Update: I received a response from someone associated with the group that sent this message. Apparently NASPA allowed them to send this message to all NASPA members “to assure that those opposed to the proposed merger had an equal chance to communicate with NASPA members.”
I received this e-mail today:
Now the choice is yours.
Together We Can Preserve NASPA and Make it Better
It is now time for us to stand up for NASPA to prevent it from being dissolved.
Since we established the NASPA Yes! Consolidation No Committee several months ago, scores of members contacted us to thank us for taking a stand to continue our association. They affirmed our belief that the proposed new association is not in the best interests of our members or advancement of our profession. It is too cumbersome, disenfranchises important constituencies and would require years of effort and additional financial resources that may or may not create the kind of effective, top-echelon association that we already have in NASPA.
In that spirit, we organized a campaign to preserve NASPA so it can continue to provide valued and valuable services to its membership, and can continue to evolve and improve based on input from you as a member, followed up with thoughtful planning and execution as we work together to deepen our expertise as professionals and increase our influence in shaping the future of the institutions we each serve.
We want the organization to be inclusive—there for all people at all levels of our profession, and through all stages of their Student Affairs careers from graduate students and new professionals to mid-level professionals and SSAO’s—drawing members from institutions of all sizes, and in all regions. NASPA has proven itself, and has played these roles effectively for many years. We don’t believe that any objective case has been made that a new organization is needed.
We developed a website to reach out to you as a peer to provide information to those who want to understand why so many of their friends and fellow-NASPA members fervently oppose consolidation with ACPA. We invite you to join us in this effort.
To learn more about the NASPA Yes! Consolidation No effort and save NASPA, please visit our website at www.supportnaspa.com and provide us with your comments and suggestions.
NASPA, Yes! Consolidation, No! Committee
I resent being sent this message. It’s inappropriate for a group of senior student affairs administrators to use their power to attempt to sway others, especially much younger members, to their side. It’s very poor form to further inflame what is already a passionate debate. And it’s particularly galling to be sent this message telling me how to vote in an election in which I AM DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE because I had the audacity to go back to school full-time for my doctorate, especially when it’s the older and more senior members of NASPA that have repeatedly denied student members voting privileges!
I get enough junk e-mail; please don’t send me more.