GALA-ND/SMC News

Hey NYC Domers (and those that can come in for football Saturdays)!

Now that football season is almost upon us, Therapy has offered to be our destination for ND football for the first few weeks.  We will have the second floor –- which has a huge screen, couches, and drink specials-- and they are working on creating a menu for us.

The first game (ND-SDSU) is Sat. Sept 6th at 3:30
The second game (ND-Michigan) is Sat. Sept 13th at 3:30

Therapy has never done anything like this before, so they are asking for a headcount. If these go well, then they will keep it up. Otherwise, we will need to find somewhere else.

If you are planning on attending, let us know so we can tell the folks at Therapy how much staff they will need to plan for.  And please feel free to invite friends!  Email Paul at ptxburke (at) yahoo (dot) com to let him know if you (and any guests) will be coming.

We have a vacancy on our leadership team and are seeking candidates for a midterm appointment (subject to dues-paying members' vote).  Please see the description below for more details.

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The GALA-ND/SMC Secretary is an elected position on the GALA Leadership Board. Candidates must be graduates of either Notre Dame or St. Mary's College and dues paying members of GALA-ND/SMC. The Secretary - along with the Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer- convenes and presides over monthly conference calls and oversees the organization's activities.  The Secretary is also responsible for:

• Maintaining minutes of officer meetings and posting summaries on the GALA-ND/SMC website
• Communicating with GALA members via website postings, newsgroup coordination and semi-annual mailouts
• Overseeing the development of Alumni and Student Profiles to be posted on the web
• Keeping and maintaining GALA archives, including newsletters, outreach materials, correspondence, and activity records
• Overseeing other research and documentation efforts by GALA members including the history of Summer Service Projects, the Queer Film Festival, and the development of a database of LGBT student and alumni groups at other Catholic colleges

If you are interested in serving and have time and passion to contribute, please send an email with subject GALA SECRETARY to webmaster@galandsmc.org. Include a brief bio and statement of interest. To be considered, your email must be received by August 15, 2008.

This year's football-weekend tailgater will be held prior to the ND-Stanford game on October 4, 2008. Game time is at 2:30, so tailgate festivities will begin in the morning and continue forward.

If you have not yet sent in your alumni ticket lottery form, this is a good chance to synchronize your visit with that of other GALA-ND/SMC members! Even if you already sent in your lottery form for another game (or you don't normally participate in the lottery), you may still want to try to come for the weekend. Tickets are frequently available on sites like stubhub.com, and sometimes through the ND Alumni Association Online Ticket Consignment Program.

More details will be posted regarding the time and location closer to the event. We hope to see many of you there!

The following is excerpted from a letter sent out to all GALA-ND/SMC members in March 2008.  The referenced member survey is now viewable here.

In February 2008, current dues-paying members of GALA-ND/SMC voted for officers to serve a two-year volunteer term leading the group.  We are happy to announce that our new officers are:

CHAIR - Tom O'Brien '86
VICE CHAIR - Steven Saftig '03
TREASURER - Mike Douglass August '96
SECRETARY - Gus W. '80

To learn more about the officers, visit their bios.

Since the election, officers have met both in person and via phone conference to determine their focus and direction for the coming year. Discussions were framed by GALA’s mission statement and by responses to the January member survey.

The officers have chosen to take the following first steps over the next few months as they prepare for the long-term strategies for the group:

1.     Membership

• Modify the dues structure to encourage friends and lapsed members to become current. Annual dues will be rolled back from $50 per year to $35 per year for everyone except current students and recent graduates. Current students will not be charged a membership fee, while recent graduates will also enjoy free membership for the first two years after graduation. Make sure your membership is current by joining at join.galandsmc.org; and please share this post with friends and fellow alums who might be interested in joining GALA.
  

• Identify new regional coordinators and liaisons for recent grads and women. These coordinators will play an active role in building membership at the regional and targeted level through phone calls, establishing partnerships with other GLBT alumni organizations, identifying opportunities for summer service projects for current students and helping identify mentors for graduates relocating to a new area.
  

• Reinstitute Universal GALA night. GALA-ND/SMC  will encourage members across the country to get together on the same weekend for socializing and mobilizing. It’s an approach that continues to work well for Notre Dame and has worked well for GALA in the past, raising the organization’s profile. Events may include social service projects, social gatherings and jointly sponsored seminars.  Information will be forthcoming as events and dates are planned.

2.     Communication

A large percentage of GALA’s funds in the past have been spent on a paper newsletter. The officers recognize that this is a valuable form of communication and are committed to an annual update sent to  members. However, the officers also recognize that many people today are accustomed to more regular updates via electronic means. GALA-ND/SMC can take advantage of its online assets to create a more dynamic on-line presence, get the word out more often and keep costs to a minimum.

3.     Campus Presence

GALA-ND/SMC wants both students and administration to be aware of the strength of our organization and our commitment to open dialogue about the role of the GLBT community in campus life. The new officers will start with the following:

• Send a formal letter of introduction to the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s administrations.
• Formalize communication and coordination with OutreachND.

To follow up on a few items from the member update letter sent in December:

Officer elections for GALA-ND/SMC are underway. Per the GALA-ND/SMC constitution (viewable via the "About Us" navigation link in the left column of this website):

"The officers are to be elected by a majority of votes submitted by the dues-paying members... The duties of the officers are to convene an preside over group meetings, oversee the organization's activities, collect annual dues, maintain the financial records, distribute funds, publish a newsletter, and appoint committee chairs."

Those who have paid membership dues to GALA-ND/SMC since January 1, 2007, are eligible to vote in the election for new officers for the organization. If you paid dues during this time and did NOT receive an email over the past weekend with ballot instructions, please send an email to webmaster AT galandsmc DOT org so we can verify your status and forward the details accordingly. Ballots are being processed online and are due by Monday February 18, 2008, so please contact us promptly at the aforementioned email address if you paid dues during the eligibility period but did not receive the ballot instructions.

The new officer line-up will be announced on the www.galandsmc.org website during the week following the election.

Additionally, the results of the member survey (which concluded on 1/31/08) have been compiled and will be given to the new officers upon completion of the election period. Results will also be made available to members soon thereafter.

The following was included in the member update letters sent over the past month by email (if we had your email address) and by snail mail (if we didn't have your email).

Due to the protracted period for contacting all members, we are extending the deadline for those interested in being involved with leadership positions in GALA-ND/SMC. The deadline for letting us know your interest/intention will now be 10 days later (i.e. January 17).

Please see the details below and contact Michael August (at the address provided below) if you are interested in contributing!

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OFFICER ELECTIONS

It is once again time for officer elections. Offices up for election are:

Chair
Vice-Chair
Treasurer
Secretary

All members are invited to consider running for one of these leadership positions. Qualifications are simple: You must have earned an ND or SMC degree, and you must have time and passion to contribute to the organization during a full two-year term.

If this interests you, send an email with subject GALA ELECTIONS to webmaster@galandsmc.org. Include a bio and specify the office you are interested in running for. To be considered, your email must be received by January 17, 2008.

Elections will be held online in early February, with new officers announced by mid-February.

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OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

GALA-ND/SMC now has nearly 900 people in its member list. We recognize that the needs and interests of our members are as numerous as they are diverse, so we would like to seek some assistance with outreach for certain subsets of our member population. Liaisons would assist GALA-ND/SMC's officers with communications and events targeted to specific populations within the group's membership.

If you would like to serve as a liaison for any of the following subgroups of GALA-ND/SMC members, please send an email (with the subject line "GALA LIAISON") to webmaster@galandsmc.org. Include the name of the group you are interested in spearheading, as well as what your ideas and motivations are for the position:

Recent Alumni
Women
New Members
Regional Rep
Older Alumni