This May, an ad hoc committee of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members asked for support to amend the society’s requirement that only members Accredited in Public Relations (APR) can hold national director or officer positions within PRSA. APR is the public relations profession’s only national post-graduation certification program – and only 5,000 of the 21,000 PRSA members currently have their accreditation. From the article covering this effort:
“We do not believe that democracy is being served in PRSA so long as a small minority of its members can hold elective office,” the committee said in a statement. “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.”
The committee refers to itself as The Committee for a Democratic PRSA and hopes to convince PRSA members and the PRSA Assembly that accreditation should not be a requirement for leadership within the society.
http://www.prsa.org
While accreditation is important for professional development, why should it be a requirement for leadership positions? When you apply for a job your potential employer will look at your education as well as previous job experience – why should it be different for a society of professionals?
The committee is looking to collect 1,000 signatures from PRSA members and will present the petition to the PRSA Assembly on October 15 in an attempt to lift the barrier to leadership within PRSA.
If you are a PRSA member that supports removing the accreditation requirement for PRSA leadership positions, click here to sign the online petition.
