[HPSG-L] HPSG2017 - update

[Nurit Melnik]

Dear HPSG Colleagues,



As you are probably aware, towards the end of January the US President,
Donald Trump, issued an executive order which sought to suspend entry to
the United States for all refugees for 120 days; to bar Syrian refugees
entirely; and to block entry to the United States to citizens of Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for a period of 90 days. This
order has been widely condemned by academic and scientific bodies,
including the Linguistics Society of America (LSA, see below), and the
constitutional legitimacy of this order been challenged in the courts. It
is not clear what the outcome of this challenge will be.

This is directly relevant to this community because the 24th annual HPSG
conference is scheduled to take place at the University of Kentucky in
Lexington, in the USA (between 7-9 of July).

The main implications for this community are: first that scholars and
researchers from the affected countries may not be able to attend the
conference; and second that scholars and researchers from countries not
directly affected by the executive order may withdraw from the conference
as a form of protest against it, and in solidarity with those who will be
affected by it (e.g. by not submitting papers, not attending the
conference, refusing to serve on the Programme Committee, declining
invitations to be guest speakers).

Given this, the Standing Committee (whose primary task "is to see that the
yearly conference is organized, preferably at accessible places") have been
discussing whether the location of the conference should be changed to
somewhere outside the USA.

After considerable thought, and consultation with the Local Organizer, we
have decided that it should not be changed. One reason is that simply
moving the conference would not avoid the problems that the executive order
raises (e.g. it will prevent citizens of the affected countries who are US
residents from leaving the US, because they will not be certain of their
right to re-enter the US).

We appreciate that this decision will be contentious, as would the decision
to move the conference, because it raises the issue of how one should
respond as an individual or an academic to the actions of governments that
can be seen as violations of human rights and which have the effect of
inhibiting open international dialog and which are therefore damaging to
the whole scientific enterprise. Questions about whether one's opposition
should take the form of continuing to engage constructively, or of
boycotting? Which is more likely to be effective in a particular case such
as this?

These are questions for individuals, and we think it is unlikely that a
consensus will be possible, even in a community such as this. We absolutely
respect the right of individuals to respond to this situation as they see
fit (e.g. by refusing to serve on the Program Committee, refusing to
attend, etc.).

>From a practical point of view, we will be exploring the possibility of
providing remote access for any potential attendees who are unable to
attend in person because of this ban.


Best wishes,

Nurit Melnik
Chair, HPSG Standing Committee


The view of the LSA can be seen here:

http://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2017/02/03/lsa-issues-statement-immigration-and-travel-ban