ACLU of Indiana members who have paid their dues within the past 15 months are eligible to vote for the organization's statewide board of directors. Candidates are running for three-year terms ending in 2022. Members will recieve a ballot in the mail by July 1, 2019 and votes must be cast no later than midnight on July 31, 2019.
Here are the nominees for the 2019 ACLU of Indiana Board Election.
Reba Boyd Wooden
I have very much enjoyed serving on the ACLU of Indiana board. ACLU of Indiana fights for the civil liberties of all people and I like being a part of that effort. With the political climate in Indiana and the laws that have been passed restricting Reproductive Rights and the equality of the LGBTQ community, where would we have been had it not been for ACLU of Indiana? We have to continue to fight for the civil liberties of all people.
Mary Runnels
I have been an attorney in Indiana since 1975, retired from practice early this year. I have been a member of ACLU for decades, including being a member of the former Bloomington Screening Committee in the 1980’s. Currently, I have been a member ACLU of Indiana State Board since January 2011, and began serving as Secretary in January 2013.
My general background in not for profit board membership includes having served on five boards in addition to ACLU of Indiana. This background gives me an understanding of how Boards work from the perspective of serving in variety of capacities for different types of organizations with very different missions. Other Board memberships are private pre-school and elementary schools and soccer related.
Constitutional law, and particularly civil liberties, have been a passion of mine since law school, where I studied it extensively. I have helped promote civil liberties is by participating as a judge since 1987 in the educational We the People program and competition from 5th to 12th grades. An informed citizenry is vital to protecting our liberties, and this is one of the finest programs that serves that purpose. I believe that ACLU is an organization that is vital to ensure that all levels of government in the United States respect and protect the civil rights of all of our citizens, and I would like to continue to help further this very worthy work.
Kevin McElmurry
I moved to the Calumet region of Northwest Indiana in 2009 to take a faculty position at Indiana University Northwest. I am now Associate Professor and chairperson for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Since relocating to “the region," I have developed a fresh perspective on the vital role that strong voices for civil liberties and social justice can play in an area of the state characterized by multiple and cross-cutting dimensions of diversity and inequality. I feel that my academic training, professional experience, and position here in Northwest Indiana provide me with the opportunity to serve as a strong voice for this part of the state. Indeed, it is a commitment to fostering social justice and understanding the forces that drive inequality that originally brought me to my chosen academic discipline, sociology. As a faculty member, I have served on, and chaired, numerous action committees at the local, state, and national levels. I very much enjoy collaborating on innovative and impactful projects with others who are passionate about working toward a just and fair society. I have had the pleasure of serving as an at-large board member for the ACLU. I would like to continue contributing my time, energy, and talents to furthering the ACLU mission, defending individual rights and preserving liberties that are grounded in the Constitutions of the United States and the state of Indiana.
Michael Grossberg
I would like to continue my service on the Board of Directors for two primary reasons. First, after three years on the Board I believe even more strongly than when I began that in this critical moment in the history of the defense of civil liberties in United States and in Indiana, the ACLU of Indiana is performing a critical and unique role in defending our rights. Given its fundamental mission to uphold the constitution and its successes in fulfilling that mission, I have learned firsthand about the skill with which the staff, board, and volunteers respond to the mounting attacks on those seeking to exercise their rights to dissent, immigrate, reproductive freedom, gender identity, and host of other constitutionally protected acts in our state and nationally. Second, during my first term I have tried to draw on my work as a scholar and teacher of American legal and constitutional history and my administrative experiences in universities and non-profits to become as knowledgeable and active a participant in the vital work of the ACLU of Indiana as I can. I would like to continue to develop my effectiveness in contributing to the mission of the ACLU of Indiana by serving a second term.
Georgie Cravey
For 32 years I was employed at the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library as a reference librarian. After retirement, I have been working as an independent scholar and freelance researcher. I consider myself an activist with strong interests in the areas of gender and racial equality, reproductive rights, labor rights and immigration. I have been a card-carrying member of the ACLU for over two decades. It has been my privilege to serve on the Board of the ACLU of Indiana since 1993. I believe that one of the critical missions of the ACLU is to educate individuals about their rights and help defend them against those who would abridge those rights. The ACLU is an organization of dedicated individuals doing courageous work. I would like to continue to be part of the effort.
