Since we pride ourselves in knowing the ins and outs of your civil liberties, maybe you’d like to know a bit about us! Like who exactly is organizing these advocacy campaigns, speaking at public events, answering the phones and advocating for the citizens of Nassau when their liberties are in peril?  Wonder no more:

Staff

Interns and Volunteers

Board of Directors

Staff:

Tara Keenan-Thomson, Ph.D. Executive Director

Tara is not only the heart and soul behind our chapter, but she’s the brain too!  Not only does she manage the staff, but she coordinates all speaking events, public forums and educational programs, oversees advocacy and litigation on behalf of aggrieved clients, cooperates with other community groups and fundraises from the community to pay for it all!  A former high school English teacher, Tara left her tenured position to pursue her Ph.D. in History and Women's Studies at Trinity College in Dublin.  She demonstrates her dedication to her community and to civil liberties in her actions every single day. 

Laurel Coston, Administrative Aide

In a group of advocates and activists, you need someone who can take the theories and ideas and make them concrete.  And that is why we love Laurel.  She has the heart of an advocate and her mind is steel-trap for organization and implementation. The perfect combination!  On a daily basis, she handles our finances and our technology.  Laurel also does more than her fair share of intake, helping out the public with their questions and concerns. If there is a party or event, Laurel is helping to plan it and to advertise it. 

Melissa Scannell, Assistant Case Worker

Melissa is finishing her third and final year at Hofstra Law School and has been with the Nassau office since April of 2007.   Always involved fighting for the public interest, she was thrilled to come to the CLU and work in the community where she grew up.  As the assistant case worker, Melissa handles most of our intake.  Interviewing callers, she determines if they have a civil liberties complaint; if they do, she researches their issues and advocates on their behalf and if not she provides them with other community resources.  Melissa also speaks at various chapter events, organizes events and runs the website. 

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Interns and Volunteers:

Rachel C., Intern

Rachel comes to us as a first-year law student at St. John’s.  In her capacity as our legal intern, she has taken on the campaign against the Rockefeller Drug laws.  She coordinates with other community advocacy groups and urge the public to campaign with us.  Rachel has been instrumental in organizing our house parties which have been a great success in attracting new members. 

Marilyn G., Volunteer

Marilyn has been with the Nassau Office as a volunteer for a little over two years now and she has served on our Board of Directors for longer.  And like a fine wine, her skills have only improved, making her all the more valuable to us.  Marilyn often puts her past career as a Newsday columnist to good use, writing stories for our newsletters, e-newsletters and websites.  Even though she doesn’t live as close to us as she once used to, she has still proven to be firmly committed to the chapter, traveling to volunteer and sit on our board.

Tony S., Volunteer

A true renaissance man, Tony is an electrician, a history buff and a dedicated civil libertarian.  Not content to take a languid retirement, Tony volunteers in the Nassau office and the NYC office.  Both sympathetic and astute, he handles a great deal of intake, offering a kind ear and a plethora of information. In fact, Tony had so much information on the variety of resources available to New Yorkers, he created the Resource List that staff at both offices use to refer callers (and which you see part of on the Resource page!). 

Susan G., Volunteer

Sometimes we wonder how Susan has time for us!  As a dedicated mother of two and a student, studying for her second Masters degree, she still has the time to work in our office and to be a board member to boot.  Despite this hectic schedule, she does more than just “fit it in,” but truly commits to fighting for the cause and is always ready to help us lobby or protest.  Her passion for civil liberties is contagious and we are lucky to have her. 

Nina M., Volunteer

If you’re lucky enough to get Nina on the phone, you’ll know it!  Her compassion is such that you’ll often feel she’s reaching through the phone to hug you.  But don’t let that sweet voice fool you; she’s tenacious when it comes to advocating for callers’ rights.  In addition to helping out with intake, Nina has taken over the reins of the Censorship in Public Schools and Libraries Exhibit and coordinates its travels around the County, as well as its promotion.  

Barbara B., Volunteer

Well, Barbara isn’t a volunteer in our office anymore – after a long awaited move to Manhattan, she is now putting her civil liberties super powers to use in the main NYC office.  But before they got their hands on her, Barbara was the leading light of the Nassau office, coming to us first in 1974. A consummate advocate, she spent all those years fighting and winning victories for civil liberties in Nassau (to find out more about the chapter’s history, go here).  We were sad to see her go, but her efforts gave us the sturdy foundation that we build on every day and that’s why we had to give her some space on this page.

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Board of Directors:

The Board of Directors of the NYCLU Nassau is an integral part of our organization.  Made up of community members from all over the County and representing the spectrum of careers, neighborhoods and interests, they all have one thing in common: a devotion to civil liberties in Nassau County.  To list their myriad of experiences and achievements would take so much space we can hardly even begin.  Suffice it to say, they are very successful.  If you want to know more about them, maybe you should become a Board member too!  We love new faces, ideas and experiences, and they’d love to meet you!

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