ACLU of Indiana Board of Directors Candidate Statements

AT-LARGE CANDIDATES

Han Meadway

I am eager to use my professional and personal experience to help advance the mission of the ACLU of Indiana. I am committed to making the nonprofit field—and boards in particular—more inclusive and equitable. I am specifically interested in the long-term sustainability of organizations and thinking about how to best plan for the changing economic, political, and social trends nonprofits need to weather.

While I now call Indiana home, I bring substantial experience from other nonprofit communities, which allows me to view nonprofit work from multiple perspectives. Additionally, due to my professional experience with the Jewish Federation I have a good understanding of the national model for organizations such as the ACLU, and I am very comfortable reaching out to other communities for advice or alternative models. Finally, I have passion for, and experience with, key issues for the ACLU, including reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, and restorative justice, and look forward to engaging with those issues specifically if selected for the ACLU-Indiana board.

Mark Nicholson

I could contribute to the ACLU mission of defending every person’s rights in this country by helping fight for their rights. One of the reasons I am a public defender and criminal defense attorney is to defend the rights of the accused.  I have a passion for fighting for those without money and power when the government violates their rights. 

The ACLU is involved in issues involving criminal law, civil rights, free speech, and the LGBTQ community.  These are some of the same issues that I want to be involved in.  I have a unique perspective since I have experience of being incarcerated, homeless, and now I am a lawyer.  Furthermore, I was almost a client of the ACLU.  In truth, we are all clients of the ACLU.  There is not a person in this country that has not benefited from the work of the ACLU.

I must admit that if I were selected, that I would be new to the board.  I don’t know where the Board members feel my experience and knowledge would best fit their agenda, but I am willing to listen and learn.  I want to help out where I can and hope that whatever knowledge and experience I have gained will be of some value.  It would be an honor to serve the people of Indiana and the United States by serving on the ACLU Board.

David Shircliff

I am passionate about the ACLU's current focus on the issue of mass incarceration. If chosen to serve again on the ACLU Board, I can provide a strong voice regarding the policies that created the mass incarceration problem and contribute significantly regarding myriad ways to challenge and, ultimately, respond effectively to the problem. I would be honored to be part of the Board as it takes on any issues concerning the deprivation of civil rights. 

REGIONAL CANDIDATES 

Emma Crossen (Western Region) 

I'm pursuing this position on the Board of Directors as an extension of my local organizing and activism in Vigo County, and I think this will be my greatest contribution to the mission of the ACLU of Indiana. My priority will be representing the Western region to help the statewide organization engage with and impact the communities of this region.

Robert Dion (Southern Region)

The two things that I would bring to the board would be my decades of experience teaching about the Constitution at the college level and my passion for civil liberties and civil rights, as evidenced by a lifetime of activism and community service.  People profess to revere the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but they often have an incomplete understanding of what the Constitution is and what the Bill of Rights means.  Part of the job of the ACLU is to educate the public about civil liberties.  As a gay man living in Indiana, I know full well how a person’s rights can be abridged for being viewed as outside the mainstream, and I appreciate the way that the ACLU has stepped in time and again to defend the rights of all people.  It would be an honor to serve on the board to help further that mission.

Luis Fuentes-Rohwer (Bloomington 1 Region)

I have had a year to think about this.  My answer takes me back to our last board meeting and the conversation over Kendi's book (which I was unable to take part in, unfortunately.  Technical difficulties). I was looking forward to that conversation very much.  I am sure my read was very different from many other people in the room.  A more direct contribution: I am involved in initiatives to help the Latino community both in Bloomington and Huntingburg.  I am not always sure whether they coincide with the goals of the ACLU.  Sometimes they do.  I would love to connect them more.  I realize that the ACLU is litigation-driven, or else focused on the state house.  That's probably the way it needs to be.  I've come to the view that federalism is best "all the way down," however, and there may be things that we can do to connect communities to the resources of the ACLU.  A man can dream.

Caroline Richardson ( Indianapolis Region)

I’d always imagined that my career would be in direct service to people.  After the country entered The Great Recession, my chosen profession suffered nationally and my carefully-considered plans were derailed as fellow graduates and I struggled to find jobs that matched our expectations.  I ultimately began practicing in the private sector, where I discovered that I could throw myself whole-heartedly into supporting organizations and missions by volunteering to do the opposite of what I’d planned on.  Instead of direct service, I used the skills I was learning as a young lawyer to draft and review organizational documents, by-laws, and resolutions.  I learned how to understand financial reports and audits and applied the commercial real estate skills I was learning when needed.  Today, I am confident that my technical knowledge, legal experience, and board governance training makes me qualified to serve as a board member. 

However, being a board member is more than just knowing how to parse out by-laws or draft resolutions.  In 2020, organizations as old as the ACLU are finally catching up to and catching on to issues that are of the utmost importance in our country. Representation and belonging should not be concepts limited to the cases we litigate or the issues we advocate, they must be built in to the way the ACLU of Indiana operates.  Board members must be willing to call out when we have failed and call on each other when it is time to evolve.  I am willing to do that.

For more details on the board election process click here.