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Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists
(CASH) is a non-profit social and educational student
organization based out of the
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
campus. CASH represents
freethought on the campus. It was founded in
1991. It has around 60 members
and an annual budget of about $6,000.
Mission Statement
The
Purpose of CASH is:
To provide campus freethinkers with community
and intellectual support through social events, regular meetings,
and educational events and materials.To educate the campus
community about freethought issues, including:The Constitutional
principle of state/church separation.Religious and civil
rights.Critiques of supernaturalistic, pseudoscientific, and
paranormal worldviews.Origins and developments of religions.
Positive, secular alternatives to religious systems and
worldviews.To fight threats to secularism, atheism, humanism,
non-belief, or freethought and threats to religious and civil
liberties, especially at the local and collegiate level.To
promote an ethical change that repudiates indoctrination,
especially the indoctrination of people into any sect or
dictatorial belief system. To create society-wide awareness of
brainwashing, especially by religions, sects, and dogmatists.To
work for a day in which critical, creative, independent,
scientific, and skeptical thinking is institutionalized in our
public education system, taken as a right of minds, and as a goal
of families and teachers.To advance society towards a reality
where reason, skepticism, and the scientific method are seen as the
natural and best available common means to examine the world,
educate our pupils, acquire knowledge, solve societal problems, and
understand humans’ place in the Universe.Meetings
Meetings
tend to have a lecturer talk on some topic of expertise. Events
(except members-only events) are open to all regardless of personal
religious, social, or political views. The location of regular
meetings is in
Coffman Memorial Union at the
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
campus, East Bank, on the third floor. The time of regular meetings
is at 6:30pm on Thursdays.
Membership
Membership in CASH is open to
all, regardless of whether you are a
student, or a
staff or
community member, and regardless of your
religious
affiliation (or lack thereof). Cost is a $5 (USD) minimum
donation ($10 (USD)
for non-students). CASH
membership comes with many benefits, including
free access to the CASH
Library, invitations to members-only events such as
the popular CASH Year-end
Picnic, and sometimes even free
pizza! Also, only members may apply for
officer positions within
the organization.
History
Name
The organization was
founded in
1991 by Michael
Valle under the name
University of
Minnesota Atheists and Unbelievers (UMAU). The name was changed
in 1992 by Eric Snyder to
University of
Minnesota Atheists and Humanists (UMAH).
The
University of
Minnesota Student Actvities Office decided that the practice of
student groups putting the University's name at the front of their
official name might imply an endorsement. Hoping to avoid any legal
ramifications, in 2002, non-athletic student groups were no longer
allowed to place the University's name at the front of their own
name. Placing it at the rear, as "at the
University of Minnesota" or "of the
University of Minnesota" was
acceptable.
It was unclear whether old groups would be
grandfathered out or not. However, in October of 2003, UMAH was
informed that failure to change their name would render their
constitution
void. In a meeting where several alternatives were discussed,
"CASH" was finally decided upon in a
vote.
Leaders
Structure
In April of 2004, CASH
revised their
constitution, drastically changing the
organization’s structure. Previously, CASH had always been led by a
president. In the
new
constitution, the organization was led by a
three-person executive board (a.k.a.
triumvirate). The reasons for this include
division of labor and responsibility, avoidance of “cult of
personality” administrations, and inter-term
consistency.
Presidents
September 1991 – May 1992,
Michael ValleMay 1992 – May 1993, Eric SnyderMay 1997 – May
1998, Catalina ChadbourneMay 1999 – August 1999, Jende
HuangAugust 1999 – 04 May 2000, Gabriel Carlson04 May 2000 –
22 February 2001, Michael Johnson22 February 2001 – 06 May 2001,
Joshua Spotts06 May 2001 – 04 September 2002, Jamis Ahern04
September 2002 – May 2003, Chris WeissMay 2003 – October 2003,
Ryan HayleOctober 2003 – May 2004, Michael
JonesExecutive Board Members
May 2004 – 26 January
2005, Kara Johnson, Activities CoordinatorMay 2004 – present,
Jenny Werness, Publicity CoordinatorMay 2004 – present, Joseph
Foley,
TreasurerAssociations
Affiliations
American
AtheistsAmerican Humanist
AssociationCampus Freethought
AllianceSecular Student
AllianceOther National Organizations (not officially
affiliated)
Americans United for the Separation of Church
and StateAmerican Civil Liberties
UnionCenter For InquiryCoalition for the
Community of ReasonCommittee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
ParanormalCouncil for Secular
HumanismFreedom From Religion
FoundationInstitute for Humanist
StudiesInternet InfidelsMilitary
Association of Atheists and FreethinkersNational Center for
Science EducationQuackwatchScouting For AllSkeptics
SocietyWorld Transhumanist
AssociationLocal Organizations
Atheists for Human
RightsCamp Quest of
MinnesotaCritical Thinking Club
of MinnesotaFreethought BandFreethought
ToastmastersHumanists of
MinnesotaLake Superior
FreethinkersMinnesota AtheistsMinnesota Civil Liberties
UnionRed River
FreethinkersRochester Area
FreethinkersInternal Links
AtheismHumanismSecular HumanismUniversity of
MinnesotaExternal Links
Official CASH Website Official University of
Minnesota WebsiteSources
CASH
ConstitutionMichael Jones, former President of CASH
Wikis
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