Chapters
Boulder County Chapter

Accomplishments and Awards

Awards

ACLU's Civil Rights in Action Award
In February 2002, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero presented Boulder High School student and Chapter board member Max Holleran with this prestigious national ACLU award for outstanding civil liberties actions by youth.

Some of Our Recent Accomplishments

New!
Right to Assemble in Boulder: We convinced the Boulder Parks & Rec. department to abandon a policy that demanded a permit, a $100 hourly fee and a $1 million insurance policy for small groups wanting to peaceably assemble to engage in First Amendment activity in Boulder city parks. Result: no permit, fee, or insurance is now required. The ACLU proposes a free voluntary reservation system.

Lafayette "taunting" ordinance: We derailed a city ordinance that made it a crime to "taunt or provoke" law enforcement by words alone. This broad and vague law gave officers "the latitude more commonly found in a police state," according to The Lafayette News, by encouraging arbitrary arrest to silence vocal opponents of police abuse. Council dropped the law on second reading after the ACLU objected.

Civil rights of non-citizens: We convinced the Boulder City Council to not get into the business of immigration law enforcement in a proposal that would have required city officials to investigate the legal residency status of unpaid volunteers for city boards and commissions.

Open Government: We opposed a proposed Boulder ballot measure that would have allowed secret "executive sessions" for city council members.

Freedom of the Press: We spoke out when University of Colorado officials threatened a student who distributed a free newspaper on campus and wrote a satirical opinion column that some found "offensive."

Opposition to Capital Punishment: We asked the Boulder District Attorney to take the death penalty "off the table" when the DA said she was considering the option for a person accused of a 1997 murder.

as of August, 2008

Some More of Our Recent Accomplishments

*Co-Sponsored a Civil Rights and Liberties Rally: Represented by Board Chair Judd Golden, the chapter joined a coalition of concerned organizations to rally next to the Boulder Municipal building in Sister Cities Plaza. The noontime rally took place on December 6 (it will be the first of a series of rallies on the 6th of every month). It featured several speakers, included Carolyn Bninski of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, El Centro Amistad and the ACLU of Colorado. Approximately 75 concerned citizens attended the rally, wearing red white and blue and waving flags and signs. The event made the front page of the Daily Camera and the Colorado Daily (click newspaper names for articles)

* Public library meeting rooms: Helped Longmont officials revise its library meeting room policy to assure non-discriminatory public access and protection of expressive association rights after individuals were excluded from a meeting advertised as open to the public.

* Marijuana penalties: Helped derail a proposal by the City of Lafayette to increase penalties for possession of marijuana from a $100 fine to a $1000 fine and one year in jail.

* School surveillance cameras: Met with school officials to discourage a policy change that would permit video cameras inside Boulder Valley schools.

* Student free speech rights: Defended a CU student’s right to publish a controversial newsletter after he was threatened by the administration with possible legal action because some claimed the newsletter was “offensive.”

* Fingerprinting schoolchildren: Helped a parents’ group convince the Boulder Valley schools to abandon a program that gathered biometric data on children without parental consent in a scheme to use fingerprints in school lunchlines.

* Free speech for public officials: When a Boulder city board member’s MySpace.com page upset some on city council the ACLU defended his free speech rights and opposed subjective and vague standards of conduct that could lead to arbitrary dismissal of city appointees.

* Right to peaceful assembly and protest: Opposed the establishment of a cordoned-off and remote “demonstration area” at the Boulder County Justice Center that was ordered after charges were filed against a suspect in the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case.

* Boulder hate crimes: Urged the Boulder City Counciltoconsider andrespect free speech rights in an anti-bias ordinance – even if the speech is offensive and hurtful – and opposed city funding for a “hate speech hotline” for anonymous complaints.

*Successfully advocated for increased public participation in Boulder County’s process for purchase of direct recording electronic voting systems (DREs) and helped influence the decision to defer any purchases due to questions about DRE reliability and accuracy.

*Provided a 26-page memo to the Boulder Valley School District and worked closely with the administration and community groups to help the District develop policies to protect the free speech and privacy rights of parents and students from abuses by military recruiters and to enforce District non-discrimination policy since the military denies employment to openly gay persons.

*Asked Boulder County to respect the First Amendment rights of employees trying to organize county workers for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

*Participated in a City Task Force and forced disclosure of information that derailed a proposed ordinance that would have severely limited peaceful speech over the objections of a persistent vocal minority in the business community.

* Successfully opposed severe funding cuts for Boulder Community Access TV (CATV) so it could continue to provide the only video open public forum in Boulder.

* Supported the Boulder City Library Commission’s request to the Boulder City Council to oppose section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act that permits a secret search of the books checked out by library patrons without judicial oversight.

* Stopped Boulder County from requiring jail inmates to perform free labor for religious organizations in violation of the establishment clause.

* Advocated for changes in Boulder's housing ordinances to treat same sex couples the same as married couples for purposes of occupancy limits. The ACLU proposal states that rights provided to heterosexual married couples would be extended to “persons who are not eligible to marry under Colorado law and whose domestic partnership, civil union or marriage has been recognized by any governmental entity and is a matter of public record.”

* Established a collection of books on civil liberties at the Boulder Public Library with funds from the Chapter’s Wally Lovelace Bill of Rights Education Fund.

* Advocated for voters’ rights before the Boulder County Commissioners by urging the County to have a reliable and verifiable system for recording and counting votes.

* Helped limit the impact of City of Boulder anti-panhandling ordinances that restrict the peaceful exercise of free speech in Downtown Boulder and on University Hill, and ban all people from street medians throughout the City.

* Helped limit attempts by the City of Boulder to eliminate open public access to news and information by forcing publishers to use government-issue news racks downtown and on University Hill.

* Successfully opposed a proposed high-tech weapons scan system at Longmont's Skyline High School that would have photographed and electronically scanned every student entering the building with untested and unreliable high-tech machines.

* Following the Barbie doll experiment controversy, we successfully advocated a major overhaul of vague and overbroad Boulder Valley School District regulations that violated the First Amendment - the new regulations endorse "robust discussion" and focus on regulating truly harmful behavior rather than being a vague and unconstitutional ban on “offensive” or “hurtful” speech.

* Helped preserve the First Amendment free expression rights of the Boulder Public Library, artists and the public, free of content-based censorship and intrusive surveillance after a Boulder man boastfully removed artwork - ceramic penises he said were "offensive" and "unpatriotic" - from a domestic violence exhibit in the library public exhibition space.

* Successfully opposed the politically-motivated disqualification of one of the two slates of candidates in a University of Colorado Student Union election on First Amendment and due process grounds.

* Actively urged the Boulder Valley School District to stop giving preferential rental rates to the Boy Scouts because of the Scouts' exclusion of gays from membership violates equal protection and the district's nondiscrimination policy.

* Convinced the City of Boulder to amend its ordinances to increase the protection of people from the risk of arrest for minor traffic offenses for which jail was not a possible sentence.

* Persuaded the City of Lafayette to protect free expression rights by not removing free newspaper news racks from three public places that were next to the racks of several daily fee newspapers.

* Limited potential privacy violations by Boulder's photo radar program and government public surveillance cameras by encouraging the city and county to enact regulations that limit use of images and punish misuse of this invasive technology that has the potential to gather and disseminate personal information.

* Opposed Internet filters at area public libraries that would unreasonably limit children’s access to legitimate information.

* Helped defeat a proposed Boulder anti-loitering/sitting ordinance that would have criminalized innocent, lawful and passive behavior and was likely to be selectively enforced.

* Negotiated First Amendment advocacy tables for non-profits on the Downtown Boulder Mall.

* Worked with the Boulder Police to limit the impact of traffic blockades for the infamous Halloween "Mall Crawl."

* Stopped several University of Colorado and County high school coaches from organizing and conducting athletic team prayers.

* Negotiated revisions of Boulder's sign code to eliminate unreasonable restrictions on political and campaign signs.

* Worked with the Boulder Valley School District to discourage the teaching of "scientific creationism" and limiting the impact of "hate speech" codes that are overbroad and restrict protected speech by students.

* Encouraged passage of a Boulder City ordinance setting limits on random drug testing for employees.