| WELCOME TO THE WITHHOLDAPADUES WEBSITE |
| THE REFERENDUM HAS PASSED! Read the Psychologists for an Ethical APA press release concerning the Referendum's passage, the APA's press release, and other news releases concerning these historic events within the APA at ethicalapa.com. For the Steering Committee's statement regarding whether to continue to withhold APA dues, please click here. |
withhold 2009 dues, or who are simply concerned about the issue of the APA's policy regarding psychologists' involvement in interrogations and detention centers are invited to join the withholdapadues listserve to discuss how to organize as a group, how to maximize the impact of their decision to withhold dues, and what future actions to take in light of the recent passage of the Referendum. |
| Frequently Asked Questions answered in brief - with links |
| Now that the 2008 Referendum has passed, should I resume paying dues? What is the steering committee's policy on this issue? The steering committee recently issued a response to WithholdAPADues members, in which it stated the following: Dear members, We feel the decision “to pay or not to pay” APA dues depends very much on your individual situation and priorities. So instead of putting our 7 heads together to make a recommendation, we have outlined the pros and cons of each choice. Please click here for the full text of their response. Will I lose my professional insurance if I stop paying dues? NO! Neither of the insurance companies that provides malpractice insurance to psychologists makes APA membership a condition for coverage. However, if you have another policy with the APA, such as life insurance or disability insurance, this may be affected by your membership status. If you would like to check this out for yourself, you can reach the American Professional Agency at 800-421 6694, and the APAIT at 877-637-9700. The PENS Task Force, APA Interrogation Policy, and APA Ethics in General. These issues are at the core of our conflict with the APA. (link). What happens to my membership? Briefly put, you can withhold dues for two years and remain a voting member of the APA but you will not receive the journals. At the end of that time you will forfeit your membership. You can rejoin the APA either by paying back dues and late fees, or simply by paying dues for the year that your are rejoining. Here is a link to the relevant APA by-laws on membership. See particularly highlighted Articles XIX:3, 10-9-1, 10-10-1, 10-10-2. What about Division membership? Several divisions, among them Division 9, Division 27, and Division 48, do not make membership in the APA a condition of membership. Division 39 has made provisions for members withholding dues from the APA to remain "friends" of the Division and retain all rights to membership in the division. To remain in Division 39, send a check for $95.00 to Ruth Helein, Administration Office, Division of Psychoanalysis, 2615 Amesbury Road, Winston Salem, NC 27103. (Write 2008 Division dues in the memo line of your check.) If you are a member of another division and want to remain a member of that division, we suggest you speak to your Board about making similar provisions or changing their bylaws. What do I do now? Once you have joined us you should write a letter to the APA Chief Executive Officer, Norman B. Anderson, Ph.D., American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, Washington, DC 20002-4242 stating that you are withholding your dues in protest over the APA's continued collaboration with the United States government in suppporting the use of psychologists in Guantanamo Bay and other black op sites where detainees are held in violation of international human rights law and the Geneva Convention |
 | |  |
| Link to list of current members and affiliates of the American Psychological Association who have pledged to withhold their dues. (If you have joined the listserve or you have questions about your name not yet appearing on the list, please email the webmaster at huntryanw@gmail.com). |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| The recent passage of the APA membership-wide Referendum banning psychologists' work within the U.S. military chain of command in detention facilities that operate outside of or in violation of U. S. law, international human rights statutes, and/or the Geneva Conventions is truly historic and precedent-setting in several respects. First, it represents the first member-sponsored referendum brought under Article IV, section 5 of the APA bylaws in the APA's history. Second, the Referendum was passed with one of the largest voter responses in APA history for any vote, including presidential elections. Third, it represents a resounding repudiation on the part of the full population of American psychologists of the APA's policy of supporting psychologists' consultation in detainee interrogations in such settings. The APA had claimed in the past that its policies were consistent with the attitudes, opinions, and values of its membership at large, often against the outspoken protest of a growing number of APA members who condemned such involvement on the part of psychologists and of the APA, and who were deeply troubled and ashamed to find themselves thus spoken for by the APA. The APA has made such claims while simultaneously opposing the efforts of this group of psychologists to bring about changes in its policies. Now, however, the APA can no longer claim that psychologists' work in these detention facilities (in which, as the International Committee of the Red Cross has noted, the very conditions of detention themselves constitute torture) is supported by its membership. As such, it has shifted its tactics, and issued a press release which simultaneously represents the Referendum as a direct extension of the APA's past (toothless) 2007 resolution against torture (which still allowed psychologists to remain working for the military in these sites), while simultaneously attempting to stall the implementation of this new Referendum until the next APA Convention (August 2009), at the earliest. As such, the membership of the APA must continue to keep the pressure on its leadership to implement the Referendum and to remove member psychologists from these sites NOW. Up until the passage of the Referendum, many APA members withheld dues in order to accomplish 3 key aims: 1. To register our protest against the unethical policies of the APA. 2. To generate publicity and raise awareness among fellow psychologists and other mental health professionals, our nation’s policy makers, members of the media, and concerned citizens around the world. 3. To exert continuing and growing pressure on the APA to change its policy. Now, many are continuing to do so in order to register protest against the APA's attempts to slow- play the implementation of the Referendum. We wish to make our presence felt and to exert whatever pressure we can on the APA leadership and policy-makers to withdraw APA member psychologists from these detention facilities immediately. |