Since Sept. 11, the U.S. focus on protecting civil liberties has increased as the government has established the right to try non-citizen suspects in military courts and monitor jailhouse conversations between lawyers and clients in an attempt to track suspected terrorists.
But during Fall Quarter, Northwestern’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union suffered from organizational problems that inhibited its ability to debate and discuss these issues.
“They have committees for things like national security and immigrant rights, which are so important to deal with right now, and they’re not getting the attention they deserve because of all the problems within the group,” said Katie Pfohl, former ACLU-NU Racial Justice Committee chairwoman.
Earlier in the quarter, the group was forced to cancel a panel on racial profiling because it did not have the required speaker contracts. After the contract problems Pfohl, a Weinberg sophomore, resigned from the group.
And a quarrel between former co-director Howard Lien and the executive board resulted in the election of new leaders in October. Two weeks ago the Associated Student Government Senate voted to remove Lien, who co-founded the group in the spring, from ACLU-NU’s executive board after he neglected to follow university guidelines for a fund-raising event.
But the group is trying to rebound from its problems. In the past few weeks, ACLU-NU has rewritten its constitution and reorganized the executive board. The group will have a leadership retreat next week, said Tina Valkanoff, ACLU-NU director.
“This (quarter) has forced us to create a strong foundation for our group,” said Valkanoff, a Weinberg junior. “It’s forced us to really examine our structure as a group (and) to re-examine our leadership abilities and ability to work as a group.”
During the fall the group held two successful events — a speaker who addressed civil liberties during wartime and a speaker from the ACLU of Illinois at the group’s first general meeting, Valkanoff said. She added that the group’s activities assure that pertinent issues do not go unheard.
Lien said several Spring Quarter events, including a debate ACLU-NU co-sponsored about a government policy denying federal financial aid to students who fail to answer questions about previous drug convictions, were successful despite a lack of leadership training.
After a quarter plagued with problems, ACLU-NU might have jeopardized its ability to attain ASG recognition as a B-status group. But Valkanoff said she hopes every group committee will hold a successful event by the beginning of Spring Quarter so the group will receive recognition, which allows it to apply for ASG senator slots and office space in Norris University Center and to reserve rooms for meetings.
Srikanth Reddy, ASG executive vice president, said he believes the group has plenty of time next quarter to resolve its problems, and that he has “full faith” in the current leadership.
