[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-boyco... It appears to specify Canadian academics, but I am sure I read that it had spread beyond that. Michael [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]