APA Council Report

Thomas Zentall & MaryLou Cheal

Ø       Your Council Representatives at APA Council, February 22-24, 2008
Because your elected representative, Manny Donchin, had two APA governance obligations on this weekend, and the one with COGDOP required his presence, he was unable to attend. He asked MaryLou Cheal to substitute for him. We both attended every Council session, but also attended a number of Caucuses and two Science meetings where future plans for science in APA were discussed. 

Ø       Council Starts with Plenary Session at 5:00 pm on Thursday, February 23rd
Typically, much of the plenary session is used for short presentations by the candidates for President of APA and for Council.  This year, very few were present, so the meeting was short.  You will have much opportunity to learn about the presidential candidates in articles in division newsletters, in the Monitor and elsewhere before the election next fall.

Ø       Increased Funding for Interdivisional Grants
Council voted to increase funding for Interdivisional Grants to $25,000 for three years beginning in 2009.

Ø       2007 Resolution on Violence Revisited
Because of the considerable public outcry as to the resolution, it was again discussed on Council with the outcome of adding some wording to remove any doubt that APA is completely opposed to violence.  One paragraph from the 2007 resolution was rescinded and replaced with: 

“BE IT RESOLVED that this unequivocal condemnation includes all techniques considered torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Geneva Conventions; the Principles of Medical Ethics Relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, Particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners; or the World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo.  An absolute prohibition against the following techniques therefore arises from, is understood in the context of, and is interpreted according to these texts: mock executions; water-boarding or any other form of simulated drowning or suffocation; sexual humiliation; rape; cultural or religious humiliation; exploitation of fears, phobias or psychopathology; induced hypothermia; the use of psychotropic drugs or mind-altering substances; hooding; forced nakedness; stress positions; the use of dogs to threaten or intimidate; physical assault including slapping or shaking; exposure to extreme heat or cold; threats of harm or death; isolation; sensory deprivation and over-stimulation; sleep deprivation; or the threatened use of any of the above techniques to an individual or to members of an individual’s family.  Psychologists are absolutely prohibited from knowingly planning, designing, participating in or assisting in the use of all condemned techniques at any time and may not enlist others to employ these techniques in order to circumvent this resolution’s prohibition;”

Ø       Council voted to add a science-oriented priority for APA: “To promote and support the advancement of psychology as a scientific discipline”
Based on recommendations of Council breakout groups, the Committee on the Structure and Function of Council had established a list of the top 10 priorities for APA. Although four of these were inclusive of science, each addressed science in terms of what it could do for the prioritized application. A motion was made to add an 11^th priority, “To promote and support the advancement of psychology as a scientific discipline”. Both the Board of Scientific Affairs and the Board of Educational Affairs supported the proposal. The Committee on the Structure and Function of Council and several Council members did not support the motion arguing that expanding the list at this point could lead to proposals requesting the addition of an unknown number of priorities to the list. Furthermore, APA is in the process of developing a strategic plan that will address all of these issues. The value of adding a strong statement about the importance of science as a discipline prevailed and Council voted overwhelmingly to support the proposal.

Ø       Division for Qualitative Psychology failed
The major issue to come up in Council that would be of particular interest to members of Division 3 was a proposal to establish a new Division of Qualitative Psychology. Although qualitative methods have been around for some time and include observations of behavior and the use of case studies, they have generally been used as a means of generating hypotheses that could then be studied using experimental designs with quantitative methodologies. The leadership of Division 5 proposed that the petitioners would be welcome to join Division 5 and form their own section of the Division but the steering committee of the proposed division declined the offer.

Nancy Dess, the President-Elect of Division 6 prepared a document that cited several writings by members of the steering committee of the proposed division, one of whom, Lois Holzman, has written of quantitative methodology as being “vain”, “authoritarian”, “dreadfully simplistic”, “ludicrous”, “bogus”, and “ultimately reactionary and useless.”

After several speakers, representing Division 3, 5, and 6, voiced strong concerns about the formation of this new division, the proposal was defeated. The formation of a new division requires approval of 2/3 of the members of Council. This proposal received approval from approximately 60% of those voting, so the motion failed.  Perhaps our strongest argument came from the APA by-laws, which includes the statement that no new division shall be formed that is inimical to any existing division. It was a close vote. We are thankful to our colleagues in practice whose opposition tipped the balance. However, it is quite likely that the backers of this division will come back to Council for another vote at a later Council meeting.

Ø       Division of Trauma Psychology, Division 56, was approved for permanent status
The Division of Trauma Psychology received a vote of approval for permanent status as they have met all of the requirements to make them a permanent division.  Although this division is Division 56, this makes a total of 54 divisions (there is no Division 4 or Division 11; these early divisions were dropped years ago).

Ø       Another Vote this Fall on Amendment to Add Four Council Seats for Four Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations
There was considerable concern among Council Representatives that the amendment vote last fall to provide Council seats for four ethnic minority psychological associations (the Asian American Psychological Association, the Association of Black Psychologists, the National Latina/o Psychological Association, and the Society of Indian Psychologists) failed.  Although the amendment received approximately 60% of the vote, it failed because it requires a yes vote on 2/3^rds of the ballots cast.

It was believed that the amendment failed because members did not understand the issues.  It was voted to bring the vote back to the membership this year with some educational materials.  Nothing was changed as to the statement of the amendment.  The reason for giving these groups a voice on Council is to increase diversity in APA and to increase membership.

The representatives of these associations must be APA members although only some of the constituents who will vote for the representatives are members. If this amendment passes, it will create four new seats on Council; it will not change the apportionment plan that is in use.  Thus, the number of Council seats will increase from the present 162 to 166. 

Ø       Vote on Amendment to Add Territorial Psychological Associations Language to APA Bylaws and Association Rules
Council voted to have the members of APA vote on adding the language that included territorial groups to that of Division or State or Provincial.  Thus, if this amendment is approved, “Territorial Psychological” would be added in many places in the Bylaws and Association Rules.  This is thought to be a house-keeping move because there are territories with representation on Council. 

Ø       Vote on Amendment on Whether to Give a Vote to the APAGS Representative on the Board of Directors
Another amendment that will be coming to you in the fall, is to give the APA Graduate Student (APAGS) Representative on the Board of Directors (B/D) a vote.  A member of APAGS has been serving on the B/D without a vote for over five years.  All of the directors have been impressed by the maturity, preparedness, and helpfulness of the student representatives. The student representative has performed all the duties of the other Board members with the exception of voting.

Ø       APA BUDGET: Dependence on Publications and APA Buildings and Some Allocations

A point of information that many members are not aware of is that the annual budget for APA is over $100 M and only 14% of that budget comes from dues paid by members. Most of the remaining funds come from electronic publications and rents from buildings owned. In other words we get a lot of return for our dues in the form of lobbying, training, evaluation, and publications.

Funding for items of interest to our members includes: 1) Increased funding for Interdivisional Grants; 2) $10,000 to provide funding for 11 participants to attend the 2008 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology; and 3) $24,400 to support the 2008 three-day conference to provide quantitative training and support for students from underrepresented groups.