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Statement from the Joint Information Session of the ACPA and NASPA Boards
Elizabeth Griego, NASPA President, and Susan Salvador, ACPA President
Convened July 22, 2010, in Las Vegas 

On Thursday, July 22, the ACPA Governing Board and NASPA Board of Directors met together in an historic first joint session  in Las Vegas to receive and discuss A Study for a Consolidated Association, the draft document forwarded by the Consolidation Steering Team* for consideration by the boards. The study included:

1. the outline of the process followed by the Consolidation Steering Team and the work of eight subcommittees involving over 60 leaders representing both associations;
2.  draft consolidation framing documents (history, rationale, vision, and values);
3.  executive summaries of the work of the eight subcommittees; and
4. an appendix containing the full subcommittee reports describing  the structure and   functioning of a proposed new association.

The study remains in draft format and the final report will be ready for distribution to membership in mid-October following a process of board response and revision.

The members of the eight subcommittees were recognized and thanked on behalf of both associations for their work over an intense six-month period for developing the components of the structure and programs of a consolidated association.

Financial Pro Forma: The boards also reviewed the financial pro forma developed by ACPA and NASPA staff that explores and provides models for staffing, membership, structure, and programming assumptions to project  revenue and expenses  for a proposed new association. Wherever possible, the assumptions built into the model accommodated the recommendations from the subcommittees.

Outcomes of the 7/22/10 review of the Study for a Consolidated Association: The boards agreed substantively with the content and recommendations of seven of the eight subcommittees. Following below in brief are some of the recommendations that were endorsed for inclusion in the final report and plan for consolidation. These included that a new comprehensive association would:

• Create 21 Communities of Practice organized around functional areas intended to build community and create a sense of place for association members, engage the membership, ensure representative voice, generate and disseminate knowledge, and further develop practice and response to issues of the association and profession
• Organize by Geographic Districtsto ensure accessible pathways for member involvement, expand opportunities for leadership, respond to distinctive regional and state needs, and create professional community while establishing common structures and bonds across the association
• Ensure Membership Categories of institutional representatives or delegates, professional members, transitional members, affiliate members, emeritus members, and student members, all of whom would have the right to vote on the general business of the association and hold any office for which they might be qualified. Both members and institutional delegates would vote on by-laws changes, with a 2/3 majority of each required to pass a bylaws change
• Maintainon-site, in-person and online Placement Services to explore the career/placement needs of members and develop responsive services and operations to serve all levels and career interest areas of the profession
• Create intentional, top-quality, unparalleled Professional Development Opportunities , including an annual national meeting, stronger and more comprehensive geographical district meetings, theme-based conferences, and intentional collaboration with other associations that provide greater access, better coordination, less duplication, and increased partnership opportunities
• Offer an array of Publications that include most of those currently published by both associations; encourage and enhance Opportunities for Scholarship through a publications and scholarship coordinating committee; and develop further opportunities to deepen and broaden relationships with the broader higher education community as well as  with those associations that construct and pursue research agendas to which the student affairs profession can contribute within the United States and globally
• Develop and affirm Social Identity Groups for the benefit of members, students, the association, and higher education in general, for the purposes of education, advocacy, accountability, knowledge generation and dissemination, research, mentoring, and networking
• Develop a new Governing Board Structure with a streamlined board of directors responsible for policy development, strategic planning and direction, visioning, and fiduciary responsibilities, together with a larger leadership council responsible for programming, professional development, research and scholarship, member representation, awards and commendations, membership recruitment and retention, and various advisory councils and task teams. This last subcommittee report was the one that will be re-visioned and rewritten following the discussions at the July 22 session of the boards.

Pros and Cons for a Proposed New Association : The two boards engaged in an extended discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of joining as a comprehensive consolidated association. The conclusions of the boards' discussion on pros and cons shall be summarized and posted on each association website within the next few weeks.

Timeline and Next Steps:

August 31: Revised governance board and leadership council descriptions distributed to NASPA and ACPA leadership; legal and financial due diligence reports received from respective attorneys and accountants and sent to Consolidation Steering Team members.

September 20-30: NASPA and ACPA boards receive final draft of A Study for a Consolidated Association and legal and financial due diligence reports. NASPA/ACPA boards convene via conference call to review final documents.

October 18-22: A Study for a Consolidated Association sent to all ACPA and NASPA members and posted on both websites.  Online mechanism for feedback available to all ACPA and NASPA members.

October 2010 – March 2011: Membership education and discussions.

November 15: NASPA board conference call.  Pending satisfactory review of consolidation documents, NASPA Board votes to forward resolution for plan and terms of consolidation to the membership for their vote. Membership education and discussions continue.

March 2011: Open Forums to discuss A Study for a Consolidated Association to take place during the NASPA Annual Conference (March) and the ACPA Annual Convention (March).

March, April 2011: Member voting.

April 15, 2011: Membership voting is concluded, not to extend beyond this outside date

The Work of the ACPA Governing Board and the NASPA Board of Directors: As the presidents of our respective associations, we wish to close by acknowledging the hard work, careful thinking, creative ideas, compelling vision, and collegial interactions of the members of both of our associations' boards. We wish to recognize board members for their willingness and interest to think differently about what might be needed in a new association, at the same time that they honored in their discussion and ideas the best practices of both associations. The focus in the meeting on July 22 remained consistently on two framing questions:  Is a comprehensive umbrella association in the best interest of the profession of student affairs?  and, Is there a convincing vision with compelling opportunities and advantages that would cause us to move forward to dissolve our two associations and form a new consolidated association?  We were enlivened by the ensuing dialogue. We look forward to sharing the results of these deliberations with you as The Study of a Consolidated Association is revised and finalized in the next two months.

*The Consolidation Steering Team is comprised of the presidents, president elect/vice president, past presidents, immediate past presidents, and executive directors of both ACPA and NASPA.