Without federal statisticians in its governance, the ASA would not be able to serve fully the needs of the government sector, since there would not be an active voice from that sector in our decision-making process. The ASA would also be deprived of the perspective of the government sector for its broader mission. Furthermore, the rules precluding a federal scientist’s professional society activity hinder his/her ability to achieve the professional stature afforded by professional society leadership experience. Finally, such rules could dissuade scientists from entering federal service and/or prevent federal scientists from serving in high-profile professional society positions, thereby undermining the overall stature of an agency’s scientific work.
In the final push, the ASA signed onto letters to the OPM and OGE Directors urging completion of the rule: OPM 2/7/13, OGE 2/7/13. We thank all the other societies involved in this effort and especially appreciate the leadership of Ellen Paul, Executive Director of the Ornithological Council. With these other societies, the ASA joined onto a group letter with comments to the OGE proposed rule change: 6/30/11. See other ASA Science Policy blog entries. For ASA science policy updates, follow @ASA_SciPol on Twitter.