More Than a Summer Job

At the final House of Delegates session at the AACP Annual Meeting in San Diego in July 2006, the House approved a change in the Association bylaws that created a new officer for the Association: an elected Speaker of the House. This role had previously been filled by the Presidents-elect, with duties that competed for their attention during each annual meeting while their presidential duties demanded their attention for the rest of the year. The impetus to create a separate elected office of Speaker was to invigorate the House and “provide an elected leader whose primary focus is on the identification of issues and development of policy for AACP.”1 This followed many comments from the membership that the House had not addressed any important or controversial issues facing the academy since the 1992 vote on the doctor of pharmacy degree as a first-professional degree. In fact, citing a lack of debate on issues of interest or of discussion on controversial policies, many members often leave the annual meeting before the final session of the House. While the new office of Speaker can do much to invigorate the House and bring issues to the floor, we must not forget what the truly essential ingredients are for an effective House and an issue-focused Association: active and informed delegates. Each regular institutional member has 1 administrative and 1 faculty delegate whose responsibility it is to represent in the House the interests of these groups at their school. The administrative delegates are typically appointed by their deans, while the faculty delegates must be elected by the faculty of their respective schools to represent the faculty in the deliberations of the House.2 The Rules of Procedure of the House specifies the duties of the delegates: “Besides the important role of officially representing either the faculty or the administration of the school during the annual meeting of the House of Delegates, it is the goal of the Board of Directors and staff to use each delegate as a communication link between the school and the Association throughout the year. This communication is two-way by nature: delegates will receive bulletins, Association reports, and advance mailings from the Association; delegates are expected to share this information with their institutional colleagues; respond to information requests and forward to the Association those pharmaceutical education issues of importance for study and appropriate action.”3 [emphasis added] The responsibility for the faculty delegates to represent their faculties in the House must mean more than simply attending the House sessions and deciding how to vote on each issue raised. Delegates should get input from their faculties before the annual meeting on the questions to come before the House. But they should go further. As local issues are raised at college and school of pharmacy faculty meetings, delegates should consider if these issues have broader implications for the entire academy or if these same issues are being raised at other schools. If either is the case, the delegate should consider taking the issues to the House or other appropriate arm of the Association (see above description of duties). Any complaints of AACP not addressing the big issues facing the academy should be directed to delegates who could raise these issues to AACP (in the House or to the Board). Delegates should stay in touch with their faculties to know of their concerns. Whom should faculties elect to represent them to AACP? Too often someone agrees to serve as delegate because it means they will receive financial support to attend the Annual Meeting. One should, however, accept this responsibility because he/she has a true interest in the issues facing pharmacy education, both locally and nationally. A willingness and ability to communicate these issues to the faculty and to study the impact decisions will have on their school are necessary attributes of the effective delegate. And a willingness and ability to make the faculty-identified issues heard in the Association should be a requirement. A report from the faculty delegate should be a regular agenda item of every faculty meeting in every college and school of pharmacy just as are reports from the University Senate or the University Faculty Affairs Committee. The delegate should raise known issues facing the academy for discussion and direction from the faculty for action. Such items will come from stated charges and later reports of the AACP standing committees, from the actions of the Board of Directors, and from preliminary reports of the Bylaws and Policy Development Committee prior to each Annual Meeting. Faculty must be vocal to and through their delegates on issues such as revisions of accreditation standards or the application of such revisions and funding and availability of fellowships through the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education. Bringing debate and discussion of the pressing issues of pharmacy education to the AACP House of Delegates cannot be accomplished by simply adding an elected Speaker. It is up to every administrative and faculty delegate, all of whom are charged by their colleges and schools and the Association to do just that.