2008 Approved Resolutions
2008 RESOLUTIONS APPROVED AT THE AUGUST 1st BUSINESS MEETING
The Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
Resolution 1: Expression of Gratitude
Resolution 2: Gender-Neutral Restrooms
Resolution 3: Provision of Day Care to Preschool Children
Resolution 4: Medical Marijuana
Resolution 5: Labor Rights and Social Justice for Migrant Workers
Resolution 6: Support of the Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women Petition
Resolution 7: Support of Affirmative Action and Desegregation
Click here to download the PDF file. (PDF, 108 KB)
Resolution 1: Expression of Gratitude
Our sincere appreciation is expressed to all of the officers, committee chairs and members who have made this program possible and whose efforts maintain the vitality of the SSSP. First, we thank President Nancy A. Naples for her outstanding leadership in developing this 58th Annual Meeting and its Theme: Crossing Borders: Activist Scholarship, Globalization, and Social Justice. We also thank this years Program Committee: Co-Chairs: Héctor Delgado and Wendy Simonds and committee members Alison Griffith, Adia Harvey Wingfield, Charlotte Ryan and Clare Weber; Local Arrangements Committee Chair: Gordana Rabrenovic and committee members Sarah Bakanosky, Silvia Dominguez, Amy Finnegan, Will Holton, Cheryl G. Najarian, Lorna Rivera and Timothy Patrick Stablein. We thank the staff of The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers for good accommodations and we particularly want to recognize the efforts made by Heather Kasday, Senior Convention Services Manager and John Riley, Account Director. The Society wishes to express its gratitude to Past President Valerie Jenness for her years of leadership; Vice-President Carrie Yang Costello for managing the resolutions process; JoAnn L. Miller for her service as Secretary; and David Rudy for his service as Treasurer. The Society also thanks Steven E. Barkan, President-Elect; Cheryl Boudreaux, Vice-President Elect; Board of Directors John F. Galliher, Michelle Y. Janning, Carolyn C. Perrucci, Luis Fernandez, Alison Griffith; outgoing members Donald Cunnigen and Tracy L. Dietz; Naomi Nichols (outgoing) and Melanie Carlson, student representatives of the Board; Nancy Mezey, Chair of the Council of Special Problems Divisions; Amy S. Wharton, outgoing Editor of Social Problems; Ken Kyle, Editor of Social Problems Forum: The SSSP Newsletter; Gray Cavender, outgoing Budget, Finance and Audit Committee Chair and committee members Frances G. Pestello, Anna Santiago and Susan M. Carlson; James A. Holstein, Editorial and Publications Committee Chair and committee members Peter J. Kivisto, A. Javier Treviño, Suzanne Vaughan, Lora Bex Lempert, Barbara Katz Rothman, Amy S. Wharton, Ken Kyle and Gray Cavender; the University of Tennessee and the Department of Sociology for hosting the SSSP Executive Office; the Office of the Vice Provost for Multicultural and International Affairs, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology and the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Connecticut for their generous financial contributions to the reception honoring our past presidents and the awards banquet; and the University of California Press for their financial contribution to the registration bags.
Finally, the Society wishes to thank Executive Officer Thomas C. Hood, Administrative Officer & Meeting Manager Michele Smith Koontz, Administrative Assistant & Webmaster Sharon Shumaker, and Graduate Research Associate Sarah Hendricks for continuing to make the organization run and do all that it does year in and year out.
Resolution 2: Gender-Neutral Restrooms
From: Family Division
WHEREAS many parents wish to bring children who do not share their gender with them to use the restroom, and can face resistance from other individuals using single-sex bathrooms; AND
WHEREAS elders and people with disabilities may rely on assistance from other-gender family members or other care providers in order to use the restroom, encountering resistance from others using single-sex bathrooms; AND
WHEREAS other individuals face objections and harassment when using single-sex restrooms, due to gender identity or expression, physical appearance, or medical condition; AND
WHEREAS difficulties in finding a safe restroom space limit the abilities of these families and individuals to use public spaces;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Society for the Study of Social Problems calls upon all federal, state, and local government agencies to require public buildings to provide a gender-neutral restroom option; AND
BE IT RESOLVED that the Society for the Study of Social Problems calls upon private commercial entities to provide a gender-neutral restroom option in spaces used by the public, including restaurants, malls, movie theaters, and private schools; AND
BE IT RESOLVED that the Society for the Study of Social Problems will itself seek to hold its Annual Meeting at a hotel which provides gender-neutral bathrooms (sometimes called unisex washrooms or family restrooms), and, in cases where the Society considers a hotel and finds that it does not provide a gender-neutral restroom option, will send a letter to the hotel management stating that this fact is considered as a serious negative factor impacting the Society’s decision-making regarding accommodations.
The SSSP staff will forward this resolution to all federal legislators, state governors’ offices, and the corporate headquarters of hotels considered during the past ten years in siting the Annual Meeting.
Resolution 3: Provision of Day Care to Preschool Children
From: Family Division
WHEREAS two-thirds of mothers and four-fifths of fathers with preschool-aged children are employed outside the home, necessitating the use of child care; AND
WHEREAS research shows that high quality childcare increases school success and decreases juvenile delinquency; AND
WHEREAS research shows that many childcare arrangements offer limited social or educational development and in some cases lack basic physical safety; AND
WHEREAS research shows that the low pay and limited benefits given to day care providers leads to an annual staff turnover rate of 30% in child care centers, leading to a negative impact on the quality of care provided and on the workers; AND
WHEREAS providing a targeted high-quality voluntary preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds in the bottom 25% of the national income distribution would pay for itself by the sixth year and lead to savings of $315 billion annually by 2050; AND
WHEREAS providing high-quality voluntary day care to all 3 and 4 year olds in the U.S. would pay for itself by the ninth year and lead to savings of $779 billion annually by 2050;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Society for the Study of Social Problems calls for substantially increased investment in high quality day care by federal, state and local governments sufficient to provide high quality care to all preschool children.
This resolution should be copied to federal and state legislators, and to federal and state departments of education.
Resolution 4: Medical Marijuana
From: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division
WHEREAS the Society for the Study of Social Problems find the following:
- Federal drug policy on marijuana threatens the health and well being of thousands of Americans by prohibiting even the medicinal use of cannabis under physician supervision in states with medical marijuana laws. The federal government has actively impeded research on the medical use of marijuana despite patient and physician reports that it may help to relieve such debilitating symptoms as nausea, pain, and loss of appetite associated with serious illnesses.
- In February of this year, the American College of Physicians -- representing 124,000 oncologists, neurologists and other doctors of internal medicine -- released a position paper declaring that the scientific evidence “supports the use of medical marijuana in certain conditions” and calling on the federal government to reclassify marijuana to permit medical use. In addition, the American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and many other national organizations are on record supporting safe and legal access to medical marijuana for patients whose doctors recommend it.
- The American public, too, overwhelmingly supports patients’ rights to use medical marijuana; national polls show that more than three out of four Americans favor its legal use. Already twelve states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington -- have enacted medical marijuana laws.
- However, until there are changes in federal drug policy, the threat to patients and caregivers of arrest by federal agents continues.
There are now two pieces of federal legislation pending that would help to alleviate this threat:
- The Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment. The DEA has conducted dozens of raids on legal and registered medical marijuana patient collectives and dispensaries in states such as California where the medical use of cannabis is legal under state law; the Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently prosecuting more than three-dozen licensed medical cannabis patients and care providers. The Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment would limit the ability of DOJ to arrest and prosecute patients and providers who are acting within the limits of their state law by prohibiting the DEA from using any funds to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. The amendment, which has been proposed in each of the past several sessions, will once again be voted on this summer.
- The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act. H.R. 5842 would end marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug to allow doctors to prescribe it for medical use. Additionally, this bill would protect medical marijuana patients who use marijuana legally under state law from arrest and jail.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the SSSP supports both the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment and the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act. The SSSP membership directs that copies of this resolution be sent to all federal legislators and the administrative offices of the DEA and DOJ.
Resolution 5: Labor Rights and Social Justice for Migrant Workers
From: Labor Studies Division
WHEREAS the U.S. is now the home of some 12 million documented and undocumented migrant workers, who are an essential part of the economic and social fabric of the nation, employed in manufacturing, service, agricultural, health and other segments of our economy; AND
WHEREAS migrant workers in both the “guestworker” programs and immigrants in the informal economy play a key role in filling labor market demands, while experiencing regular conditions of unpaid and substandard wages, hour of work well in excess of legal maximum, frequent workplace injuries, an absence of health and safety protection, and an overall lack of enforcement of applicable workplace laws;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the SSSP calls for the following actions:
- State Departments of Labor should disseminate labor rights information, in the first language of workers, to employers of migrant workers for posting in workplaces.
- The U. S. Department of Labor should enforce basic labor standards for migrant workers, and create work visas that permit labor market mobility.
- The U.S. Congress, working with counterparts in Mexico and Canada, should strengthen of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation.
- The U.S. Congress should ratify and implement three major international conventions pertaining to the rights of migrant workers: UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families; International Labour Organization Convention Concerning Migration for Employment (No. 97, Revised); and the International Labour Organization Convention Concerning Migrant Workers (No. 143).
This resolution should be copied to federal and state legislators, and to the state and federal departments of labor.
Resolution 6: Support of the Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women Petition
From: Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division
WHEREAS the rape and exploitation of Black Women is depicted and commodified throughout U.S. media and popular culture.
WHEREAS the consumption of these media artifacts perpetuates the market for these exploitive materials.
WHEREAS the consumption of these exploitive materials can impact the viewer’s attitudes towards rape and exploitation.
WHEREAS Black males are organizing against these negative media artifacts.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT SSSP calls for support of the goals and sentiments of the Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women petition, to wit: that the SSSP and its members call for an end to rape, domestic violence, and the casual sexism that permeates our culture (http://www.petitiononline.com/rkelly/petition.html).
This resolution should be copied to federal, state and appropriate legislators as well as U.S. college and university leadership.
Resolution 7: Support of Affirmative Action and Desegregation
From: Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division
WHEREAS efforts to limit affirmative action and desegregation have been successful at the legislative level.
WHEREAS the inequities that were to be addressed by affirmative action and desegregation have not been fully resolved.
WHEREAS the issues of affirmative action and desegregation have lost visibility and support among legislators and academics.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT SSSP calls for legislators and academia to reaffirm its support of affirmative action and desegregation efforts or propose new efforts to resolve the inequities that these methods were designed to ameliorate.
This resolution should be copied to federal, state and appropriate legislators as well as US college and university leadership.
