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.

Members of SAIU play games at a recent Sunday Funday meeting.

Location: Sassafras Room in the IMU

Description: This is our last meeting of the year.  Sarah Kaiser will be stepping down as president, and you will have a chance to elect fresh new leadership to continue to nurture and grow the Secular Alliance of IU.  We plan on a re-organization of the leadership positions, so we’ll be voting not only on new officers, but on changes to the constitution.

Take a part in your group’s future!  Make sure SAIU is representing your interest as the ONLY secular organization at IU!  And furthermore, come help ensure that SAIU lasts for many generations of students in the years to come.

Excavation at Gona of a pelvic bone (Image courtesy of the Stone Age Institute)

Location: Stone Age Institute

Description: We are traveling about 10 miles north of Bloomington to the Stone Age Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of early human history.  The directors of the institute will be giving a presentation and touring us around the place.

Check out the photos of the institute on their website.  It’s a beautiful place!

We’ll be meeting at the IMU (Circle Drive by 7th Street) at 1:30pm, and leaving to arrive at the institute at 2pm.  We’ll stay till 4, then drive home.  Email secular@indiana.edu if you are available to drive, or to reserve your spot to attend!

Movie: TBA

Place: Student Building 150

Movie: TBA

Place: Student Building 150

Location: Sassafras Room

Description: Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher (among other things), is the namesake of our biweekly discussion meetings.  They are called tea parties to honor the religious analogy he came up with called Russell’s Teapot, which stated

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

Though this analogy is a parody of religion, our group does not debate or even discuss religion at every meeting.  Our topics range from political to religious to philosophical to scientific.  We have discussed evolution, morality, education, and other topics.

If you have ideas or suggestions for future Russell’s Tea Party topics, please post them on the forum.  Or join us at our next meeting!

We are still in the beginning of planning for this.  It is in Washington, DC, so there will be some cost involved for members that wish to go, including transportation, lodging, and food, but we will try to keep that total down as much as possible.  If you have any questions or ideas, contact us.