Update from the President

‘The ACLP Board has decided that our venue selection process must be apolitical’

Dear Academy colleagues,

In the last few years, during a period of increasingly heightened political tensions (and with, sadly, little expectation of it lessening), the ACLP Board has been challenged, typically for political reasons, on our selection of locations for our annual meetings. I’m writing to explain the Board’s thinking behind our selection process.

By necessity, we prioritize the operational, logistical, and financial requirements of the meeting, and the corresponding value members get from attending. These factors, adopted by staff in their search, are fundamental to contracting with a cost-effective venue that has adequate travel links sufficient to draw members nationally. As our primary vehicle for delivering education and networking for our members, it is mission-critical, the Board believes, that the annual meeting succeeds on these terms.

The Board decided some years back that the venue selection should not become an expression of any one political persuasion, nor a tool to express the virtues of one side of a political argument over another. We endeavor to be apolitical while holding close the values and common decency that underpin our role as health care professionals; we endeavor to be apolitical if we are to succeed in creating a safe and inclusive environment that brings all our members together around C-L Psychiatry.

However, there are also practical reasons:

• For the time of year of our meeting, membership preference has been for warm locales or ‘sun belt’ states, reducing our options to perhaps 13 or 14 states. Several of these drop out as the Academy’s meeting requirements have become significantly more demanding over the last 10 years due to our growth (some states simply do not have venues big enough to accommodate us).
• With contracts now signed 5-7 years in advance, it is impossible to anticipate the politics of the day when the meeting comes around. Deciding to cancel or move the annual meeting within a year of the event purely for political reasons would cause significant and lasting financial damage to the Academy.
• The Board assumes that ACLP reflects our society at large and, therefore, it is likely that our members do not all share the same political views as one another. Deciding to cancel or move the annual meeting for what might be deemed a political reason could not achieve consensus among our members and would cause irreparable harm to the professional harmony and collegiality of our Academy.

It is for these reasons that the ACLP Board has decided that our venue selection process must be apolitical, and we must avoid political views from influencing what should be a practical business decision. I hope and trust you will understand the Board’s position. Of course, the Board and I are open to hearing your thoughts.

Respectfully,

Phil Bialer, MD, FACLP
President

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