Greetings ALA Members,The attached resolution, Resolution Calling for Student Loan Cancellation, has been received for consideration at the Virtual Membership Meeting. Background information below, Resolution attached as a PDFResolutions Form contents:Date: Tue, 03/15/2022Resolution author(s): April SheppardE-mail address: asheppard@astate.edu1. Title of Resolution: Resolution Calling for Student Loan Cancellation1a. Resolution File: Attach your MS Word file.: [see attached file]2. ALA Units and/or Committees Consulted (if any): none3. Endorsements by ALA Units and/or Committees (if any): Social Responsibilities Round Table4. Fiscal implications: Specify the resources needed to carry out the resolution's directive(s).: none5. List all parties to whom resolution should be sent: ALA Executive Board, ALA membership, President Biden6. Impact on ALA Policies and Positions: Explain how the resolution supports ALA's Strategic Plan, its mission, and/or its core values.: The Brookings Institution, the ACLU, The Century Foundation, The Roosevelt Institute and many other organizations have demonstrated that student loan debt helps perpetuate racial wealth and income and achievement gaps, and that cancelling student loan debt will help redress this systemic inequality. Diversity is a key action area of the American Library Association; support for calls to cancel student loan debt directly aligns with ALA's fundamental value of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, as well as with diversity is listed as one of ALA's Key Action Areas. ALA already implicitly acknowledges the issue of financial inequity for librarians of color through scholarship programs such as the Spectrum Scholarship Program.6a) ALA general policy or viewpoint: If the resolution sets forth a general policy or an ALA viewpoint, describe.: The resolution sets forth an ALA viewpoint that student loan debt adversely impacts library workers, especially librarians of color, reinforcing the association's already strong stand on issues of racial inequality.6b) Change in existing policy: If this resolution necessitates a change in existing policy, state the policy number and the change.: none6c) New policy: If this resolution establishes new policy, describe.: none6d) Policy conflicts: If this resolution conflicts with existing policy, state provisions for resolving the conflict.: none7. Initiating Committee or Unit (if any): Social Responsibilities Round Table8. Pertinent Background Information, e.g. bibliography, citations, supportive quotes, URLs, etc.:"Because education does not achieve income parity for Black workers, the disproportionate debt Black students are taking to finance their education is reinforcing the racial wealth gap. Today, the average white family has roughly 10 times the amount of wealth as the average Black family, while white college graduates have over seven times more wealth than Black college graduates." The Brookings Institution, Student loans, the racial wealth divide, and why we need full student debt cancellation, https://www.brookings.edu/research/student-loans-the-racial-wealth-divide-and-why-we-need-full-student-debt-cancellation/"Students of color pursue higher education in a social and economic system built on racist ideologies that is set up to work against them and perpetuate racial wealth and income and achievement gaps. To redress this systemic inequality, the ACLU, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), and more than 300 other organizations are calling on the Biden-Harris administration and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to use their authority under the Higher Education Act to cancel $50,000 of student debt per borrower, and Congress must act as well." Brooks, Rakim and Ashley C. Harrington. Student Debt is a Racial Justice Issue. Here's What President Biden Can Do to Help. (2021, March 30). American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/student-debt-is-a-racial-justice-issue-heres-what-president-biden-can-do-to-help/"Due to lower family wealth and racial discrimination in the job market, Black students are far more likely than white students to experience negative financial events after graduating-including loan default, higher interest rate payments, and higher graduate school debt balances. This means that while many Black families currently need to rely on debt to access a college degree and its resulting wage premium, the disproportionate burden of student debt perpetuates the racial wealth gap." Jen Mishory, Mark Huelsman and Suzanne Kahn. How Student Debt and the Racial Wealth Gap Reinforce Each Other. The Century Foundation, The Roosevelt Institute, and Demos. September 9, 2019. https://tcf.org/content/report/bridging-progressive-policy-debates-student-debt-racial-wealth-gap-reinforce/?agreed=19. Mover's Name: Sherre Harrington9a) Mover's Local Telephone Number: 706-409-630010 Seconder's Name: Al Kagan10a) Seconder's Local Telephone Number: 217-351-9035------------------------------
Aaron W Dobbs (he/him)
Library Support Staff Interests Round Table, President, 2021 - 2023
ALA Council, Councilor for Small Round Tables, 2019 - 2022
ALA Resolutions Committee, chair 2021 – 2022, member 2020 - 2022
ALA Constitution & Bylaws Committee, member 2019 - 2023
Round Table Member: GODORT, GNCRT, LearnRT, LHRT, LSSIRT, MAGIRT, NMRT, RMRT, SORT
Division Member: ACRL, Core, RUSA, UNITED
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Professor & Library Department Chair
Scholarly Communication Librarian
Librarian Liaison for Business
Librarian Liaison for STEM
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
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Vice President, 2016 - 2022
Shippensburg University Chapter
Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties
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Board of Trustees, President 2022, Trustee 2019 - 2024
Jeffrey W and Jo Anne R Coy Public Library of Shippensburg
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