Eliminate APR Requirement to Serve PRSA

We, the undersigned, hereby petition PRSA to abandon the decades old requirement that its national officers and board members be accredited (APR). Less than 20% of PRSA members are accredited meaning that 80% of the 21,000 members cannot become PRSA leaders unless they choose to become APR.

We do not believe that democracy is being served in PRSA so long as only a small minority of its members can hold elective office.  We believe that many worthy members of PRSA who meet national leadership criteria in many other ways are being deprived of the opportunity to serve the organization.

We petition PRSA to remove this impediment and barrier to national leadership as soon as possible.  The undersigned are dedicated to a PRSA that allows all of its members to serve the organization. 

We believe that many worthy members of PRSA who meet national leadership criteria in many other ways are being deprived of the opportunity to serve the organization. We petition PRSA to remove this impediment and barrier to national leadership as soon as possible.  The undersigned are dedicated to a PRSA that allows all of its members to serve the organization. 

We believe that accreditation is an earmark for professional improvement but not for governance. At its November 2009 annual meeting, the PRSA Assembly voted to continue the APR requirement for national leadership. We consider this vote to be shortsighted and not consistent of what the vast majority of PRSA members want.

If PRSA is to become the relevant professional organization it can be then this accreditation requirement must end here and now. As a member of PRSA, your response to this petition is vital.  Please add your signature to many of your PRSA colleagues and demand that the APR requirement be forever stricken from PRSA governance.

The Ad Hoc Committee to Promote Democracy in PRSA;

• Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman
  
• Bill Doescher, former Senior Vice President & Chief Communications Officer, Dun & Bradstreet, Past President of PRSA Foundation, President & CEO of the Doescher Group
  
• Art Stevens, APR,  Fellow PRSA, Managing Partner, StevensGouldPincus
• Deborah Radman, APR, Fellow PRSA, Past President, PRSA New York
• Sandra Fathi, President-Elect, PRSA New York, President, Affect Strategies
• Dave Rickey, APR, Sr. Vice President Communications, Birmingham Business Alliance
  
  

            I,_____________________, add my signature to this petition to remove the accreditation requirement for PRSA officers and board members and allow all PRSA members to run for these positions.

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