Though I (Sarah Kaiser) won’t be the president or a group officer for the upcoming year, neither of the next co-presidents were available to go to the annual CFI Student Leadership Conference in Buffalo, NY, so I went in their place to get ideas and inspiration for the coming year.

This was my second trip to the headquarters of the Center for Inquiry Transnational headquarters, the founding location of a think tank promoting science, reason, and free inquiry in all areas of human endeavor.  CFI is not only one of the largest secular organizations (if not the largest) in the world, it also has a branch called CFI On Campus that runs events to help train and motivate student leaders on university and high school campuses around the globe.  SAIU is an affiliate of them, and receives many helpful resources from them, including help with speakers, promotional materials, invaluable advice, networking, and more.

CFI headquarters with all the conference attendees

My trip to Buffalo lasted from Wed, June 24 until Monday, June 29, and in this time I had a chance to meet up with old friends, and make lots of new ones, as well as share ideas to make the upcoming school year rock! Instead of going through all the details of the conference, I’ll share a few photos of some of my personal highlights here. You can see the full set of albums from the conference on Facebook or on my Zooomr page.

From left: Debbie Goddard, Dan Riley, Tracy Kennedy, and Adam Isaak. Debbie and Dan are staff that do campus organizing, and Adam is an intern this summer. Tracy goes to school with Adam. This was at a trip to Niagara Falls, near Buffalo.

The plaque SAIU received for our community activism! Interacting with the community is definitely an important thing for any campus group to do, and I'd like us to continue to do more of this in the future.

Sarah receiving the group's award for Community Activism. We got this award for our work on the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. (Photo credit: Derek Levi Osbourne Wendler.)

Since we started the Secular Alliance of IU in April 2008, it has grown from an idea to an organization, from goals envisioned to plans fulfilled.  As the founder of SAIU, I have enjoyed observing this growth immensely.  Every new member who tells me their story has inspired me to continue on, through the good and the bad.  I would like to thank all of our members, from those who lurk on the listserv and in the forum to those who come to every meeting, for your involvement in our organization.  Without you, we wouldn’t be able to share our secular goals and ideas with the Indiana University and Bloomington communities!  

I wanted to give a quick overview of the past year’s events, and celebrate some of our many successes:

1. Speaker: John Loftus, “From Christian to Atheist”: John Loftus, a native Hoosier, told about 40 people his story of leaving the Christian faith.  Loftus blogs on Debunking Christianity and wrote a book about his journey to atheism.
2. Cardboard Boat Regatta: In the first month of school, SAIU participated in a university-wide boat race.  We built our “HMS Beagle” out of cardboard and duct tape, and two members rowed her across the IU Outdoor Pool.
3. Russell’s Tea Party discussions: For most of the year, the group held weekly discussions on topics including religion, politics, ethics, science, and pseudoscience.  There meetings doubled as opportunities to foster a community and to encourage discussion and critical thinking on a variety of issues.
4. Movie nights: Through the year, movie nights were held about twice a month.  We showed films like Jesus Camp, Saved!, Expelled!, and The God Who Wasn’t There, which covered topics that got people thinking about religious belief in our country.
5. Creation Museum Field Trip: The group went to the infamous Creation Museum to learn what they had to say about religious belief.  As one member said “the trip was alternatively funny and scary,” because it is shocking that people believe these things, but also very sad and disappointed.  We made a video of our trip to inform others about the museum and also document our journey.
6. Wonderlab Volunteer Orientation: A few members went to the orientation for volunteers at Wonderlab Museum of Science & Technology in January, a museum that supports science education and making science accessible to youth.
7. Darwin Day Evolution Teach-in: Three group members gave an educational talk on the arguments against evolution, myths about evolution, and why creationism isn’t true.  This was a great presentation, and was followed by a wonderful discussion.
8. Stone Age Institute Field Trip: The group visited a local institute that studies early human origins and evolution.  There was a presentation on what the institute does and a tour of the grounds.  This is a beautiful, place, just north of Bloomington, and the two directors of the institute were very warm and welcoming to SAIU.
9. Speakers: Annie Laurie Gaylor and Susan Sackett: The Center for Inquiry Indiana helped us to bring these two wonderful speakers to our campus.  These events helped us to gain new members and awareness for our group.
10. Speaker: Hemant Mehta, “Improving the Atheist Image”: Hemant Mehta encouraged atheists to promote a positive image of atheism and nonbelief.  This event was covered twice in the IDS, and helped new members to find our group.

These are just a few of the activities held by SAIU in the 08-09 year.  Overall, I must say that SAIU had a fantastic year.  I will miss being the president of this organization greatly, but I’m happy to say that I’m passing the torch to three wonderful new officers.  At our final meeting, we elected the following people:

Co-Presidents: Joe Hughto (jhughto@indiana.edu) and Ashley Carroll (ashcarro@indiana.edu)
Web Manager: Eoban Binder (ebinder@indiana.edu)
PR Director: We’re still looking for someone to take on this position! Email secular@indiana.edu.

If you’re aching for some atheist community this summer, please contact onlyskybl@gmail.com to learn more about the Atheist Happy Hour, a group that meets on the first Friday of every month in Bloomington for informal socializing.

If you’d like to get involved with some activism, the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign is an active group working to place atheist ads on buses across the state.  They’ve already put ads up in South Bend, Indiana, and are working to raise money to continue their cause.  Learn more at http://INatheistbus.org.

Thank you again for a wonderful year.  I hope you have a great summer, and I look forward to the events our new leaders will bring to the group.

—Sarah Kaiser, Founder and President of the Secular Alliance of IU

Location: Woodburn 100

Description: Susan Sackett was personal executive assistant to Gene Roddenberry, creator of the television legend Star Trek, for over 17 years until his death in October 1991. She also served as his production assistant on the first Star Trek film and worked closely with him on the next five Star Trek movies. In addition, she served as Production Associate during the first five seasons of the television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Susan and her writing partner, Fred Bronson, sold several stories and a teleplay to that series, including the popular episodes “Ménage à Troi” and “The Game.”

She wrote three books about Star Trek: Letters to Star Trek, Star Trek Speaks! (with co-authors Fred and Stan Goldstein) and The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with co-author Gene Roddenberry.

Another book, Star Trek: The First 25 Years, co-authored with Gene Roddenberry, was not published but became the basis of the 1994 book, Star Trek: Where No One Has Gone Before: A History in Pictures, by J. M. Dillard. Susan’s Star Trek memoir, Inside Trek, was published in 2002.

It was Gene Roddenberry who introduced Susan to humanism. She has been president of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix since 2000. The chapter received “Chapter of the Year” from the American Humanist Association for 2001.

For more information go to: www.insidetrek.com.

Location: Fine Arts 015

Hemant Mehta, author of "I Sold My Soul On eBay"

Description: Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors.
He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he graduated with honors in both Mathematics and Biology. While there, he also helped establish their first secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD). He is now earning his Masters in Math Education at DePaul University.

He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and is also an SSA representative to the Secular Coalition for America.
More recently, Hemant received national attention, including being featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, for his work as the “eBay Atheist.”
Hemant’s blog can be read at FriendlyAtheist.com and his book “I Sold My Soul on eBay” (WaterBrook Press) was published in 2007.
He currently works as a high school Math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.

(Room reserved from 7pm; talk starts at 7:30pm.)

Annie Laurie Gaylor is giving a talk this Saturday, March 7 at 4pm in Woodburn 100. The topic is “Why we need freedom from religion.”

Download a copy of the flyer for the event and post it around campus!

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, will speak this Saturday at 4pm in Woodburn 100.

Annie Laurie Gaylor and her mother, Anne Nicol Gaylor, co-founded Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison, WI, in 1976. Annie Laurie was a college student at the time. She is now  Co-President of FFRF with her husband, Dan Barker. She is editor of Freethought Today which is published ten times a year by FFRF.

Annie Laurie is the editor of Women Without Superstition, “No Gods, No Masters”–The Collected Writings of Women Freethinkers of the Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries. She is the author of Woe to Women–The Bible Tells Me So–The Bible, Female Sexuality, & the Law and Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children.

She makes numerous appearances on national and local radio and television advancing the cause of Separation of State and Church and other issues involving nonbelievers. She is a graduate of the Journalism School, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

She will be talking about why the lack of freedom from religion threatens progress in the United States, and why atheists, freethinkers, and other nontheists need to come out of the closet.  FFRF, a state/church watchdog based in Madison, Wis., is the nation’s largest association of atheists and agnostics.

The talk is hosted by the Secular Alliance of IU and CFI Indiana.

If you’re closer to Indianapolis and free on Sunday, Gaylor will also be speaking at CFI Indy at 6pm.  You can find more information at their website.