Anarchist U minutes for 20 July 2003

Luis, Erik, Sam, Alan, Helena/Clifford, Bill

Helena/Clifford facilitated

We made an agenda Leaflet Website Space Outreach A Bookfair table Launch event

LEAFLET: Luis presented the artwork and design of the leaflet. On one side is a tree with some kids climbing in it and the words: We are all students: we are all teachers. The reverse has an announcement that the Anarchist U is coming and a list of the courses approved so far. It has the new website address. Luis said we could make another flyer later with more detailed info about the courses. Everyone loved it and Luis left after a while to make copies at Kinkos (we owe him some $ for Kinkos).

OUTREACH: Luis brought this up before he left. It would be really good to have more women in the group and to try for a course facilitated by a woman for this September. We all agreed to think about women we know who might want to facilitate a course. We also agreed that this can't be forced but we should try to make it happen organically.

SPACE: Sam has been working on this. He was contacted by the Cecil Street Community Centre for more details about us (mission statement, our Board of Directors, our non-profit registration, that the event is open to the community) to present to a Cecil Street Board Meeting in mid-September. We agreed that Sam should put together an application (probably for space in January) for one room weekly for 3 hours that can seat 12 people. It could include the statement from the flyer, course summaries and brief bios of the some collective members. Sam tried to explain to Cecil Street that we are not organized with a board of directors and we are not registered as a non-profit corporation. They may be having reservations because of the word 'anarchist' but hopefully the course summaries will give them a better idea of what we're doing.

ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR: We agreed to request a half table at the Toronto Anarchist Bookfair on 25 October to flyer for the Anarchist U. There was some discussion about whether we would do a workshop-perhaps on the history and philosophy of free schools-but we left that for the moment.

LAUNCH EVENT: Following the discussion at last meeting there was a consensus that this should be an open event in a park rather than a musical show in a nightclub. It is not a fund-raiser. It is a social event to start off the school year and also for promotion of the new Anarchist U. It would have food, maybe a BBQ, maybe Food Not Bombs, with a modest sound system and some friends invited to DJ. Possibly sound from the Art Van people (who have a large van equipped for outdoor events).

Sam will contact the city and see if we need a permit for Christie Pits or Trinity Bellwoods park. There seemed to be some slight preference for Trinity Bellwoods because it is bigger but Christie Pits is right on the subway. We didn't decide between the two.

Labor Day is Monday 1 September. State universities start on Monday 8 September. Anarchist U courses and study groups start the week of 15 September (except Rob's course on theories of sexuality, which begins the following week). So we decided on a picnic date of Sunday 7 September starting at 3pm.

Next meeting we should discuss promotion of the Anarchist U (hopefully an article in NOW magazine the week before the picnic, EYE, Toronto Star, CKLN, CIUT, CBC radio (do we do CBC radio?)

WEBSITE: We looked at the website (lots of thanks to Erik) and really liked its simplicity and the fact that anybody can update it without a lot of computer skills. The software is designed to be participatory. Erik did a short hands-on workshop to show people how to edit and add material. Approved. Its our official site. We liked Erik's voice in what is written and the question response to one item. Erik also got us registered for the name www.AnarchistU.org for one year. (We owe him $8.)

Next meeting we should discuss who can change the website and also dealing with our e-mail. For example, if someone has a study group approved in principle they probably shouldn't post it on the site until the developed course is approved at a collective meeting. Minor changes to courses added by the facilitator would seem to be okay. We need to work all this out. Somebody mentioned their experience that adding electronic communication to a collective can cause problems (flame wars in the collective) and it needs to be done thoughtfully.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday August 5 2003 at 196 Manning Ave (at Dundas). Potluck meal at 6 pm. Meeting starts at 7pm.