UCE Name Change Process

The Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Church of Evanston recommends that the discussion about a change to our name be concluded for the balance of the 2016-2017 church year. This does not preclude any member from filing a petition to put a name change on the ballot at a special or annual meeting in the future.

The Board of Trustees bases its recommendation on the response forms which members turned in to the Board. From October 2 through November 13 the Board provided twenty-two circle opportunities, for open and empathetic discussion of the issue. Fifty-five response forms were turned in over the course of those forty-three days. The breakdown of those fifty-five responses was: twenty against going forward, twenty-three for going forward with a commitment to a name change, ten for going forward without a commitment to a name change, and two with no choice marked.  More than three hundred sixty members did not respond at all.

The Board has accepted a staff recommendation to add “A Unitarian Universalist Congregation” to “The Unitarian Church of Evanston” on our sign on Ridge Avenue.

We would like to thank all those who participated in this discussion in whatever way they felt was appropriate. We are particularly grateful to Brian Meister, who facilitated the circle process with loving concern for the well-being of all members of the congregation.

Barbara Ghoshal, for the Board of Trustees