SPSA Procedures for Policy Statements

In Article 1, Section 2(b), the Constitution of the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) states that the Association “can, under certain circumstances, commit its members on questions of public policy where the interests of the Association and its members are directly involved.” The SPSA is a nonpartisan organization and does not support political parties or candidates. However, on occasion, policy issues arise that directly involve the interests of the SPSA and its members. In these cases, the Association may choose to issue policy statements in order to bring the full weight of the organization to bear on an important issue.

Procedure

The SPSA’s procedure for considering requests that the Association issue policy statements in the name of the SPSA is listed below.  In general, a minimum of two weeks lead time is necessary for review to consider policy statements.

Requests that the Association issue a policy statement must come from a current SPSA member. At least two additional SPSA members must be signatories on the request, indicating that they support the proposed policy statement and agree with the reasons for bringing the request before the SPSA. Correspondence should be emailed to the SPSA Executive Director and the President of the SPSA and must consist of the following materials:

1. 1. Cover letter containing:
2.  
3. a. Summary of the issue;
   b. Brief history, if any, of related SPSA positions as well as those of other social science associations or relevant organizations if known;
   c. List of other groups supporting the effort or cause, with contact information for each one;
   d. Contact information for person or committee submitting the request; 
   e. Response deadline and reason why response is needed by that date;  
   f.  Follow-up plans or description of next steps, where appropriate;
   g. Brief appendices, where appropriate, including reference documents, etc. 
4.  
5. 2. Proposed Policy Statement.
6.  
7. The proposed policy statement should be no more than three paragraphs in length and it must state exactly what the submitter wants the SPSA to support or oppose.

The standard process is for the SPSA President to convene the Executive Council within two weeks of receipt of the proposed policy statement to review, discuss, and possibly revise the proposal. A quorum of the SPSA Executive Council, is required for this review, discussion, and revision to take place. Adoption of a policy statement requires a two-thirds affirmative vote by the Council. However, under extraordinary circumstances when time is of the essence, a committee comprised of the President, President-elect, Immediate Past President and Executive Director may undertake review, discussion, and possible revision of a proposed policy statement. SPSA officers and legal counsel are to be consulted as needed by the Committee. If this committee does not reach unanimous agreement on the proposal, then the Executive Council will be engaged and the standard process will ensue.

Approved policy statements will be published on the SPSA website, and when appropriate, forwarded to relevant recipients. An explanation and justification for actions taken by the Executive Council or the Committee with regard to proposed policy statements must be reported to SPSA membership.