🚀 go-pugleaf

Note 2 of three on the NSF budget.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Cassell                                        jwcassell@UNC.EDU
Institute for Research in Social Science           Phone:  919-962-0782
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill           Fax:    919-962-4777
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3355   USA

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 11:37:33 -0400
From: Richard Andrews <andrewsr@email.unc.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <irssann@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: NSF Budget Alert (fwd)

______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________
Subject: NSF Budget Alert
Author:  heverist@nsf.gov at NOTE
Date:    5/19/95 8:51 AM


FYI -- went out to various email lists today.  Liz Baldwin

             American Psychological Association
                  Science Advocate Network


            !!!!! LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT !!!!!

     House Budget Resolution Targets Social, Behavioral
                and Economic Sciences at NSF

The House and Senate Budget Committees approved the spending
blueprint for FY 1996 last week.  This budget resolution
determines the size of the federal budget for FY 1996, sets
out spending priorities and provides guidance to the House and
Senate Appropriations committees on how the federal budget
should be allocated.  The House and Senate budget resolutions
are accompanied by report language that goes into more detail
on the fiscal assumptions made by the Committees in arriving
at the recommended budget numbers.

Included in the House Budget report language is the following
statement regarding the recommendations for NSF: "This
proposal assumes that while science and technology must
contribute to the immediate fiscal reality, they must also
provide for the opportunities that must be developed in the
future.  In order for the technological revolution to
continue, a strong, fundamental science is needed.  Therefore,
the proposal assumes that basic research should be
prioritized.  For instance, NSF CIVILIAN RESEARCH AND RELATED
ACTIVITIES WITH THE EXCLUSION OF SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL AND
ECONOMIC STUDIES [capitals added] and the critical
technologies institute, can be provided at their current
levels plus three percent growth.  No reductions are assumed
to NSF basic research in the physical sciences.  Education and
Human Resources can be maintained and Academic Research
Infrastructure is assumed at President Clinton's requested
level."

        Rep. Robert Walker Throws Fuel on the Flames

This disturbing language from the House Budget Committee was
followed by statements from Rep. Robert Walker (R-PA) at a
news conference on May 11, where he was quoted as saying that
the "social, behavioral and economic STUDIES" [capitals added]
at NSF were fields that NSF had "wandered into . . .[to be]
politically correct."  Since Rep. Walker is Chair of the House
Science Committee that authorizes NSF, is a top Republican on
the House Budget Committee, and part of the House Republican
leadership -- his remarks were taken very seriously concerning
House Republican plans for behavioral and social science at
NSF.

                      *****************
                      * APA Mobilizes *
                      *****************


In immediate response to these developments, APA has done the
following:


      --- SENT THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO REP. WALKER ---


The Honorable Robert S. Walker
Chair
House Science Committee
2320 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515-6301

Dear Mr. Chairman:

I am writing on behalf of the American Psychological
Association (APA), a scientific and professional organization
of 132,000 psychologists, to object to your characterization
of the behavioral and social sciences at the National Science
Foundation (NSF).  In the May 12 Washington Post you were
quoted as saying that the "social, behavioral and economic
studies" (italics added) at NSF were fields that NSF had
"wandered into . . .[to be] politically correct."  I would
like to assure you that the behavioral and social sciences at
NSF were not inadvertent additions meant to satisfy someone's
notion of "political correctness."

NSF support for basic research in the behavioral and social
sciences is long-standing, and its importance to the
scientific knowledge base has long been recognized by the
wider scientific community that supported the creation of SBE.
The Social, Behavioral and Economic Science (SBE) Directorate
was created as a separate entity in 1991 in recognition of the
maturity of the behavioral and social sciences, and to provide
greater focus on the research base in these sciences.  This
research had been supported at NSF for more than 40 years --
long before the formal organization of these sciences into a
Directorate.

This followed extensive discussion both within NSF and within
the research community regarding the merits of creating SBE.
There was agreement in the biological, behavioral and social
science community that this was the best way to support this
valuable research.  In none of the many discussions and
meetings held on the creation of SBE was there any hint of the
impetus being "political correctness."  I can assure you that
any such arguments would have held little sway with the
biologists who were instrumental in the creation of SBE.
Thus, in no way did NSF "wander" into its support for the
behavioral and social sciences.

The many contributions of behavioral and social science
research to the nation's health, well-being, and standard of
living are numerous.  For example, NSF-supported
psychologists, doing research in cognitive neuroscience, have
contributed to our understanding of how the brain produces
thoughts, emotions and action.  The last 20 years have seen a
rapid growth in the quantity and quality of relevant research
findings, so that hardly a week passes without an important
new finding.  As we have come to understand more about
brain/behavior relationships, new light has been shed on the
diagnosis and treatment of cognitive and emotional disorders
such as schizophrenia, depression and dyslexia.

NSF has also supported work in infant cognitive and perceptual
development which showed that, counter to prevailing ideas,
infants have complex, functioning sensory and perceptual
systems.  This led to demonstrations that the outcomes for
preterm infants were much better if they were handled and
stimulated, and that some visual problems could be detected
and corrected during infancy.

APA and others in the behavioral and social science community
would be pleased to provide you with even more examples of the
fruits of NSF-supported basic research in the behavioral and
social sciences.  I urge you to consider these examples as you
deliberate on the House budget resolution and the
reauthorization of NSF.  Please call Elizabeth Baldwin in our
Public Policy Office at (202)-336-5932 if you or your staff
have any questions or would like detailed information on NSF
supported behavioral research.


Sincerely,

Robert J. Resnick, PhD
President


            --- ORGANIZES GRASSROOTS RESPONSE ---


-- In addition to helping spread the word on these recent
developments in Congress to the psychological research
community via electronic means, APA also organized a first
class mailing to the psychological research community in
Pennsylvania.  This mailing to almost 1,000 psychologists
urges them to write to Rep. Walker (who is from Pennsylvania)
regarding his remarks on behavioral and social science at NSF.


    --- RESPONDS WITH OTHER SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS ---


-- In cooperation with other behavioral and social science
organizations, APA is soliciting support from other scientific
disciplines.

-- APA is helping arrange, and will participate in, a "Hill
blitz" of visits to Congressional offices.  These visits will
emphasize the importance of continued federal support for
behavioral and social science research at NSF.  This will
include not only the relevant members of the House and Senate
Budget Committees, but the House and Senate Appropriations
Subcommittees, and House and Senate NSF authorization
committees (House Science Committee and Senate Labor and Human
Resources and Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committees).


               *******************************
               * !!!!! WHAT YOU CAN DO !!!!! *
               *******************************

1-- On your institution's letterhead, send a letter to The
Honorable Robert S. Walker, Chair, House Science Committee,
2320 Rayburn House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515-6301.
Point out the fact that the behavioral and social sciences,
are indeed sciences -- not "studies" as he believes.  It would
be valuable to comment on your own NSF sponsored research, or
that of your colleagues, as examples.  Point out the value of
federal support for behavioral and social science at NSF.
Research funding priorities should be left to NSF, which has
done an excellent job in supporting the nation's best
research.

2-- Send a copy of your letter to Rep. Walker to your
Congressman and Senators, requesting their support.  These
letters can be sent to: The Honorable (full name), United
States Senate, Washington, DC 20510; and The Honorable (full
name), United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC
20515.

                            * * *

PLEASE SEND A COPY OF YOUR LETTER to us at SAN@APA.ORG or mail
to SAN, APA, 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002.

If you have any questions, comments or relevant information to
share on NSF, please contact Elizabeth Baldwin in APA's Public
Policy Office at eab.apa@email.apa.org.