ACLU of Utah
Under construction 9/7/21
After 16 years of dedicated service as Office Manager to the ACLU of Utah, I was verbally fired on November 9, 2018 and my last day was December 13, two days before my 54th birthday. I was heartbroken and sobbing as I left that day. A large part of my life’s story was dramatically coming to a close. My 16 years represented exactly 1/3 of my life at the time, almost 1/3 of my wife’s life, and all of my daughter’s life. We were an ACLU family and we all sacrificed for my job. I was proud to work for the ACLU and I often introduced myself to groups saying, “Every morning I wake up and am thankful that I work for the ACLU of Utah.”
H. 15 year commemoration by staff 7/11/18.pdfReinard Knutsen, ACLU of Utah Office Manager, 12/2002-12/2018
During my 16 years at the ACLU of Utah I have been honored to serve and support, to the best of my ability:
• 3 Executive Directors, 3 Legal Directors, 4 Development Directors, 3 Communication Managers, 1 Legislative and Policy Counsel, 2 Bookkeepers, 1 Executive Assistant, 1 Administrative Coordinator, 1 Financial and Business Manager, 3 Public Policy Advocates, 3 Community Outreach Organizers, 3 Paralegals, 2 staff attorneys, 1 Interim Legal Director, 1 Special Projects Coordinator, 1 Racial Justice Advocate, 1 Smart Justice Coordinator, more then 50 Board members, and countless Interns and Volunteers.
Some of my duties and accomplishments include:
Office:
• 16 years of providing daily IT support for all staff, interns, Board members and volunteers in their ACLU of Utah work.
• 16 years of maintaining the ACLU of Utah property, equipment, computers, servers, phone systems, technical infrastructure, acted as liaison with the landlord and property management companies as well as contract IT and service support. This included 1 major office remodel.
• 16 years of being the first point of ACLU of Utah contact for the public and processing and responding to all general email and phone inquiries.
• Creation and management of our IT infrastructure including multiple servers and back up overhauls.
• 14 years of recruiting and managing interns and volunteers for all departments and special projects.
Board:
• 16 years of providing IT and logistical support for the ACLU of Utah Board including meetings, retreats, producing meeting materials and the creation and management of the secure online Board Portal.
• 10 years as Board of Directors Liaison as well as 16 years of coordinating the annual Board ballot and election process including switching to online voting. • Accounting & H.R.:
• 16 years of providing support for our accounting system including 8 years managing 2 independent accountants and helping to train staff.
• 13 years of assisting with, and sometimes coordinating, the annual audit. • 8 years of providing H.R. support for all employees including managing the beginning of the 401K program.
• During my 16 years at the ACLU of Utah, our budget grew from around $380,000 to well over $1.5 million and staff grew from 3.5 to 13.
Legal:
• 16 years of providing support for the Legal Department including 13 years of being the sole office support for research, paralegal tasks, and assisting with all
communication and publication. (I was a part of every legal case before 2016. (https://www.acluutah.org/legal-work/resolved-cases)
• • 16 years of assisting the legal intake system and managing the database, including 12 years as primary intake coordinator including the creation of our online complaint and legal resources and 2 complete overhauls of our intake system and databases. (https://www.acluutah.org/request-help)
• • 15 years of coordinating the Legal Observer program including all outreach and registration, designing and leading trainings, processing and responding to all requests for Legal Observers and coordinating Observers at numerous free speech events every year.
• • Designing and leading various “Know Your Rights Trainings”, creating the first “Know your rights when stopped by law Enforcement in Utah” “What to do if you are a victim of police misconduct” and other resources.
(https://www.acluutah.org/.../k2/item/1034-know-your-rights)
Development & Membership:
• 16 years of providing support for the Development department including 14 years of being the primary office support for the processing, recording, and acknowledging, all donations and memberships, and providing all web based content and Annual Report layout support.
(https://www.acluutah.org/resources/annual-reports) During this time our donor/member base increased from around 2,000 to well over 6,000. • 14 years of coordinating outreach, registration, volunteers and logistical support for the annual Bill of Rights Celebrations.
• 13 years of managing outreach, registration and logistical support for various annual House Parties and other Development events.
• 11 years of coordinating outreach, registration, presentations and logistical support for the annual Membership Meetings including 8 years as the primary organizer.
• (https://www.acluutah.org/.../item.../category/42-past-events)
Communications:
• 16 years of assisting with communications including 15 years of managing the ACLU of Utah web page, which involved 3 complete redesigns and overhauls, and daily or weekly updates. (https://www.acluutah.org/index.php)
• 16 years of being in charge of an email list of over 12,000 subscribers and producing emails for all action alerts, event invitations, and program updates. • 15 years of production, layout and design, and updating all of our printed educational and outreach material. https://www.acluutah.org/resources • 14 years of coordinating the publication, layout, writing and mailing the ACLU of Utah newsletter. (https://www.acluutah.org/resources/newsletters) • 13 years of coordinating all ACLU of Utah Press Releases and Media Statements and assisting after that. https://www.acluutah.org/newsroom/press releases
13 years of coordinating all Spanish translation for intake, legal and other resources including creation and management of the Spanish Resource Page. (https://www.acluutah.org/en-espanol)
• Managed the creation of our online Student Rights Guide, and both led and assisted with youth trainings and presentations. (https://www.acluutah.org/.../66- students-know-your-rights... )
Community & Ally Support:
• 16 years of providing support to our community outreach programs including 15 years of training and coordinating volunteers, managing the ACLU of Utah presence at numerous annual festivals and community events each year. (Our volunteer program stepped into high gear after the 2016 elections)
• 13 years of organizing the annual Pride Parade contingent including coordinating outreach and registration and the booth at the Pride Festival..
• 13 years of being the primary coordinator of outreach and logistical support for all ACLU events, trainings, panel discussions, etc., and assisting with most events after that. (https://www.acluutah.org/.../item.../category/42-past-events)
• 11 years of coordinating or assisting with the ACLU of Utah Youth Scholarship program including the scholarship committee, outreach and application process, and production of the annual video of scholarship winners.
(https://www.acluutah.org/.../559-youth-activist-scholarship)
• 5 years of helping to coordinate outreach, and manage all volunteers and logistical support for the annual Youth Leadership and Activism Conference.
• 2 years of coordinating meetings, technical and logistical support for the beginning of the Racially Just Utah, and then another 4 years of dedicated support for webpage, email list, events and publications.
(https://www.raciallyjustutah.org/)
Legislative & Policy:
• 16 Years of providing support for the Legislative and Policy Program including web content and 14 years of years of producing the annual online legislative report and managing Utah lobbyist
registration. https://www.acluutah.org/legislation/legislative-reports
• Created the first Community Lobbyist Guide and training program, and assisted with all of the Lobby Training events through 2017.
(https://www.acluutah.org/.../ACLU-of-Utah-Citizen... This should be taken down from the website. It is out of date.)
• Created the 1st ACLU of Utah Voting Empowerment resource and kept it updated each election cycle. https://www.acluutah.org/.../1625-2020-utah-voter...)
In addition to these duties, I was involved in other numerous special campaigns, projects and responding to a seemingly never-ending stream of crisis’ and emergency situations.
Facebook Post 12/14/20
Yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary (12/13/18) of my last day at the ACLU of Utah office after 16 years of dedicated service as Office Manager. I was heartbroken and sobbing as I left that day. A large part of my life’s story was dramatically coming to a close. My 16 years represented exactly 1/3 of my life at the time, almost 1/3 of my wife’s life, and all of my daughter’s life. We were an ACLU family and we all sacrificed for my job. I was proud to work for the ACLU and I often introduced myself to groups saying, “Every morning I wake up and am thankful that I work for the ACLU of Utah.”
On November 9, 2018, at a little past 1:30 pm, I was abruptly given a verbal termination notice effective at the end of the year and my sense of reality shifted. I was terminated for performance issues related to my chronic constant migraine, which began on September 29, 2017 (https://www.facebook.com/reinard.knutsen/posts/10218091122123517) and that often left me in daily debilitating pain. It was 8 days before my wife Jenni’s birthday, 13 days before Thanksgiving, 14 days before my daughter Terra’s 15th birthday and the second anniversary of my fathers passing, 33 days before my planned vacation, 36 days before my 54th birthday, 46 days before Christmas, and 53 days before the New Year and my 16th anniversary working for the ACLU of Utah. Which is to say that the timing couldn’t have been worse.
With a painful disability that rendered me unemployable at 54, and no offer of a severance package, I was feeling discarded, confused, and scared for the future. My family was losing almost 60% of our income and facing an economic crisis within a month of my final paycheck. I didn’t know how I could support my family and I began to wonder how I could survive this constant unrelenting pain in my head and if it would be better for them if I were not around to be a burden. For the first time since I was a teenager I began to contemplate suicide. The only thing that kept me from the brink was the total unconditional love and support of my Jenni and Terra and my extended family and close friends. (I am grateful to the U.S. government for officially recognizing that I am living with a disability and am unable to work 6/26/20).
https://www.facebook.com/reinard.knutsen/posts/10220504479295938)
I appealed my termination and spent weeks preparing supporting documents and statements. I was not appealing my termination as Office Manager - I was 100% supportive of that. I was only appealing the way I was terminated without a severance package. I also believed the way I was fired hurt the organization by not allowing me to complete a thoughtful and detailed transition and orientate the new O.M. The appeals effort took the remaining energy out of me. By this time 2 years ago, I was a shell of the person I once was and my world was a dark place.
Finally on January 6, 2019, 58 days after my notice of termination, I was notified that I could receive the severance package that I deserved under our termination policy if I singed a 1 year Non Disclosure Agreement restricting me from contacting any staff, donors, members, or talking about my termination with anyone other than my immediate family.
Ironically after 16 years of working to protect peoples’ free speech and association rights, I intrinsically felt the painful impact on my same rights. That severance package allowed my family to survive for the 6 months before my long-term disability insurance claim was approved.
After two years of meditation, reflection, therapy, and medication I still have not recovered from the sadness and this time of year, as I remember in detail all of the events during that time. I feel bleak and I once again struggle with all of the emotional trauma that I experienced. I often have to repeat my new mantra, “I am doing the best I can.”
I remain proud of, and thankful for, my time with the ACLU of Utah. and I am grateful to the hard work of the many staff, board members, volunteers, and interns who positively impacted my life and will always wish them love and peace. I am proud to remain an ACLU member and small time donor. I believe that the work of the ACLU is critical during this time in history.
As I work through the chronicle of my life’s story, (I find myself intentionally preparing for my death. (9/11/20 https://www.facebook.com/reinard.knutsen/posts/10221121856369979) I have finally taken the opportunity to review my time with the ACLU and I have updated my list of duties and some accomplishments below.
If anyone is reading this, I hope you and your family and friends are are staying safe. I wish you peace and joy.
Reinard Knutsen, ACLU of Utah Office Manager, 12/2002-12/2018