With the recent resignation of the student chair of APA's Advocacy Coordinating Team, I'm thinking a lot about the work of advocacy within one's own advocacy organization. (meta-advocacy?) He resigned because he was frustrated that APA does not allows APAGS (the graduate student arm of APA) to pursue advocacy issues that are not on its agenda. And, APA is not placing high priority on advocacy issues quite live for graduate students, specifically the APPIC internship shortage (which compounds each year hundreds more doc students don't get matched), LGBTQ support (specifically as it relates to the 2010 APA Convention being hosted in a hotel whose owner donated large sums to ban gay marriage), and funding sources/loan repayment for graduate students. He resigned two weeks before a major conference for those of us involved in advocacy in APA and the state PA's: the annual State Leadership Conference. It was brave of Greg to take this stance--it can be quite a risk to stand up against one's main professional organization. His action may yet have been an important step for grad students in psychology: a series of meetings and conference calls during and after this weekend's conference have been planned to discuss Greg's position, students' reaction in his petition, and just what APAGS means for graduate students if APA does not prioritize their issues. I'll be at the conference this weekend and will keep you posted.
Here's a link to Greg's petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/PsychologyStudentsForReform
