Iowa Civil Rights Commission

Commissioner David Leshtz, Chairperson, brought the Commissioners’ Meeting of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to order.

Present were: Commissioner Alicia Claypool, Commissioner Tim Tutt, Commissioner Gilberto Solivan, and Commissioner Maria Waterman and Commissioner David Leshtz. Also present were: Corlis Moody, Executive Director, and Araceli Goode, Executive Secretary.

No Public or Press present.

Motion was made by Commissioner Claypool and seconded by Commissioner Tutt to approve the minutes for November 5, 2001 and January 10, 2002. The motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Claypool - Distributed an article regarding Wheel Chair Issues to Commissioners present.

Commissioner Tutt - Accepted a position on the Homeless Youth Board and was working with the Foster Parenting Program

Commissioner Solivan - No report

Commissioner Waterman - Attended a rally regarding (English Only?) in Muscatine where a large Spanish-speaking population group is found; stated the American Pediatric Association supported same sex adoption; attended MLK Rally in Davenport at which a street was renamed Martin Luther King; attended the Red River Ribbon, a fundraiser for AIDS Research.

Commissioner Leshtz - Attended the MLK Event in Iowa City (co-sponsored by ICRC and NCCJ), which focused on the issue of Native American Mascots. He moderated the Accessible Housing Forum, which was part of the University of Iowa’s MILK Human Rights Week; it was one of the best-attended events, and Teresa Baustian was an excellent panelist. He did two radio interviews regarding the Indian Mascot issue. He distributed copies of newspaper articles regarding Indian Mascots and stated Indian Mascots continue to be used in 3 colleges and 65 high schools and middle schools, and there is no official registry of these institutions. He invited the Commissioners to attend the Latino/a Conference being held in Iowa City, April 27. The keynote speaker is the American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director, Anthony D. Romero. He also commented he had received, and was pleased with, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission 2001 Annual Report in all the formats sent.

No new business

If no more across the board cuts from the Governor were made, the agency would not have any layoffs this year, but no new equipment would be bought, and only minimal supplies purchased. HUD cases were less at this time, but due to the Education Grant, which is targeting the Immigrant community, the Housing cases may increase.

Brought the Commissioners’ attention to the Communicator article regarding an overview of what the Commissioners had addressed over the year.

Discussion followed on the issues of Disability and what the Commission can do. Suggestions brought forth by the Commission staff were to inquire of the Lt. Governor’s office the status of the ADAAG for Universal Building Code and conduct future meetings at Dept. of the Blind, Vocational Rehabilitation, ADA Project and Sight Saving School, Vinton, Iowa as well as conduct forums.

A copy of the Racial Profiling Proposal from the Iowa Public Safety Agency was distributed to the Commissioners.

Discussion over the priority issues for the Commissioners followed. It was decided that the priorities remain the same but set long-term goals. Executive Director Moody suggested doing benchmarking with Minnesota and other surrounding states.

Executive Director Moody informed the Commissioners she would forward articles put out by Diversity, Inc. for their information.

After discussing, the Commissioners agreed to invite the Status of Women in Iowa Committee to speak before the March 14 Commissioners’ Meeting to answer Commissioner Waterman’s question regarding disparity between women working and staying home.

Discussion followed on what the forums should cover. All Commissioners agreed to organize forums on the issues of Immigration, Racial Profiling and Sexual Orientation.

The Commissioners selected the following dates for the next meetings:

March 14, 2002 - Iowa Civil Rights Commission Office

April 11, 2002 -

May 9, 2002 -

June 13, 2002 - Davenport, Iowa

The meeting adjourned at 12:15 PM.