After continued struggles with dwindling membership, Brown's American Civil Liberties Union has instated two new leaders - neither of whom had any previous association with the group - in an effort to revitalize its presence on campus. The ACLU's new president, Colin Chazen '09, and vice president, Dan MacCombie '08, are also respectively the media chair and president of Brown's Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Though Chazen and MacCombie now hold prominent positions in both groups, the ACLU and SSDP will remain distinct entities.
"ACLU is not going to become SSDP, it's going to keep the historic focus that it has had," said Tristan Freeman '07, who served as ACLU president during the 2004-2005 school year.
"SSDP and ACLU will be two entirely independent groups," Chazen said. "I know there are rumors that SSDP is taking over ACLU but this is really not the case at all."
MacCombie said though he had been involved with the ACLU prior to college, he did not originally join the group at Brown because "there wasn't much of an organization."
Andrew Kurtzman '08, the ACLU's previous president, acknowledged the group's membership numbers were low last semester. In spite of this, the ACLU continued to operate, but turnout at meetings and public events was less than optimal, Kurtzman said.
"Basically all of our older members didn't show up," he said.
Christopher Schmitt '06, the ACLU's former vice president who has also been a member of SSDP, suggested looking to SSDP for new leadership, Kurtzman said. Chazen and MacCombie soon came up as potential leaders.
MacCombie said he, Schmitt and Kurtzman decided "a younger person who wasn't in a leadership position in SSDP" should lead the ACLU.
"I knew (Chazen) was interested and that he had ideas and things he would like to do with the group," MacCombie said. "He's really gung-ho about rebuilding the chapter."
Kurtzman said he is not concerned about Chazen's age. "Younger is a lot better, especially when the organization has been going through transitions rapidly," he said, adding that Chazen will have a "base of older well-rounded students who know what they're doing."
"Age is not the most reliable determinant of leadership," said Nathaniel Lepp '06, a former president of SSDP who now serves on the organization's national board of directors. Lepp observed that first-years have "free time" upperclassmen might not have.
Also, Chazen's lack of previous involvement with the ACLU "is not an issue at all," Kurtzman said. "His experience in SSDP is more than appropriate."
Still, Kurtzman said, the "ACLU will take him in a different direction."
SSDP was a logical source of leadership for the ACLU, Kurtzman said, describing SSDP as "a very well-run organization." In addition, the ACLU had a "close relationship" with SSDP in the past, he said.
Lepp said he is not concerned MacCombie and Chazen will be overworked serving two organizations, referring to coinciding leaderships as a "fairly routine matter."
"People in political groups are likely to participate in more than one," Lepp said, citing his own simultaneous involvement in SSDP and the Brown Democrats.
However, Lepp said anyone taking on multiple leadership roles "runs the risk of spreading themselves too thin."
"I don't think (MacCombie's) involvement in ACLU will fundamentally change his work in SSDP," Lepp said.
"(MacCombie's) priority is with SSDP," said Jennifer Giron '09, head of the SSDP-sponsored Drug Resource Center. "He'll use ACLU as a symbiotic force to accomplish things."
MacCombie stressed that the "ACLU is a strong, unique organization," but added, "I don't want to discount the fact that we're going to try and work with other groups," mentioning the Dems and Green Party as potential collaborators.
"There are certainly issues that SSDP deals with that ACLU would like to contribute on," Chazen said.
Declining ACLU membership
According to Freeman, the ACLU has been at Brown about 30 years, but last semester, the "ACLU didn't really do as well as it should have been doing." He added that "there weren't as many ACLU events as there were in the past."
Last semester the ACLU held one general body meeting and about 12 executive board meetings. Because old members strayed from the group, last semester's ACLU leadership had to "work from the ground up" in re-establishing membership, Kurtzman said.
MacCombie acknowledged that "there is a sort of leadership overlap," but Freeman stressed that the leadership change will "ensure that ACLU survives for decades to come."
Chazen will take the lead in spearheading projects for the ACLU, while MacCombie will play more of an assistant role, MacCombie said.
"We will begin meeting regularly soon," Chazen said, also mentioning that the ACLU is "interested in becoming involved with the Rhode Island chapter."
"Historically ACLU has been one of the most active groups," Kurtzman said, adding that it's older than both the Dems and the College Republicans.
Kurtzman said he and Schmitt, who were elected to ACLU's leadership in spring 2005, "weren't intending to run the organization" by themselves, but they found "everyone else jumped ship."
"In the last few years, there have been some organizational problems," Kurtzman said. Also, other groups had pushed into the ACLU's established "niche" on campus and usurped membership.
The pair spent last semester "trying to pull (ACLU) back up," Kurtzman said.
Chazen has organized a lecture on April 6 with Jerry Elmer, a volunteer attorney for the ACLU in Rhode Island. Elmer will talk about his book "Felon for Peace," Chazen said. MacCombie described this as an "ACLU kick-off event, to get things going again."
