Meeting March 23

We went over to Mady's apartment and she shared some of her mom's banana bread and homemade cookies. We talked a little bit about the National Week of Student Action coming up March 31 - April 5.

Then, we watched the film Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. It was a really powerful film and got us talking about of a lot of the problems that have surfaced since the current administration's handling of the "war on terror." The film's website has a really good resource page.

Some of the issues involved include

• the Third Geneva Convention (this text from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) and whether it does or does not apply to "unlawful enemy combatants." Here is a background paper on some of the issues in terms of international law.
  
• The use of and definition of torture (this article from the Washington Post talks about how the justice department and the department of defense have been pushing legal limits in defining torture, allowing things that are explicitly prohibited in the Army Field Manual)
  
• the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (here's a Wikipedia rundown of the act. You can read Amnesty's position here)

Here is "A Guide to the Memos on Torture"

And here are a few more articles...

"Abu Ghraib Techniques were first Used at Guantanamo"
"Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations" (this article has good explanations of the interactions between the different branches and characters in the U.S. government)

Agenda from March 9 General Meeting

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization – National Week of Student Action (March 31- April 4, 2008)

Short Presentation
David Slemmons talks about the history of Amnesty International at OU and Groovefest

Old Business

Walk for Women

Letter Writing and Groovefest Planning Meeting March 2nd
· sign and turn in letters
· Groovefest – purpose and theme, tabling (education, membership, and action)

New Business

Budget
· Overview – what’s in it, what’s different, and why
· Interview
· Emergency funding and fundraising for next year

Committees – Tasks and Updates
· Urgent Action
· Short Presentations
· Groovefest
· Membership
· Tshirt
· Volunteer Coordinating

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

· One Campaign – petition to get 100% Fair trade coffee on campus

· Don’t forget to register for the Oklahoma Sustainability Conference: March 28-29 . This year’s theme is “Red Dirt, Green Culture — Growing Healthy Communities.” The 7th Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network is a continuation of excellence in education and networking, bringing together over 500 individuals from non-profit organizations, business, and family farms to learn and grow sustainably together.

· UOSA presidential candidates Matt Brown and Carol Bodine

Urgent Action Network

Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing (and Easter Egg hunt?) Sunday, March 23rd

Added Items

Fundraiser for Groovefest - March 15th 10pm at Bison Witches on Main Street (must be 21 to enter!)

OKC Peacehouse events for the 5 year Mark of the US war in Iraq -

• March 15th 11am to 1pm - Rally to end the war and bring the troops home - NW highway and Meridian
• March 16th 3pm - Spiritual Walk for Peace from Civic Center park across from OKC City Hall
• March 19th 7pm -Flashlight Vigil for "Remembering the Human Cost of War" on the State Capitol South Steps

Close Meeting

Next general meeting March 30th – time and place TBA

Walk for Women

Walk for Women was a lot of fun!

We learned about World Neighbors and their Work of Women program,
made art out of recycled materials,

listened to some great music, and walked a mile to celebrate the work of women on International Women's day!



Can't wait for more outdoor events now that the weather will be warming up!

Officer Meeting March 6th

Walk for Women

• we set the location for the carpool and need to send out another reminder email

Groovefest

• discussed possible presentations to include national priorities as well as more general information about what Amnesty International is, and what Groovefest is.
• tabling should include components of education, membership, and action
• need to request materials from Adiyah

Individual Officer Reports

President

• proposed participation in the National Week of Student Action

Vice President

• everything is set to go on Big Event, we should have a total of about 30 between our group and Our Earth

Secretary

• attended the ONE campaign meeting on Monday and got information about the campaign for 100% fair trade coffee on campus.
• will get copies of the petition so we can try to help them reach the necessary 500 signatures, or their desired 1000

Treasurer

• sumitted emergency budget for Groovefest and we have a meeting for that Sunday

Urgent Action Coordinator

• will be sending out reminder email about meeting with UA tips

Looked over agenda for this Sunday's meeting

Set a date for Constitutional Convention for April 13th and moved some of the meeting dates around

March 2 Letter Writing and Groovefest Planning

There was a lot to talk about at this meeting, and in all the excitement we decided to write these letters on our own. To write on our UA for this week, click here.

And, don't forget to check out the latest Urgent Action newsletter. Reading the newsletters is a good way to get to know more about AI's work.

Groovefest is in the works, and there is a lot to be done, but for right now our main contribution will be in developing the content for the purpose and theme. The theme they have talked about is "Vote to Promote Human Rights."

This should be a really exciting opportunity for us to get involved in something that is a big part of our group's history. And we'll be lucky to hear more about that history at our next general meeting - David Slemmons will come and give a short presentation about the history of OU Amnesty International and Groovefest. Don't forget, it's this Sunday, March 9th, at 6:30 in the Associates Room of the Union. See you there!

Officer Meeting February 28th

The committee heads will be coming up with task lists by this Sunday's meeting (March 2nd), with the exception of Groovefest, which Will should have by next Thursday (March 6th).  

Individual Officer Reports

President

• We're searchable!!!  Our website is now listed under the regional listings on amnestyusa.org
  
• Fundraising answers - Sarah heard back from Adiyah about our concerns with fundraising for other organizations.  We got the green light for co-sponsoring Groovefest and participating in Walk for Women (with a donation/information table for AI & their stop violence against women campaign)

Vice President

• Ephraim was not here, but he is working on Big Event!

Secretary

• We talked briefly about ways to improve the active members list 
  
• Cindy mentioned a campaign to make 100% of the coffee on campus fair trade, and will forward some contacts

Treasurer

• Will set up our budget interview with UOSA for Sunday, March 9
  
• He is looking into emergency funding for Groovefest this spring, and will have a phone conference today with the Groovefest planners
  

Urgent Action Coordinator

• Mady is trying to think of ways to make the letter writing go more smoothly
  

We talked about transitioning from the gmail account to our OU account and thinking about making a new system for our listserv

We also talked about staying informed with the other Oklahoma Amnesty groups

Groovefest is happening!

That's right, folks. I've received word that Groovefest IS happening this spring (tentatively Sunday, April 27) and OU Amnesty International is co-sponsoring! I'm putting together an application for emergency funding so that we can do our part to help make Groovefest an awesome success.

Our informal meeting this Sunday will be coordinated with a Groovefest planning meeting. We will meet at Blu Wine and Foods on Crawford, just south of Main, at 6:30 and conduct our UAN letters and group business. Right around 7:00 pm we will meet with the Groovefest board and start talking about ways we can raise money and support for Groovefest. Hope to see you all there!

-Will

Agenda from Feb. 24th General Meeting

Introduction
Meet and Greet/Sign In

About Amnesty International
A little bit about the organization - successes

Short Presentation
Ideas/requests for short presentations/guest speakers

Old Business

Statewide Conference
Letter writing meeting Feb 17th – sign and turn in letters

New Business

Budget turned in February 21st

Get Into Committees
· Urgent Action
· Short Presentations
· Groovefest
· Membership
· Tshirt
· Volunteer Coordinating

Working in the OU, Norman, and Oklahoma communities

· Conflict in Kenya – Oklahoma Wow! (Work of Women) Network Program on Thursday, Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 pm. Peter Gubbels, World Neighbors vice president of the international program, will discuss the current conflict in Kenya, its roots and how it is impacting Kenyan women and World Neighbors programs in East Africa. (presentation begins at 7pm, Village Tours begin at 6)

· Walk for Women: March 8. The purpose of the Walk for Women is to unite several Oklahoma City metro area community members in an effort to advocate against global issues such as hunger, poverty, disease, access to safe water, environmental degradation, illiteracy, gender inequalities, etc. This event will be held on March 8, 2008 from 9 am to 12 pm at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond (around Broncho Lake) in honor of International Women’s Day

· Don’t forget to register for the Oklahoma Sustainability Conference: March 28-29 . This year’s theme is “Red Dirt, Green Culture — Growing Healthy Communities.” The 7th Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network is a continuation of excellence in education and networking, bringing together over 500 individuals from non-profit organizations, business, and family farms to learn and grow sustainably together.

· National Week of Student Action 2008 – Shut Down Guantánamo - registering to participate in this year's NWSA (March 31- April 4, 2008)

Urgent Action Network

Presentation of latest UA
Letter writing Sunday, March 2nd

Added Items

Big Event registration deadline is this Friday, February 29th - register under Amnesty International/Our Earth

Katy talked to Student Affairs about barefoot for children project

Close Meeting

Next general meeting – March 9th time and place TBA

Spring Groovefest

I went to a Groovefest planning meeting tonight for information on the biennial concert which is scheduled for April 27th (the day after the Norman Music Festival). For those of you who don't know, Groovefest was started in 1986 by Oklahoma Amnesty International! We had a table up at last fall's concert, but other than that we have been conspicuously absent for three or for years. Everyone was really excited that OU-AI was ready to be a part of Groovefest once again.

Groovefest needs a lot of help, and I think we are in a position to help make it happen. Quite simply, Groovefest needs time and money. I'm going to check tomorrow to see what kind of funds we have left in our UOSA account; there's a possibility we might be able to co-sponsor Groovefest. This is going to be a pretty sizeable commitment, but I think we can do it. We could also apply for emergency funding through UOSA, or obtain additional funds from the CAC Speaker's Bureau and Concert Bureau. We will also be contacting Adiyah Ali, our regional AI-USA coordinator, to see about the possibility of getting funds from the regional or national AI offices.

There are two questions that I will be trying to answer this week:
1) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by Oklahoma Amnesty International (that's us), would the University's insurance coverage for events extend to Groovefest? This may not sound like much, but we would be saving Groovefest about $500 for event insurance. However, that leads me to question
2) If Groovefest is co-sponsored by OU-AI, is it subject to the same rules/restrictions as a University-sponsored event? For example, would all vendors have to sell Coca-Cola products? Would Groovefest be alcohol-free? Could we only use the money for things like printing/tabling materials, or could we spend it on things that are necessary to make Groovefest run (like the thousands of permits, sound equipment, etc.)?

We will be having our next informal meeting in conjunction with the Groovefest planning meeting. I will have more information on that sometime soon. Thanks!

-Will O'Donnell

Letter Writing meeting Feb. 17th

At this meeting we wrote on two Urgent Actions - our first one about a child offender facing the death penalty in Iran and another about in Kenya. It's not too late to write letters of your own, even if you didn't make it to the meeting! The reports can be found here and here. If you need some help getting started, Amnesty's website has some great resources and tips to explain how to write the letters most effectively.

We talked about ideas and plans for next year, including the issues we will be focusing on and possible events.

And everyone got to see the hole in Sarah's house...

Don't forget to bring your letters to our next general meeting on the 24th at 6pm in the Scholars room.