ASEEES Advocacy Policy & Procedure

ASEEES is committed as an organization to advocate and register its collective concern in matters regarding:
  1. Academic freedom in our fields, whether these target individuals or institutions
  2. The threatened elimination or reduction of resources and/or institutions that are of importance to our fields.

As a non-political organization, ASEEES does not issue collective statements regarding foreign policy or particular political events in the region.

Procedure

The Committee on Academic Freedom and Advocacy (CAFA) receives advocacy requests directly from concerned parties, their professional associates, or reputable third parties. A request for advocacy can be made to the Executive Director or the Committee Chair. The request should include:

  • Brief summary of the issue
  • Any supporting documents or links to articles addressing the issue
  • Phone and email contact information for lead advocate or group working on the issue/concern
  • List of other groups supporting the effort or cause (with phone and email contact information), if appropriate
  • Response deadline and reason why response is needed by this date.

Upon receipt of the request, CAFA will first determine if the issue falls within the ASEEES advocacy policy.

The Committee Chair assigns the request to two Committee members to evaluate its merit and compliance with the ASEEES Advocacy Policy. Committee members are expected to mobilize networks of subject matter experts for information, input, and guidance on specific cases. Evaluation of requests may be coordinated with other professional organizations, such as Scholars at Risk.  

Based on the evaluation, the Committee then provides advice and action recommendations to ASEEES Executive Committee, and when appropriate, the Committee formulates the organization’s position on advocacy requests and forwarded to the Executive Committee’s review before publication and distribution.

The Executive Committee makes the final determinaton to issue a statement.

In addition to responding to advocacy requests, ASEEES is an affiliate of Scholars at Risk, a network of universities and colleges devoted to responding to attacks on academic freedom.  Among its many activities, Scholars at Risk finds academic homes for scholars who flee their countries for their own safety, allowing them to continue their academic work elsewhere.