Iowa Civil Rights Commission
Commissioners’
Meeting
March 14, 2002
10:00 am -
12:00 pm
211 East Maple
Street
Des Moines,
Iowa 50309-1858
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 via ICN,
Commissioner Maria Waterman, Commissioner Constance Gronstal, via speaker
phone, and Commissioner David Leshtz. Also present were: Corlis Moody,
Executive Director, Ron Pothast, Business Manager and Araceli Goode, Executive
Secretary.
Motion was made by Commissioner Claypool and seconded by Commissioner
Waterman to approve the February 8, 2002 Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes, with
the following corrections: on page one, under Commissioners’ Report heading and
Commissioner Waterman report, that the words "Attended", be changed to
"Informed the Commissioners about". The motion passed unanimously.
No Public or Press present.
Commissioner
Leshtz - Distributed articles regarding Indian Mascots to the Commissioners.
Discussed the Latino Conference in Iowa City on April 27, 2003. Governor
Vilsack was invited. Commissioner Claypool had the brochure regarding the
Latino Conference and had copies made for the Commissioners. Informed the
Commissioners of the 13th annual Pow Wow, April 12 - 14, 2002, at
Carver Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, hosted by the American Indian Student
Association (AISA). A panel discussion is being organized regarding Free Speech
- Hate Speech: When is Free Speech Hate Speech and When Can It Be
Regulated.
Alicia
Claypool - Informed the Commissioners had been very involved in the attempts to
defeat the English Only Bill that had not worked.
Charlotte Nelson, Executive Director of the Status of Women Commission,
presentation on the disparity of wages between men and women followed. She
distributed a brochure that highlighted some of the Commission’s history,
projects, and publications. The information is available on the web at www.state.ia.us/dhr/sw.
Discussed the two federal laws Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) and Title 7 of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and their part in narrowing the disparity of wages for
women and the need for strengthening them, which is what the bills pending in
Congress are supposed to do: Pay Check Fairness Act and Fair Pay Act. April 16,
2002, Equal Pay Day will be observed.
Explained that April 16, is a Tuesday and is selected to state the
disparity of wages earned by women during a pay period. On average, to equal
men’s wages during a pay period ending on Friday, women’s pay period would end
on Tuesday.
Executive Director Corlis Moody brought the Commissioners’ attention to
the Closure report and the Budget Report enclosed in their packets. Reported she and Ron Pothast had presented
before the Health and Human Rights Appropriation Subcommittee a report on what
the Commission accomplished in the past year. More budget cuts are expected for
FY 2003, but hopefully no further cuts will occur the rest of this FY 2002.
Informed the Commissioners of the appointment of Dinh VanLo to the
Commission. He is to be on board in May 2002. Information is included in their
packets.
Informed the Commissioners that Rick Autry, Assistant Attorney General,
had appeared before the Appellate Court last week to discuss one of the cases
that has been here for awhile. The Court’s decision has not been rendered.
Commissioner Leshtz distributed an article that
Commissioner Claypool had brought, from Des Moines Register regarding a
student’s complaint based on Sexual Orientation. He brought forth the letter
that, last Fall, the Commissioners had written to the Department of Education
supporting their Public Schools Discrimination Policy, which included Sexual
Orientation. He suggested another letter be written in the support to include
Sexual Orientation in this policy. All agreed.
Commissioner Claypool proceeded with the Sexual
Orientation Subcommittee Report. Has spoken with Rich Eychaner, a leader in the
Gay and Lesbian Community in Iowa, regarding ideas on direction to go with the
forum. Suggestion is to ask the
question, "How can schools, communities and families address the problems
encountered by GLBT Youth in the school setting today?" Recommended to work
with organizations that have already been involved in addressing this issue
starting with the Department of Education, School Board Association, ISEA,
school administrators, the PTA, GLSEN (Gays Lesbian Straight Educators
Network), Gay Student Alliances, churches, school counselors, social workers,
local colleges in the area, maybe the state universities, the AEAs. In
addition, some key businesses in Iowa that have strong non-discrimination
policies such as Wells Fargo and Quest, as well as some non-profit
organizations such as the Young Women’s Resource Center in Des Moines.
Discussion followed. The Commissioners decided to proceed with a Forum on
Sexual Orientation to occur sometime in the Fall of 2002. Commissioners
Claypool and Waterman will work with staff to organize the event. The next step
is setting date, time, and contacting the organizations for participation.
Discussion followed about hosting a meeting with
all the local commissions. Corlis will contact the locals through the
established "Locals Chat Room" and approach with the possibility of meeting in
April or at a future date to discuss the two or three top issues they are
dealing with and what they need help with. Other suggestions to accommodate
were to send their issues to the Commission if unable to attend and use of ICN
facilities.
The Commissioners selected the following dates for the next meetings:
April 11, 2002 - ICRC,
Des Moines
May 9, 2002 - Ft.
Dodge, Iowa
June 13, 2002
- Davenport, Iowa
The meeting adjourned at 12:15 PM.
Minutes
submitted by Araceli Goode, Executive Secretary
Minutes approved April 11, 2002
Corlis
S. Moody, Executive Director