CCSJ Founder/President is New Dean of Northeastern University School of Law

Many of you will already know that Emily Spieler, founder and first president of CCSJ, accepted the position of dean of the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and started her work there on July 1st. Morgantown's WAJR radio station, in announcing her departure from West Virginia, where she lived and worked for 24 years, called her one of the state's "most accomplished professors." Through CCSJ, and her many other activities, we know her as an extraordinary advocate for social justice and as someone who worked tirelessly toward creating a just society for all. We will miss her leadership and vision for CCSJ but are also very committed to expanding CCSJ as a strong presence in the Morgantown area.

Human Rights Commission Update

City Council is in the process of appointing the last members of the Morgantown Human Rights Commission, and Teresa Miller will be representing City Council on this commission. CCSJ has been working with Teresa on identifying individuals to serve on this commission and in providing names of resource people who might be able to work with the commission on specific projects. We will publicize the complete list of commissioners as soon as the final appointments are confirmed, and we will invite all the members of the commission to attend our CCSJ annual meeting. Meanwhile, please contact Teresa for further information or to offer your assistance. CCSJ looks forward to working with the commission members on our common concerns.

September Annual Meeting

As announced in our last update (May 20th), Paul Sheridan, acting deputy attorney general for civil rights and a key member of the Hate Crimes Task Force and other social justice efforts in West Virginia, has agreed to speak at the next CCSJ annual meeting. This is tentatively scheduled for September 9th at the Senior Center on High Street in downtown Morgantown, across from the courthouse at 7 p.m. Parking is available in the city garage on Spruce Street. The final date and topic of Paul's talk will be announced shortly.

Resource Center

As we have reported in the past, we are working with Sharon Turner and Ellen Hathaway at the Morgantown Public Library to increase the library's collection of social justice books and videos. Several CCSJ members developed a list of items that they felt the library should have, and the library staff is now purchasing those items which were not already in its collection. These books and videos will be identified with a special bookplate that recognizes CCSJ as the donor, and we will have a plaque identifying us as a donor on one of the book shelves. We are planning to publicize this collection heavily when the materials arrive and will include a list of our purchases on our website. We are very excited about this opportunity to provide these materials to all library users. For more information on this project, please contact Judy Cohen or 292-0072.

Events

Monday, September 23 - place and time to be announced: Jim Lewis, who has been active in economic justice work for many years, will be speaking this evening. Reverend Lewis was the pastor at St John's Episcopal Church in Charleston for many years and then went to the Delmarva Penninsula where he worked with poultry workers and farmers. He now again lives in Charleston. More details will follow, but please save this date if you are interested in this topic.
CCSJ is still interested in the issue of economic inequality and economic justice in the Morgantown area and see this presentation as a way to help all of us understand these issues better. If you wish to be part of our discussion on economic justice, please contact Paul Becker (292-2983) or Tim Hairston (292-0601).

Sunday, October 13 - place and time to be announced: Sunday Afternoon with Al - Part II - Al Anderson's presentation about life on Scotts Run was so popular in February that Al has agreed to present another program that includes even more stories and songs about growing up on Scotts Run. This will be CCSJ's contribution to WVU's Diversity Week, which begins the next day.

Thank you, City Council and Dan Boroff!

CCSJ wishes to thank City Council for its contribution of $1,000 to our work. This money became available to us on July 1st, and we very much appreciate the council's and City Manager Dan Boroff's continued support.

Steering Committee Meeting/Update

The next steering committee meeting will be Wednesday, August 7. If you have ideas, requests, concerns, etc., please contact Barb Howe (293-2339, ext. 1155).

Barb is also taking over as Update editor, at least temporarily, so please send items to include for the August "issue" to her by August 10.

Web site

Our CCSJ web site continues to grow, thanks to Mike Attfield. Please send suggestions for links or other resources to Mike.

CCSJ Members Needed - Renew/Join Now!

Now is the time to renew your membership in CCSJ or, if you have not already joined, now is the time to join. Dues are very reasonable - $5 for individuals, $25 for organizations, and free for youth under the age of 18. A coalition is only as strong as its members, and we want to count all of you as members. Please send your checks, payable to CCSJ, to us at PO Box 160, Morgantown, WV 26507-0160.

We also very much want to increase the number of organizations who belong to CCSJ and need your help to do this. Please send suggestions of potential member organizations to Barb Howe (293-2339, ext. 1155).

We are a 501-(c)-3 organization and can supply our FEIN if needed for organizations who wish to become members.

Other Upcoming Events

August 18 - 1 p.m. - PFLAG Meeting (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) at Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship Hall at 429 Warrick Street. CCSJ steering committee members Judy Cohen and Paul Becker will discuss CCSJ's work. For further information, please contact Judy Cohen (292-0072) or David Whaley.

October 14 - 7:30 p.m. - Presentation by Debra Schultz and Faith Holsaert on white women in the civil rights movement - Gold Ballroom of WVU Mountainlair. This is co-sponsored by the WVU Center for Women's Studies, Department of Political Science, Department of History, College of Law, and President's Office for Social Justice as part of WVU's Diversity Week. Schultz is the author of Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement, and Holsaert is one of the women featured in the book. This event is free and open to the public.

October 16 - WVU Council for Women's Concerns Women of Color Luncheon - WVU Mountainlair Ballrooms. The speaker for this annual event will be Thomasine Ruth Hill Troisi of St. Marys, WV; who is a member of the Crow Tribe Crow Agency, Montana. For further information on this Diversity Week event, contact Kim Suder (293- 4555, ext. 3500). This event is open to the public, but reservations are required.