APSA Governance Reform

***UPDATE, JANUARY 2017: The new by-laws have apparently been approved, we learned from a reliable source, and will soon be promulgated.

***UPDATE, OCTOBER 4: On September 29, the APSA sent a ballot to all members whose dues were paid up the previous week, inviting them to vote on the by-laws as amended at the September 1 meeting (the deadline for voting is October 29). Our amendment having been accepted, we recommend a “yes” vote. See below the version members are voting on and an email from APSA Executive Director Steven Rathgeb Smith describing the reform.***

***UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 1: Yesterday the APSA Council endorsed our proposed amendment with only a minor change of wording, and today we moved the amended version on the floor of the meeting, where after a debate, it passed unanimously. Thanks to all who helped in this successful effort to preserve the non-political character of our association of scholars of politics. As a last step, the revised by-laws, now including our amendment, will be submitted for an electronic vote of the entire membership of the organization.***

For the past several years, the American Political Science Association has been preparing a reform of its governance structure and constitutive documents. Although many of the reforms appear to serve the Governance Reform Committee’s expressed purpose of “streamlining” the documents and improving the capacity of its officers to build institutional memory, some of us are concerned that the omission of a key provision of the current constitution will expose the Association to politicization by activist members. We think that, as students of politics, it is essential that our professional association preserve a critical distance between political science and political action, not only in partisan elections but on controversial questions of public policy.

Let us be clear: We agree with the proposed by-laws that political scientists should be encouraged “in their research, publications, teaching, and public engagement to address significant political and social problems and policies, even when these problems and policies are controversial and subject to partisan discourse.” But we think they should not be pre-empted in this work by official positions taken in the name of all members, but reflecting merely the current opinions of the most vocal members.

To that end, we plan to propose an amendment to the proposed by-laws that — without otherwise altering the carefully chosen language or the reasonable aims of the current proposal — would restore the existing prohibition on taking policy positions, at the All-Member Business Meeting on Thursday, September 1, at noon, at the PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, room 114, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We invite you to join us at that meeting and in that effort. Below you will find various materials you might want to consult in order to understand the issue in greater detail.

For further information contact: Jim Stoner <poston@lsu.edu> or Paul Carrese <Paul.Carrese@usafa.edu>

OPEN LETTER TO APSA MEMBERS

OUR PROPOSED AMENDMENT to the Proposed Draft By-Laws