March 16th Meeting

Meeting started at 5:44 pm. Officers present are President Joseph Rasch, Vice President Perry Winters, Secretary Sheree Jackson and Social Media Director David Carroll.

• T-shirt designs were discussed. 

• Layouts for shadowbox was discussed, including seeking permission to place the group’s information there. 

• Booth ideas were discussed, including what information might be handed out to people, to send a positive message about the society to the campus. 

• Discussed a project, “Send an Atheist to Church” to raise money for charity. 

• Raising money for Japanese aid was discussed, perhaps partnering with Second Harvest for a food drive, or by raising monetary aid. 

• A Milligan College group is interested in sitting in on one of our meetings, and “observing” the group’s activities. 

• We have been recognized by the Secular Student Association. 

• The Philosophy Club at ETSU and the Department of Philosophy will be hosting the Philosophy Conference at the Carnegie Hotel on Friday at 2 pm and beginning Saturday at 8 am, where philosophical papers will be presented to the public.

• A discussion of “what atheism is” commenced.

Meeting adjourned at 7:15 pm. 

March 2nd Meeting

Meeting started at 5:33 pm. All officers present.

• The meeting begun with a discussion of the presentation given last night by Perry Winters, Jon Shell, April Alexander and Joseph Rasch. The presentation went well, and was successful. It was suggested that the presentation slides should be reduced so that the presentation can be utilized productively in a classroom setting.  The presentation gave the presenters an opportunity to show the fallacy of atheists trying to push some kind of ‘agenda’.

• A booth/tabling event on campus was discussed, and the list of volunteers was updated. An emphasis was placed on promoting the group, increasing campus awareness.

• Re-naming the group was discussed, to give us a more professional appearance to those on campus. 

• Voting was taken on these various names: “Secular Association of Atheists & Freethinkers” (S.A.A.F.); “Atheist and Freethinker Club”;  “Society of Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers”; “Skeptics and Atheists Network at ETSU” (S.A.N.E); “Atheist Freethought Society at ETSU”.  

• “Skeptics and Atheists Network at ETSU” (S.A.N.E) was chosen as the official name of the group, replacing the name “ETSU Atheist and Freethinker Club”.

• Attendance was encouraged for several upcoming campus events, to bring campus awareness to the group. 

• It was discussed setting up a mock voting booth, where a person could vote what their religion is, and what religion they were raised in - anonymously. The data would be utilized to raise awareness of the group, and to begin a discussion.          

• A list was made of professors responsive to or open to the concept of the group, and be willing to associate their name for events, etc.          

• It was proposed that the last Wednesday of every month, we go to a social venue and/or watch a movie as a group. This proposal was accepted.         

• The group now has a shadow box in the Culp Center, which is locked and cannot be vandalized. Members are encouraged to create different posters for this box.

• To help legitimize the group off-campus, it was proposed that we gain recognition from the Secular Student Alliance.  This proposal was accepted.          

• Sheree Jackson was assigned with creating a logo for the group, which will be submitted and voted on.

Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm.