Dear Wonderful Branch Members,

Wildflower Run

With our 41st Annual Wildflower Run racing towards us, I want to thank the entire planning team working tirelessly on this gigantic undertaking. A special shout-out to co-directors Joy Safakish and Bobbie Erb! This fundraising event and well-known Morgan Hill tradition finances all local scholarships and grants and supports our mission of gender equity through education, advocacy and research. I urge you all to both volunteer and contribute monetarily.

Open Membership National Vote

In our pursuit to become an equitable and inclusive organization, AAUW National has proposed amending our bylaws to open up membership to all, with no restrictions. A vote to approve the change will take place April 3-May 15, 2024. You will receive your ballot by email from SimplyVoting.com.

This change to bylaws has been unanimously approved by the AAUW California Board of Directors.

In an email sent to all California members, the AAUW CA board explained that over the past 143 years, we have “never stopped advocating for education while expanding our focus to ensuring policies around maternity leave, reproduction rights, equal pay, and policies against sexual harassment and violence against women. Welcoming those without a degree will not change who we are and what we are working towards- it will enhance our efforts by including anyone who is as passionate as we are about equity for women and girls.”

To learn more about this important issue, information is available on these sites: AAUW for All and Open Up AAUW. For some history on AAUW’s path to becoming an inclusive organization, watch this webinar on Mary Church Terrell and the fight to integrate AAUW.  

Branch Forum on Open Membership

To allow all branch members to express their views on open membership, we will hold a virtual Zoom meeting on Tuesday, March 26. Everyone will be given an equal opportunity to respectfully present their views on this topic. Please read the background material and then join us to share your thoughts on why you support open membership or why you do not. 

One branch member has already decided that this forum will not suitably address the issue and has chosen not to participate. Instead, she will be emailing her opposition statement to branch members in March.

Suman Ganapathy, President