Escalating protests: Two psychology departments protest APA stance on interrogations
October 10th, 2007
A couple of weeks ago I reported on the resolution by the Earlham College psychology department: Resolution Regarding Participation by Psychologists in Interrogations in Military Detention Centers. Today I post a Press Release from the College on this action:
For Immediate Release:
RICHMOND, Ind. — The psychology department at Earlham College has passed a resolution calling for a change in the interrogations policy of the American Psychological Association (APA). Breaking new ground by taking this national leadership role, the Resolution Regarding Participation by Psychologists in Interrogations in Military Detention Centers is the first of its kind issued by an American college or university academic unit.
While Michael R. Jackson, the convener of Earlham’s psychology department, acknowledged that the APA Council of Representatives recently passed a resolution condemning torture, he says that the well- intentioned resolution still allows psychologists to participate in “coercive interrogations so long as these interrogations do not cause significant pain and suffering or lasting harm.”
Jackson says that not only does the APA resolution violate its own established ethical principles and code of conduct, but that it also continues to permit psychologists to be associated with agencies or facilities in which prisoners are deprived of due process of law, which, he says, is also a violation of the APA code.
“Most troubling of all,” writes Jackson in a letter to colleagues at other colleges, “by allowing psychologists to continue to participate in the interrogations of detainees in secret military and CIA facilities, it continues to aid in legitimizing these interrogations and (foreign detention centers).”
The purpose of the resolution, says Jackson, is to invite other psychology departments to join Earlham’s psychology faculty in condemning the involvement of psychologists in these types of interrogations and to call upon the APA to take a “clear and unambiguous stand on the issue.”
Calling the APA’s stance “ethically compromised,” Jackson draws on Earlham’s educational mission, which is informed by the distinctive perspectives and values of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
According to an Earlham document called Principles and Practices, the College’s educational values “are rooted in a commitment to caring for the world we inhabit, improving human society, promoting global education, seeking peaceful management and resolution of conflicts, affirming the equality of all persons, and maintaining high moral standards of personal conduct.”
Morals and ethics are paramount says Jackson, who also notes “the AMA doesn’t allow participation in these types of interrogations, nor does the American Psychiatric Association. The APA is the only professional association that allows its members to do that.”
While Jackson says that some human rights groups also have criticized the APA’s stance, “to my knowledge we were the first psychology department in the country to do so, and we have been recognized by dissident groups within APA as taking a national leadership role in opposing APA’s ethically compromised position.”
Since sending his letter to other colleges in late September, Jackson reports that the psychology department of Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., another historically Quaker college, has also passed the Earlham department’s resolution.
Contact:
Mark Blackmon, director of media relations
765/983-1256
Democracy Now! also reported the story yesterday during their news headlines:
College Psychology Departments Criticize APA
Meanwhile the psychology departments at two Quaker colleges — Earlham College in Indiana and Guilford College in North Carolina — have passed resolutions calling on the APA to change its interrogations policy. Psychology professors at Earlham are urging other departments to pass similar resolutions.
The same Democracy Now! broadcast also mentioned this weekend’s resignation from the APA of noted psychologist Beth Shinn:
Prominent APA Member Resigns Over Interrogation Policies
A prominent member of the American Psychological Association has resigned from the organization because the APA continues to condone psychologists’ work on interrogations at Guantanamo and CIA black sites. Marybeth Shinn is a former president of two APA divisions. She also criticized the APA leadership for discouraging dissent from its interrogation policies.
These actions follow August’s return of her APA Presidential Citation by New York Times bestselling author and psychologist Mary Pipher. The patience of psychologists of conscience to hold their nose when faced with the APA’s actions in abetting Bush’s torture regime seems to be coming to an end.
Entry Filed under: APA,Interrogation,Law,Psychology,Torture,War Crimes