Recognizing the importance of the arts and humanities to UAB, the Faculty Senate adopted a resolution urging all citizens of Alabama to promote continued support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

UAB faculty members are welcome to contact their government representatives regarding the matter, as individual voters.

There are 3 free apps in the App Store: “Call your reps,” “Voices: Political Advocacy – Call your Reps,” and “Call my government rep” – just put in your address including zip code, and it will tell you which government officials to contact info for your area. Government representatives and their staff tend to be polite and they want to listen and understand your input.

The Faculty Senate's full resolution is below:

Resolution

Of the Faculty Senate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Encouraging the Public Support of the Arts and Humanities through the NEA and NEH

Whereas, UAB’s mission statement commits us to “teach and apply knowledge for the intellectual, cultural, social, and economic benefit of Birmingham, the state and beyond”; and

Whereas, the arts and humanities are central to this mission, in that they provide an interface between society and the individual, and without this cultural pillar both society and education would suffer; moreover, the arts and humanities promote diversity in thinking, vision, and creativity; and

Whereas, according to the Montgomery Advertiser, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding brings the Alabama State Council on the Arts $775,000 each year, dollars that the organization uses as seed money to generate another $4.6 million in private giving; moreover, the Council gives that money to 220 different groups around the state, ranging from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to public schools that would otherwise have no arts programs at all; and

Whereas, over the past 5 years, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded Alabama scholars and organizations almost $3.5 million, for projects ranging from historic preservation, to public exhibitions and discussion programs, to research in history and literature; moreover, grants have been awarded across the state and in every congressional district, and for projects at all of the state’s major universities; moreover, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, which “encourages and promotes appreciation of literature, history, law, philosophy and the arts through programs, events and grants to help others discover and share the meanings of life found through the humanities,” has distributed the largest share of these funds, some $2.8 million; and

Whereas, the NEA and NEH touch the lives of millions in Alabama and throughout the nation in that they provide irreplaceable support for a multitude of public activities that help define American culture.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Faculty Senate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham recognizes the importance of the arts and humanities to the university and urges all citizens of Alabama to promote continued support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, two institutions of major importance to the cultural life of America. 

The foregoing was adopted by the Faculty Senate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham at its meeting held May 9, 2017.