The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota (ACLU) has hired Tiffany Campbell as Director of Advocacy, and Taté Walker, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as director of Communications.
The new hires make the ACLU the largest civil rights organization in South Dakota, which has been in the state since 2008 and is based in Sioux Falls.
As the communications director, Walker will be responsible for establishing and maintaining effective contacts and relationships to promote ACLU initiatives to members, volunteers, media, and partner coalitions. In addition, Walker will develop marketing and awareness messaging for online, print, social and other media.
Campbell will oversee legislative affairs at the local, state, and federal levels. She will also maintain and build coalitions dedicated to protecting freedom and liberty, and grow the ACLU’s network of activities and volunteers statewide. Both positions report to Robert Doody, executive director of the ACLU of South Dakota.
According the website, www.aclusd.org, South Dakota Chapter of the ACLU is a non-partisan organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, and the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people.
What are civil liberties and rights? Civil liberties include freedom of speech, press, religion, and association; due process; equal protection; and privacy. Civil rights include, for example, voting rights; discrimination based on disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or national origin; and police reform.
Often cases are not accepted by the ACLU because they involve disputes that are factual based, meaning, if a court resolves a case against the client, it could possibly never reach the civil liberties or civil right issues that would have brought the ACLU into the picture in the first place and because if a case is decided based on specific facts, the case might not have any impact on a broader group of people. The ACLU operates with a limited amount of attorneys and getting involved in factual based cases could easily over tax their resources and time.
Some of the cases that are denied by the ACLU include, employment law: firings or dismissals without good reason or just cause; Workers’ Compensation cases: denial of benefits, such as workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits; complaints about private criminal defense attorneys, length of sentence, or probation and parole issues; Complaints about lawyers or judges; Family law cases including child custody cases and divorces; Landlord-tenant or housing disputes.
The ACLU cannot give you advice about the deadlines that apply to your case. To protect your rights, please consult a private attorney promptly to find out what deadline may apply in your case. The phone number for the State Bar Association’s Lawyer Information and Referral Service is (800) 952-2333.
In order to contact the South Dakota ACLU offices, you can access the website at www.aclusd.org, email: southdakota@aclu.org, or contact them by phone at: (605) 332-2508.
(You can reach Karin Eagle at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com)
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