In light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to political polarization and unemployment that has doubled from September 2019 to September 2020 for those with college degrees, it is more important than ever to promote diversity in political science discourse to build back better. Unfortunately, however, political science organizations, like the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), and the Southwestern Social Science Association (SSSA) create additional barriers to political science participation through expensive membership fees and conference fees. 

Acknowledging that 44.7 million students in the USA struggle with student debt that totals to $1.56 trillion in aggregate, this is too much. 

In light of the global pandemic and national conversations about intersectional inequality, students in the US need more opportunities to contribute to political science discourse. Yet, these expensive membership fees discourage students from joining APSA, MPSA, and SSSA, and this is especially true for lower-income students, students with disabilities, and academics of color. It is therefore no surprise that APSA only has 13,000 members, most of which are professors, that do not effectively represent the voices of the tens of thousands of political science students in the USA. 

The price needs to be lowered. Students should not be shut out of APSA opportunities and democratic rights.

This petition calls for APSA, MPSA, and SSSA to lower one-year membership fees to $20. It also recommends that additional supports be given to students attending APSA and MPSA conferences.

Acknowledging that other political science organizations, like the International Association for Political Science Students and the Southern Political Science Association, offer lower membership rates, it is feasible for such organizations to offer a lower price. But this is not enough. Students in the USA deserve more options for more political science participation and political science organizations, like APSA (@APSAtweets), MPSA (@MPSAnet), and SSSA (@SWSocSciAssn) need to be more sensitive to the realities political science students in the USA face.