AEJMC Members approved four resolutions during the 2010 Convention in Denver, CO.

• Resolution One: To Recognize and Honor Richard Burke, AEJMC Business Manager, for His 25 Years of Service to AEJMC.
• Resolution Two: To Recognize and Honor Fred Williams, AEJMC Convention Manager, for His 25 Years of Service to AEJMC.
• Resolution Three: To Recognize and Honor Kappa Tau Alpha, the national college honor society for journalism and mass communication majors, which celebrated its 100th anniversary March 10, 2010.
• Resolution Four: To Support Freedom of Speech and of Information in the United States and Internationally.

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Resolution Three: Civil Liberties

Whereas,

It is appropriate for AEJMC to voice its concerns for reasons that include:

• The USA PATRIOT Act was passed in haste in the fall of 2001 and signed by President Bush, within six weeks of the Sept. 11 tragedy. The checks and balance system failed the American public as the repressive nature of the Act was not fully recognized.

Whereas,

• Conventional wisdom and empirical scholarship attest to how civil liberties are put at risk during times of national crisis and war, and our national leaders have declared a war against terrorism in which thousands of persons have died.

Whereas,

• Appreciation and protection of First Amendment freedoms, including the freedom of expression, are inherent in the teaching and practice of journalism and mass communications. Leaders of the AEJMC have characterized First Amendment education as one of our most significant roles in higher education.

Whereas,

• The USA PATRIOT Act remains a controversy as government leaders seek to broaden their police powers on the one hand, and others seek to redress what they see as the Act’s threats to civil liberties, including those addressed by previous AEJMC resolutions.

Be it resolved that AEJMC

• Continue to monitor the impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on academic freedom and support measures designed to protect scholarly inquiry and free expression threatened by the Act.

Be it resolved that AEJMC and its members

• Oppose unwarranted broadening of police powers of the state under the Act and encourage legislative bodies to subject such proposals to far more debate and scrutiny than has been the case heretofore.

Be it resolved that AEJMC

• Support “Restore FOIA Act” legislation.

Be it resolved that AEJMC

• Explore joining a newly formed national coalition of organizations (see next page).

Be it resolved that AEJMC

• Recognize and respond in helpful ways to the impacts of the USA PATRIOT Act upon the academic careers and studies of our international colleagues and students.

Approved at AEJMC 2003 Convention
Kansas City, Missouri

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Resolution Two: Gender Equity

Whereas recent research by the American Association of University Professors, reported in the April 18, 2003 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education indicates that there still is a pay gap between men and women professors.

And whereas, research reported by Ramona R. Rush and Carol E. Oukrop at the 2002 convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC) indicates that salary is the “major discrimination concern” of female faculty members in journalism and mass communications (j/mc) programs.

Be it resolved:

1. That AEJMC appoint a committee or assign this task to an existing committee to request from the Becker Studies the relevant data on salaries and to ascertain what information is currently being gathered on salaries that can be used to ascertain if this gap also exists for journalism and mass communications professors; if no information is currently being gathered, to determine how best to obtain this information and to determine how best to reward those j/mc programs that are making active efforts to overcome this long lasting problem and/or that have succeeded in doing so.
2. That this committee report on its efforts and/or findings to the mid-year meeting of the AEJMC executive committee and to the AEJMC executive committee and the membership as a whole at the 2004 AEJMC convention.

(Prepared by Lionel C. Barrow, Jr., Vice Chair, Commission on the Status of Minorities)
Approved at AEJMC 2003 Convention
Kansas City, Missouri

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Resolution One: Diversity

Whereas in 1968 the membership of the Association for Education in Journalism (AEJ), now the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC), passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a coordinated program to recruit, train and place an increasing number of minorities in the classroom and in the media.

And whereas in 1989 the AEJMC membership passed a resolution calling on the association and on the schools and departments of journalism and mass communications to make every effort to achieve 50 percent minority and/or female faculty and administrators by the year 2000. And whereas research reported by Ramona R. Rush and Carol E. Oukrop at AEJMC’s 2002 convention indicated that only 21 percent of the nation’s journalism and mass communications programs had achieved that goal.

Be it resolved:
1. That AEJMC again urge all journalism and mass communications (j/mc) programs to redouble their efforts to obtain and retain a faculty and administrator group that is 50 percent minority and/or female.
2. That the AEJMC appoint a committee to ascertain what the association can and should do to assist the j/mc schools and departments in their efforts to obtain this goal.
3. That the committee include, but need not be limited to, at least one member from the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on the Status of Minorities, the Minorities and Communication Division, the three elected standing committees, the Media and Disability Interest Group and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Interest Group.
4. That the committee study how best to publicize and/or reward those schools that have reached and maintained the 50 percent goal.
5. That the committee be empowered to seek expert advice, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the Michigan affirmative action cases, about the impact those decisions might have on any program AEJMC may devise.
6. That the committee report its findings to the AEJMC Executive Committee at the next mid-year meeting and to the AEJMC Executive Committee and the membership at the 2004 convention.

(Prepared by L. C. Barrow, Jr., Vice Chair, Commission on the Status of Minorities)
Approved August 2003
Kansas City, Missouri

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AEJMC members approved three resolutions during the 2003 Convention in Kansas City, MO.

Resolution One: Diversity

Resolution Two: Gender Equity

Resolution Three: Civil Liberties

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