Common Ground II
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THE ROLE OF THE UUA BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION
The YAC feels that we have maintained a dynamic relationship with the UUA Board over the year. We have reported at every Board meeting, and have had regular formal and informal dialogues with members of the Board.
Our Board representative, Lori Pederson, has been invaluable in this dialogue, and in representing Board concerns.
During the first few months of our tenure, several controversial issues were before the Board arising from the recommendations and some of the controversies from the 1981 Youth Assembly. We were consistently asked for our recommendations, and our counsel, as the Board debated these decisions.
Two of the recommendations from the 1981 Youth Assembly were not acceptable to the Board. The recommendation for a separate Youth Section within the UUA was not considered feasible for financial and structural reasons by the Consultant on Youth Programs and the UUA Administration. It was not clear to the Board that such a section would result in any greater independent action for youth-led structures than currently exists.
The Board also rejected the recommendation of a youth position on the UUA Board, not wanting to establish a precedent of reserved seats for special interest groups.
In light of the hard work of the 1981 Youth Assembly delegates, these recommendations were not rejected lightly. President Eugene Pickett addressed the concerns expressed by these recommendations in an open letter to Common Ground delegates in February, 1982. The Board did express support for the continuation of a Youth Programs Office and Staff within the UUA, and instructed the Nominating Committee to consider youth nominees for UUA leadership positions.
The Board's attitude of concern and support for the entire Common Ground process was further expressed by their appropriation of $15,000 for travel subsidies for Common Ground delegates in 1982, to insure wide and full representation.
UUA Board Moderator Sandra Caron attended the opening ceremonies of this year's Assembly and brought greetings from the Board.
The UUA Administration under the leadership of Eugene Pickett has been
consistently supportive of the Common Ground process. We appreciated
the presence of Gene and Helen Pickett at the 1982 Youth Assembly, and
their willingness to hear and respond to the concerns of our delegates.
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Translated from the original text document to HTML by Lorne Tyndale, YRUU Programmes Specialist September 1993 - August 1994. The document was on lryer.org. I have placed the document on this site as I've been notified that lryer.org appears to be down.