September 13, 2005
Dear Colleagues:
With deep concern for the disastrous events that have occurred because of Hurricane Katrina, ASA officers and the Executive Office have been engaged in a number of responses and initiatives. I would like to inform you about some of them.
As individuals and as members of universities and community groups, many of us have found ways to help victims of Hurricane Katrina immediately (e.g., through monetary donations and services; through hosting displaced students and families). In addition, some of us are working through our professional organizations to help the nation understand underlying long-term issues (e.g., through informed comments in the media, on internet blogs, and other grassroots communications). ASA and other professional organizations are exploring additional avenues to communicate our especially relevant insight of both the short- and long-term problems such as the disruption of people’s lives; the differential impact of race, gender, and class; as well as the contribution of institutional and political factors to the severity of the hurricane’s aftermath.
Collaborating with the Social Science Research Council, for example, ASA has begun work on an initiative to bring together academics in the Gulf States and other scholars, under the leadership of internationally known disaster expert Kai Erikson, to establish a comprehensive research agenda focused on key issues of importance to both disaster preparedness and dealing with the aftermath (e.g., displacement of Americans to other cities). Troy Duster, ASA Past-President, Frances Fox Piven, President-Elect, and I are engaged in planning and will report as this work becomes organized. Colleagues in various regional associations, too, have been hard at work to help victims. Other associations have also responded with various initiatives, and as we move forward we plan to coordinate with them.
ASA Executive Office staff are creating information on the website, some of which is forthcoming, establishing linkages, working on behalf of colleagues and their families in need, and the larger community as well.
We will keep you up to date, but we also invite you to inform the ASA office (at katrina.relief@asanet.org) about your specific efforts so that those might be shared on the ASA website, as appropriate.
With warm regards,
Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
President, American Sociological Association
CEpstein@gc.cuny.edu
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