The NORTH COUNTRY CONNECTION
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The St. Lawrence County Branch will hold our annual membership meeting on Saturday, June 23 from 10:30 am to 1 pm in the Multipurpose Room at Miller Campus Center at SUNY Canton (site of the recent Clothing Fair). The brunch is $12 per person and you must pre-pay and RSVP no later than June 18 to Treasurer Susan Godreau. (Include your $12 with your dues check!) Park in Lot 13; the building is fully handicapped accessible. This would be an excellent time to bring a guest to introduce her to the wonderful world of AAUW here in St. Lawrence County!
At our annual business meeting we will elect and install new officers for the coming AAUW year. In addition, we will be voting to create a High Peaks Satellite of the branch of facilitate the expansion of AAUW into the Saranac Lake area. We will also have displays of AAUW programs and projects and membership awards. The program will also feature Viki Levitt reading selected poetry.
Our AAUW Scholarship winners will be presented, as well. Come and meet our 2007 winners: Stacy Dailey and Emma Siaw. Stacy graduated from SUNY Canton in May 2007 and will be attending SUNY Potsdam for their Early Education Program (Birth-2). She has been the past president of the Early Childhood Club at SUNY Canton and has worked with adults with physical disabilities. Emma, will be going to SUNY Brockport to major in nursing. She received her two year degree in nursing from SUNY Canton in May 2007.
Special thanks go to this year's Nominating Committee of Becky Gerber, Viki Levitt and Christine Doran who worked hard to prepare a slate of officers for election at the June meeting. A very special welcome to the new people who will be coming onto the AAUW Board on July 1 and a big thank you to those who will be returning to leadership!
Viki Levitt will install the officers at a special ceremony following the election at the annual meeting. Please be there to lend your support!
Appointed Positions: Want to serve as a member or the chair of an AAUW committee? Please be sure to let our new president, Lisa Wilson, know of your interest at the meting. There is always room for more women to help with the important work of AAUW.
Hopefully you are enjoying this beautiful summer - a bit on the chilly side, which I don't mind - and you are also planning to take some time off from your regular responsibilities of the year. There is no better time than summer to feel invigorated and cheerful!
We had a good year at the St. Lawrence Branch: it started with the wonderful visit of Lisa Maatz for the District meeting and the visit of Betsy Forkas, and then the Rhoda Fox Graves panel, the Title IX events planned around Mitzi Witchger's visit, two excellent membership meetings, the lovely LAF fund raisers, the Professional Clothing Fair, a successful Open Windows season, and also the exciting addition of a 'satellite branch' in Saranac Lake.
Anne Malone's work in membership has brought new members and kept the roster healthy. Our regular contributions to LAF and EF were better this year, and for that we received diplomas and "stars" at the recent NYS convention. The extraordinarily good work of Donna Seymour on PR and the newsletter was also recognized at the State level.
I would like to thank Mary Bucher for her work with the scholarship committee; Kay Briggs for helping with several events; and Becky Gerber, Viki Levitt, and Christine Doran for their work with the nominating committee.
We are really grateful to Lisa Wilson who went to Saratoga for the NY State Convention to represent us; she came back with much energy and enthusiasm about the organization. Lisa has done a splendid job as a Program VP and she is looking forward to continue her work with the board.
All board members have worked hard organizing and doing their part; Faye White and Trudy Stacy have done a beautiful job fund rising and organizing for girls to attend summer camps. Susan Godreau graciously continued in charge of our finances, and we want to thank her great contribution now that she is leaving the board.
We also would like to express our most wholehearted gratitude to Carli Schniffer for her years in the board, and for all her work on many projects. We wish her the best in her move to the West Coast, and congratulations on the new job!
My second term as branch president is up and at the June 23 meeting you will be able to select a new president. It is exciting to know that there are members willing to put their names up to fill-up the board slots. They are all going to serve the organization well and it's most healthy to have new energy in the organization.
I invite you to the June 23 meeting and apologize that I won't be able to be there this time to say my good byes and thank you all. I would like to thank you for the fine kindness, support, help, encouragement and wisdom you have given me during these four years.
This is an excellent organization and I had the best times with the branch. I truly enjoy the work we do and I will continue to be involved. I will not miss seeing my picture in the papers every other day for once! Thanks again.
Sincerely,
The Legal Advocacy Fund and the Educational Foundation were the beneficiary of our May 12th Garden of Tributes. Becky Gerber, our Legal Advocacy Fund VP, put together a lovely program. Those members who came enjoyed a very special time and heard some wonderful stories about the special women that each of us have had in our lives. We took in donations of $220 for LAF and $25 for EF!
A special thanks to everyone who contributed to make the latest Professional Clothing Fair a success. Betty Connolly took the organizational lead at SUNY Canton, with able assistance from other AAUW members like Mary Bucher, Carli Schiffner and Faye White, our grand dame of the Fair! Many folks were helped.
Click here to see a photo on North Country Now!
We have 11 girls attending summer camps or programs: Clarkson Horizons I and II, 4-H Camp Overlook, DEC Environmental Education Camp, Triple Crown Horsemanship Camp, Clarkson Soccer Camp, Theater/Drama, and taking violin lessons.
Thank you to each of you who have made generous contributions to Open Windows for Girls. Your support makes it possible for these girls to participate in positive summer learning experiences. It is never too late (or too early) to write a check for OW!
In February, we contributed to the travel cost of the North Country Ice Storm Girls Hockey Team to attend the state tournament. The following is a note from one of the team parents: "Members of SLC AAUW, every little bit helps! This is a nice group of young women and they represent our area well. I expect many of them will look to local colleges in the next few years, especially if the local schools continue to support women's athletics."
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is the federal statute prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. AAUW strongly supports Title IX and opposes any efforts that would weaken its effectiveness or undermine its enforcement. Commonly known for creating opportunities for women and girls in athletics, Title IX affects all areas of education. It has made it possible for women to pursue careers as lawyers, doctors, mechanics, scientists and professional athletes. Title IX applies to institutions receiving federal funds and addresses these important areas: access and admission to higher education, career and technical education, education for pregnant and parenting students, equity in math, science and technology education, and sexual harassment athletics.
Since the passage of this landmark civil rights legislation, some opponents have sought to weaken or narrow the interpretation of the law. Historically, opposition to the law has centered on the requirements that ensure equity for women in athletics, but these efforts have broader implications for enforcement of Title IX in other areas of education.
Recently there has been talk of a so-called "boy crisis." Title IX opponents have created the troubling myth that expanded educational opportunities for girls have come at the expense of boys. These are the insidious implications underlying many of the recent assaults on Title IX, that in turn are fueling erroneous notions that Title IX's work is done. AAUW maintains that education is not a zero sum game, and that the real issue is about girls doing better, not about boys doing worse. Recent research also debunks the "boy crisis" and supports AAUW's position.
While Title IX has indeed succeeded in opening doors in the classroom and on the athletic field, inequities and barriers still remain. Consider the following challenges girls and women still face:
Title IX has increased educational opportunities for women and girls, resulting in improved graduation rates, increased access to professional schools and nontraditional fields of study, and improved employment opportunities. But women continue to earn less for work than men with the same educational background and because sexual harassment remains pervasive in schools and on college campuses.
And women and girls still face substantial barriers in pursuing high-wage fields such as science, technology, engineering, and math. While women and girls' sports teams do not receive an equal share of resources, including fewer recruiting and scholarship dollars at the college level, and athletic participation opportunities still lag behind those provided for men, there is still much work to be done if the promise of Title IX is to be fulfilled.
New LAF-supported plaintiff Paul Thein is the third plaintiff in a series of cases against Feather River Community College (CA). Thein, former vice president of student services, athletic director, and dean of students, was retaliated against after he made formal complaints that a staff member was sexually harassing teenaged program participants and giving them alcohol.
LAF also adopted the case of Patrizia Riccardi, a research assistant in the Department of Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who is suing on the basis of sexual harassment and retaliation.
On May 29, the Supreme Court ruled to limit employees' ability to sue for pay discrimination. The Court upheld a circuit court ruling against a Goodyear Tire employee who successfully proved to a jury that the company discriminated against her based on sex. Lilly Ledbetter, a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company employee, tried unsuccessfully for many years to address the issue through internal company channels, then filed suit against her employer shortly before her retirement under Title VII claiming that she was paid less than her male coworkers because of her gender. The Court cited Title VII, a civil rights law that requires employees to claim discrimination within 180 days, or lose their chance to sue. AAUW signed-on to a fried of the court brief in 2006 supporting Ledbetter.
Ms. Ledbetter began working for Goodyear in 1979 and filed her charge of discrimination with the EEOC in 1998. At trial, Ms. Ledbetter was paid less than any of her male colleagues, including those with less seniority. Originally, a jury found that Goodyear discriminated against Ms. Ledbetter on the basis of gender, and she was awarded $360,000. That decision was reversed in a court of appeals, and the Supreme Court upheld the reversal in a 5-4 decision. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, in which he rejected the view of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), that each paycheck reflects the initial act of discrimination as itself a discriminatory act that restarts the 180-day time period. These majority opinions were shared by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the majority opinion ignores the realities of the workplace and the common characteristics of pay discrimination. Pay information is often confidential and that makes it very hard for employees to discover discrimination and file claims quickly. And very often, as in Ms. Ledbetter's case, the disparity can be small but overtime becomes a substantial disparity because raises can be in the forms of percentages of pay and that expands the differences exponentially. By the time Ms. Ledbetter brought suit in 1998, her salary fell short by as much as 40 percent.
May 28 marked the anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, which was signed into law in 1963. Forty-four years after the passage of this monumental legislation, pay equity is still an issue. Fairness in compensation is central to AAUW's goal to achieve economic self-sufficiency for all women. In light of this, AAUW encourages you to keep up the momentum begun on Equal Pay Day. Make sure your senators and your representatives are co-sponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
AAUW believes that creating work environments that help employees balance the responsibilities of work and family is good public policy-good for workers, good for families, and good for business. AAUW has long supported flexible workplace policies to address the family responsibilities of employees. Such protections and improvements are critical to women's equal opportunity and economic security.
On May 17, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) introduced the Family and Workplace Balancing Act (H.R. 2392) to make it easier for parents to balance their work and family responsibilities. The legislation will provide for paid family and medical leave assistance and will expand the Family and Medical Leave Act-a bill AAUW has supported for over two decades-to cover more workers and additional family responsibilities. The bill also provides expanded child care opportunities, incentives for family friendly work places, and benefits for part-time and temporary workers. The House Education and Labor Committee's Workforce Protection Subcommittee heard testimony on the issue of balancing work and family on June 13.
AAUW will continue to work to advance policies that will improve workplaces for employees with family responsibilities of all kinds. As such, we support legislation like the Balancing Act and the Healthy Families Act.
Urge your representative to become a cosponsor of the Family and Workplace Balancing Act so that America's families don't have to choose between their commitment to their career and their ability to raise a family by sending a message via AAUW's 2-Minute Activist.
On April 27, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Part-time Student Assistance Act (H.R. 2017), which would allow students to exempt more of their income from student aid calculations, provide more on-campus child care, allow for year-round Pell grants, and create a part-time assistance pilot program to develop comprehensive programming aimed at enrolling and graduating part-time students.
AAUW strongly supports this legislation, as it takes important steps towards providing nontraditional students greater access to higher education. Despite your earlier action on this bill, nearly 90 percent of the representatives have yet to sign on as cosponsors.
Our federal financial aid system is designed with the traditional college student in mind, yet part-time and nontraditional students are now the norm on college campuses, and such students are disproportionately women. Nontraditional students-those who are part-time, working, older, or parenting-face unique challenges as they seek to finance a college education. These students more frequently must balance work, school, and family commitments but have limited access to financial aid and other resources.
In light of the increasing number of nontraditional and parenting students, legislation must create programs that help these students enter college, stay in college, and earn a degree.
Urge your representative to support increased access to higher education for working and parenting students by sending a message via AAUW's 2-Minute Activist.
The American Association of University Women advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research. AAUW will be a powerful advocate and visible leader in equity and education through research, philanthropy, and measurable change in critical areas impacting the lives of women and girls.
In principle and practice AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class.
The AAUW Educational Foundation provides funds to advance education, research, and self-development for women and to foster equity and positive societal change.
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund provides funding and a support system for women seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination.