Branch President’s Monthly Message

March 2024

President Deb York

We’ve been working on Inclusion these past several years as part of our DEI work and it’s so great to see so many people participating with us at our Branch programs. I love seeing guests, spouses, friends, and new members in the audience. AAUW will be sending out ballots in March/April for all branch members across the country to vote on whether we should fully open our membership to non-college graduates. Our National AAUW has held several votes on this topic in the recent past. Many branches are struggling to increase membership and believe this will help. Our Branch has had a ‘Friends of AAUW’ membership status for quite some time. These members can participate in all our activities and meetings, except voting for Elected Board Offices in April and Branch budget approval in September. While our Branch has added over 50 members in the last two years, they have all been college graduates. Our own members likely have differing opinions on this. Some would prefer to keep the status quo, an organization that honors the hard work we all engaged in to earn our various degrees. Others would be delighted to set the degree requirement aside and open our doors to non-college women. Our AAUW mission seeks to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. All members work to execute forward progress on our mission. By the way,-men are also allowed to join AAUW currently.  Although we don’t have any yet, the Auburn branch does. Some are concerned that we might have to change our AAUW name. We will set aside some time for table discussions on this topic from 9:45 -10:00 prior to the meeting start at our March program, which happens to be on Inclusion with our LGBTQ+ student panel. You’ll get a chance to share your thoughts and hear those of others to help you prepare for the upcoming vote.

Wishing you all the best,

Deborah