From the Board of Trustees

Name Change Circles will be held for 14 days starting October 2 through October 15. The Circles will be facilitated by the UCE Board of Trustees. The Circles will give our Beloved Community members an opportunity to share their thoughts/feelings on a name change, an opportunity to express empathy for those who think/feel differently about a name change, and an opportunity to propose a name. The Circles will be conducted similar to a Covenant Group. Deep Listening is an integral component of the process. After the closing words of a Circle members will be asked to fill out a form that shares the member’s circle answers in written form. The forms will add options for next steps. For those that cannot make it to a circle we will offer other opportunities to fill out a form. We want to hear from as many members who choose to have their voice heard. We will accept forms until October 31.

The purpose of the Circles and the written forms is both to give our Beloved Community an opportunity to be heard on the issue of a possible name change and to give the Board of Trustees data to make a recommendation on whether to further explore a name change. We will make a recommendation shortly after the October 31 deadline.

The Circle times are, Saturday and Sundays at 12:30, Weeknights (except Thursdays) at 7:00, and Thursdays at 7:30. The room numbers vary. The Circles will vary in length. The opportunities to speak will be time limited. The opportunity to share your thoughts and feeling will be two minutes long, the empathy piece will be one minute long,the name proposal will be a few seconds to propose a name. We are not looking for a discussion of specific names at this point. If there are 30 people the Circle will probably last about 1:45. If there are four people the Circle will probably last around 18 minutes.

Please contact us with any questions.

Submitted by: Brian Meister