Off topic item

Off topic item

[Bob Rosebrugh]

[Note from moderator: As I should have noted when it was posted, Michael
Barr's note was off-topic, but judged to be of interest. As such, there
should be no discussion. Since I did not make that clear, I have digested
responses below as received, but will not post further on this issue.]

-----------------------------------

From: David Yetter <dyetter@ksu.edu>
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2017 21:40:20 +0000

Dear Michael,


Thanks a lot.


As if the Trump presidency alone wasn't going to be bad enough for
American=
   science, folks are proposing punishing the American scientific community,
=
which I am sure voted by a large majority for Clinton, and an even larger
m=
ajority for Clinton-or-a-minor-party-candidate-or-none-of-the-above (the
la=
st bit by leaving the line blank), with a boycott.


Best Thoughts,

David Y.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marta Bunge <martabunge@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2017 07:45:19 +0000

Dear Michael,

Thank you for the reminder which for me is actually news. At the time when
=
apartheid was in place in South Africa, I refused to attend any
conferences=
   there, even though I was several times invited to meetings in Cape Town.
H=
owever, and at the risk of being misunderstood, I consider the travel ban
i=
mposed by the US government to seven predominantly Muslim countries not to
=
be discriminatory on account of race or religion, but because those seven
c=
ountries (among the 40 or so predominantly Muslim) have suffered criminal
w=
ars from the USA, as a consequence of which ISIS emerged, and with it
terro=
rism like (presumably) 9/11. Banning all citizens from those seven
countrie=
s including primarily Iran is certainly not acceptable to me at all, but
re=
ligious or racial discrimination has nothing to do with it. For this
reason=
   I will not join the proposed boycott unless it would serve the purpose of
=
stopping the USA from bombing other countries for whatever purposes of
thei=
r own as it has been doing during the Bush and Obama administrations.  A
pr=
oposal of that nature, cast in those terms, might have the desired effect,
=
and I would then join it.


Marta


------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Emily Riehl <eriehl@math.jhu.edu>
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2017 10:19:30

Dear Michael et al,

I'm responding as one of the organizers of this meeting but =
representing my own personal views.

I am heartened by the outpouring of sympathy towards and actions in =
solidarity with those refugees and immigrants affected by the =
xenophobic, islamophobic, callous, sloppy, and illegal executive order =
issued last week. These efforts must continue until that policy is =
overturned.

It does seem reasonable to me to embody solidarity with those who are =
unable to travel to the United States by refusing to travel to the =
United States. At the same time, I am also concerned by the plight of =
those legal permanent residents of the United States ("green =
card" holders) who feel unable to leave the country out of fear =
that they will not be allowed to return. In a horrible catch-22, it =
seems impossible to organize a scientific meeting right now at a =
location that would enable all of those most effected by this executive =
order to attend.

I hope this will not be the state of affairs for long. My colleagues and =
I have engaged in a variety of resistance efforts with more plans being =
made every day. The Republicans are governing on a false mandate: they =
lost the popular vote for the presidency, for the senate, and for the =
house of representatives by millions of votes in each case. It is only =
on account of structural biases in our electoral system that they =
control two and soon all three branches of government.

There is one final thing I'd like to mention specifically =
related to the homotopy type theory workshop, which we started planning =
over a year ago. This workshop is designed to facilitate new =
collaborations and put young people, particularly those who are new to =
the field, on a "fast track" to research successes. In =
this way, it presents a unique opportunity for someone on the =
"periphery" of homotopy type theory, to center =
themselves in this research community. In light of this, the organizers =
have had numerous conversations on strategies to recruit a diverse array =
of participants, in hopes this might help boost the overall diversity in =
the field.

I support anyone who is choosing to boycott travel to the United States =
at the moment. But if you know of any students who are in the US =
already, particularly from under-represented groups (by gender, race, =
religion, sexuality, national origin, institutional affiliation, =
disability, or any other axis), please encourage them to apply. One =
workshop is a small thing maybe, but it's a way to push for a =
more heterogeneous mathematical community in the future.

In solidarity,
Emily Riehl


Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mathematics
Johns Hopkins University
www.math.jhu.edu/~eriehl

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2017 19:18:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Michael Barr <barr@math.mcgill.ca>

Here is one site:
https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2017/01/31/canadian-academics-boycott-us-conferences-over-trump-ban.html
It appears to specify Canadian academics, but I am sure I read that it had
spread beyond that.

Michael


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