News & Commentary

Tuesday March 9, 2010 Environmental and civil rights organizations are joining forces to urge that Water Supply planning consider meaningful alternatives to facilitating the continuation of unequal and unsustainable development patterns. The organizations object to the continuing failure by regional planners to consider whether alternatives to current sprawling land use patterns would be better for the environment, and more beneficial to communities of color and low income communities.

On October 18th, the ACLU of Wisconsin responded to the report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on Housing and Community Grants and the need to enhance requirements and oversight of fair housing plans. “Federal law is very clear that if a local government gets money from HUD for things like the Community Development Block Grants, it must analyze the impediments to fair housing in that community,” noted Karyn Rotker, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin. Beyond an analysis, plans must take actions to reduce barriers. “This isn’t just responding to complaints of discrimination – it’s taking active steps to create a more inclusive community.”

Thursday May 5, 2011 Applause for We Energies’ announcement on May 5 that it will take the first steps to convert the Menomonee Valley coal plant to natural gas. This action has the potential to significantly improve the Milwaukee community's air quality and the health of its residents by reducing dangerous air pollution. “We can all breathe a little easier knowing that We Energies is taking this first step to clean up the plant,” stated Karyn Rotker, Senior Staff Attorney with ACLU of Wisconsin, “This is one of the state’s dirtiest plants, in the midst of communities of color, and we are glad those communities will benefit from a transition to a cleaner fuel source.”

Poor people are one of the least powerful groups in the U.S. and their civil liberties are therefore always in a precarious state. The ACLU has defended the rights of the poor against government arbitrariness and abuse through litigation, lobbying and public education.

Stacy Harbaugh, ACLU of Wisconsin spokeswoman, said the approach could infringe free speech. "We are very concerned about this kind of enforcement," she said. "We have to ask if it is targeted." Harbaugh said Monday that (former Capitol Police Chief) Tubbs never enforced the "four-person" rule because it was "ridiculous." "The way they were handling it was working up until now, and the only thing that has changed is we have a new chief," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin continues to oppose sex segregation in a proposal for a charter school that will be considered by the Madison Metropolitan School District later this month. This week, the ACLU issued a letter to the school board outlining its concerns with the research and legal justifications for single-sex education in the Madison Preparatory Academy plan. The ACLU agrees that students of color in Madison deserve better educational options. However, as coeducation is not the cause of the racial achievement gap, it isn’t a reasonable solution. There is too great a potential for discrimination in sex-segregation. Research cited in the proposal in support of single-gender education are unscientific, biased or don’t actually conclude that sex segregation alone is what contributes to student success. What has been proven in academic studies and journals is that these programs reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and perpetuate the discredited idea that boys and girls learn so differently that they shouldn’t be educated in the same classroom.

In a fast-moving piece of legislation, Senators are using Governor Walker’s special session on job creation to repeal the progress made after the passage of the 2009 Healthy Youth Act. The Healthy Youth Act raised the state standards for public school human growth and development instruction. This bill requires schools to revert back to the proven failure of abstinence-until-marriage types of instruction. This bill even redefines what “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” means.

Student free speech should include the right to wear breast cancer awareness bracelets, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and cooperating attorneys today. The suit was filed on behalf of a middle school student at Sauk Prairie Middle School who along with many classmates wore an "I ♥ Boobies! (Keep A Breast)” bracelet to school and prompted a school ban. “While a public school can put some reasonable limits on expression that poses a credible threat of a disruption of its educational activities or school mission, the mere discomfort some may have with the bracelets’ slang language is not a justification for banning the bracelets and punishing students who wear them,” said volunteer attorney Tamara Packard.

Student free speech should include the right to wear breast cancer awareness bracelets, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and cooperating attorneys today. The suit was filed on behalf of a middle school student at Sauk Prairie Middle School who along with many classmates wore an “I ♥ Boobies! (Keep A Breast)” bracelet to school and prompted a school ban.