In preparation for our EC meeting the following information is provided for
your consideration. In addition to our usual EC membership we hope to hear
from some of our elders and our special guests invited because of their
experience in APA governance. Our time is limited to the sixty minutes as
another standing meeting is scheduled for the next hour. We will record the
session for those unable to participate and we are accepting written
comments that will be shared with this group. Once again our EC meeting is
in the afternoon of March 19th at 1 Pacific 2 Mountain 3 Central 4 Eastern.
The primary question:
Should the Society of Indian Psychologists agree to be voting members of the
American Psychological Association?
The history:
The American Psychological Association (APA) has spent over 10 years in
efforts to allow the National Ethnic Minority Association Psychological
Associations (EMPAs) voting seats on the APA Council of Representatives
(CoR). CoR is the governing body of APA where representatives from each
APA division, state associations and regional associations have a vote with
respect to the governance of APA.
During the past years the EMPAs attended CoR meetings as delegates or
ambassadors from their respective organizations. They were permitted to
attend the meetings, state concerns, concurrence or disagreements with
issues of importance to their constituents. The EMPA delegates also attended
the special interest Caucus meetings held during CoR meetings and can
participate as members in those particular meetings. They may also join in
the governing body of each caucus if they pay the caucus dues.
Now CoR and APA members have voted to allow the EMPA delegates to
become voting members of CoR. This gives us a vote with our voice with APA
that could be an important step in the relationship between Indigenous
psychologists in the United States and Canada with APA. It also requires that
we consider all sides of the question.
Quote from APA leadership:
"APA does not seek a pledge from its voting Council of Representatives members, but it
is a requirement under DC (and other states’) nonprofit law that each council member is
a fiduciary and owes their primary allegiance and loyalty to APA
when participating in
and voting on APA matters. APA also has a Council rule on conflicts of interest
addressing duality of interests, a conflict of interest policy, and requests that each
voting Council member complete a conflict of interest attestation form.
See https://www.apa.org/about/offices/ogc/conflict-of-interest.pdf If a voting
member feels that they have a conflicting duty to another organization (or
individual) and that they cannot vote in good faith in APA’s best interests,
they can abstain from voting."
The questions we must discuss (answer) are:
1. What does it mean to become a voting member
of APA?
2. Do we consider this giving up our sovereignty as an independent
psychological association and becoming part of APA?
3. Do we remain independent and continue to send delegates to APA?
4. Do we accept the voting seat in APA?
Thank you colleagues,
Iva, Joe, Gayle
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