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From: sandra.baxter@nifl.gov
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Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:2633] Message from Sandra Baxter, NIFL Interim Director
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Dear Discussion List Participants:
Recently, I wrote to you about steps the Institute had taken to ensure
that the Institute's discussion lists would continue to be available as
a resource to the adult literacy field. Concerns had been raised that
some messages posted to the discussion lists violated anti-lobbying
laws, which prohibit the use of funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress
for lobbying. Because the Institute uses appropriated funds to support
the discussion lists, it was essential that we take immediate action to
comply with the law. I explained the steps taken to ensure our
compliance and informed you that we would post guidelines on the
discussion list policies.
After consultation with the discussion list moderators, and upon the
advice of our Office of General Counsel, we have developed guidelines
to help ensure that our discussion lists are in compliance with federal
laws and regulations, and that the First Amendment rights of discussion
list participants are protected. The guidelines, posted at
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html, read as
follows:
The purpose of the National Institute for Literacy's discussion list is
to bring together literacy stakeholders--researchers, policymakers,
administrators, practitioners, and students--to discuss critical issues
within the literacy field; share resources, experiences, and ideas; ask
questions of subject experts; and keep up-to-date on literacy issues.
NIFL partners with national literacy organizations that provide
knowledgeable staff to facilitate the discussion lists. Messages
posted to the discussion lists and the archives do not represent the
views or opinions of the National Institute for Literacy, the
discussion list moderator or sponsor organization. NIFL funds the
discussion lists through LINCS, using funds appropriated to NIFL by the
Congress.
Anti-lobbying laws prohibit the use of appropriated funds for
lobbying. In order to ensure the Institute's compliance with federal
law, NIFL requests that all discussion list participants use the
NIFL-sponsored lists in accordance with their intended purposes and
refrain from posting messages that constitute lobbying. Comments,
suggestions, references, and ideas posted to the discussion lists
should serve as resources for enhancing the field's capacity and
knowledge base. The use of a federally-funded list to maintain and
disseminate messages that are intended to influence or cause others to
influence a member of Congress to favor or oppose legislation or an
appropriation by Congress is a violation of the law. The National
Institute for Literacy will remove those types of messages from its
discussion lists and from the discussion list archives.
Further, discussion list participants are encouraged to focus their
contributions to the list on specific subject areas and goals that are
posted on each of the lists' archive pages. List participants are
expected to conduct their communications on the list in a spirit of
inquiry, curiosity, and mutual respect and follow the Netiquette rules
posted on the archive page at
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/netiquette.html.
Questions about the National Institute for Literacy's discussion lists
and the policies governing those lists may be directed to the LINCS
Director, Jaleh Behroozi, at jbehroozi@nifl.gov.
In addition to sharing the guidelines with you, let me address some of
the concerns that recently have been expressed on the discussion
lists. Questions directed to a government agency like the Institute
about possible violations of the anti-lobbying law must be taken very
seriously. In order to address this matter promptly, NIFL put
automated filters in place on April 25 to prevent the posting of
messages that would put NIFL in violation of the law. The filters were
always intended as a temporary measure, and on May 23, they were
removed. A timely notification of these actions should have been
provided to the lists; I apologize for not providing them. In addition,
we are now in the process of restoring messages to the discussion list
archives that had been blocked by the filter. All messages except
those that violate the anti-lobbying laws will be restored.
We have been working closely with our Office of General Counsel
throughout this process to make sure the NIFL can continue to offer the
discussion lists as a service to the field while ensuring that we
comply with the law and protect participants' First Amendment rights.
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