What on the surface may have seemed a minor name change has struck a nerve with several longtime anti-bias advocates in the Town of Smithtown.

During a general meeting Tuesday afternoon, July 11, the Smithtown Town Board voted unanimously to rename the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force as Town of Smithtown Unity Council, a maneuver garnering the ire of task force members and prompting the resignation of at least one of its founding members.

Assistant town attorney Janice Hansen outlined the purpose of the proposed name change during a June 6 public hearing on the matter, stating that the Unity Council would expand upon the objectives of its predecessor organization.

“In addition to the name change, the codified purpose of the group would be expanded to also give the Unity Council the authority to plan and implement programs to promote intergroup harmony and foster respect and tolerance within the town, as well as to make recommendations to the Town Board to ensure that the rights of all Smithtown residents are protected and respected,” she said.

Despite this aspirational rationale, the name change drew considerable opposition from within ABTF ranks.

The Town Board created ABTF in 1994 as a nonpartisan agency “to identify and respond to all forms of discrimination through a program of education, conversation and support,” ABTF member Maria LaMalfa told the board during the June 6 public hearing.

LaMalfa, a resident of St. James, noted that the task force formed following an incident of “horrific graffiti-invoking bias” at Commack High School, maintaining that “this history should not be erased.”

Kings Park resident Richard Palker, a founding ABTF member, had told the board during the June 6 public hearing that bias lingers within the township.

“We do have a problem here in Smithtown,” he said. “The Smithtown Anti-Bias Task Force has as its mission proactive responses as well as educational programs to unify all the people of Smithtown,” adding, “Our program and efforts are directly related to educating and eliminating bias in Smithtown.”

Although he did not object to the proposed goals of the Unity Council, Palker suggested the change in terminology undermines the primary objectives of the task force.

“I believe that it obfuscates the main mission of eliminating bias, hate and intolerance,” he said.

In the face of resident objections, the board voted unanimously to approve the name change Tuesday afternoon. LaMalfa returned to the boardroom, conveying the sentiments of two ABTF members, Chaplain Sanaa Nadim and founding member Ben Piskorz. 

LaMalfa also announced Piskorz’s decision to resign due to the name change.

As the community approaches the 30th anniversary since the inception of ABTF, LaMalfa encouraged the board to celebrate the occasion.

“I would personally like to see the town honor the 30th anniversary of the Anti-Bias Task Force, regardless of the name, next year by hosting a community event,” she said.

The Town Board will reconvene Tuesday, Aug. 8, at 2 p.m. To learn more about ABTF, visit: www.smithtownny.gov/594/Anti-Bias-Task-Force.