·       Be prepared with reasonable arguments and suggestions.

·       Meet with parents and suggest alternatives.

·       Agree to substitute a similar book for a class assigned text.

·       Meet with school principals, librarians, and PTAs to discuss issues.

·       Let the public know that objections are being made – publicize challenges.

·       Put a restriction on the book by age, grade, or parental consent on a young patron’s library record.

·       Make the book available only by request and keep in the back office.

·       Agree to remove the book from circulation temporarily.

·       Agree to remove the book from the library collection.

·       In a library serving a wide age range, books for older readers can be flagged.

Many parents object to portrayals of difficulties that their children are going through themselves. It’s important to understand that seeing characters in fiction can help readers understand that they are not alone, that others have gone through the same traumas and have dealt with them –divorce, abuse, bullying, rape, grinding poverty, prejudice and indifference. Books portraying terrible situations can help readers understand and sympathize with the problems of others

One reading advocate, Jim Trelease, was asked why he read a book to his 10-year old son that made them both weep and replied that his son had always cried for himself, but Where the Red Fern Grows made him cry for something other than himself. (Spoiler alert: not one but both dogs die in the end)

It may be hazardous to a librarian or teacher’s job to refuse requests for removal, and it is a personal choice of how strongly to object to the removal of any book. Keep in mind that many books that are deemed harmless by most people can be on lists of objectionable books. This includes the Harry Potter books, Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Captain Underpants, Philip Pullman books (The Golden Compass and sequels), and hundreds of others.

Ask parents, principals, and other objectors to actually read a book they are trying to have removed. Sometimes this will have the happy result that objectors will see what they have disliked in context and decide that the book is acceptable after all.