[TYPES] ETAPS bars Russian researchers from attending

Talia Ringer tringer at cs.washington.edu
Wed Mar 9 09:30:49 EST 2022


Yes, there was an academic boycott on South Africa. And the general
consensus in retrospect by scholars of South Africa is that it accomplished
nothing beyond sanctions except for "sending a message," and again at the
cost of isolating academics who happened to be from there. It was sharply
controversial at the time among those who were strongly anti-apartheid, and
rightly so.

Signaling is not worth breaking the ethics code and ruining careers.


On Wed, Mar 9, 2022, 5:55 AM Philip Wadler <wadler at inf.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

> [ The Types Forum, http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> ]
>
> To add to Ricardo's examples, during Apartheid, there was an academic
> boycott of South Africa as part of a larger cultural boycott, similar to
> the cultural boycott of Russia we see beginning today. This included not
> accepting academic visitors affiliated with South Africa, even though many
> South African academics opposed Apartheid. Treating Russian institutions
> differently at this time can contribute to a cumulative effect. Failing to
> treat them differently sends the message that we don't care. Go well, -- P
>
>
> .   \ Philip Wadler, Professor of Theoretical Computer Science,
> .   /\ School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
> .  /  \ and Senior Research Fellow, IOHK
> .
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/__;!!IBzWLUs!ByhpRFSKZ3IGEazSYRk8ZiPNOU_tVRrh8Q_83QpOs_9HzrHFz55B0xkCfLYICuE4ayzyajgRdTs$
>
>
>
> On Tue, 8 Mar 2022 at 20:29, Ricardo Medel <ricardo.h.medel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > This email was sent to you by someone outside the University.
> > You should only click on links or attachments if you are certain that the
> > email is genuine and the content is safe.
> >
> > [ The Types Forum,
> http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> > ]
> >
> > German scientists were banned from conferences after the First World War.
> >
> > Chinese scientists (even those working/studying at the USA) were banned
> > from attending a NASA conference in 2013.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > El mar., 8 de marzo de 2022 17:25, Gabriel Scherer <
> > gabriel.scherer at gmail.com> escribió:
> >
> > > [ The Types Forum,
> > http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> > > ]
> > >
> > > Do people know of any precedent of a conference forbidding people
> working
> > > in a certain country to attend?
> > >
> > > (Of course, on a regular basis we hold conferences in countries that
> make
> > > it difficult for some of our colleagues to attend. But this sounds very
> > > different from the conference itself forbidding certain researchers
> from
> > > attending on the basis of their country of employment.)
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 7:33 PM Neel Krishnaswami <
> > > neelakantan.krishnaswami at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > [ The Types Forum,
> > > http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> > > > ]
> > > >
> > > > The ETAPS website (
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.etaps.org__;!!IBzWLUs!HUevd2N5Ms-2WYC1sMdH93ef4xxRy4BjZ9KD0I8SPwLGGpv-Rk7u_Emgl9qMMyLGK4ex90o0Cm0$
> > > > ) has the following text on its
> > > > front page:
> > > >
> > > > > The ETAPS association strongly condemns the war against Ukraine
> > > > > launched by President Putin. It is an intolerable breach of
> > > > > international law and a crime against humanity, unfolding in Europe
> > > > > now. Therefore, until further notice, ETAPS 2022 cannot accept
> > > > > registrations from affiliates of Russian research institutions or
> > > > > companies.
> > > >
> > > > While I'm as opposed to illegal wars of aggression as anyone else,
> this
> > > > feels like a serious mistake.
> > > >
> > > > There are many Russians (such as Jetbrains corporation) who have
> taken
> > > > the serious personal risk of publically opposing the war, and barring
> > > > them from our conferences due to their nationality feels wrong to me.
> > > >
> > > > It may well be that the financial sanctions regime means that
> > > > registration payments cannot be accepted, but that is quite different
> > > > from barring them personally.
> > > >
> > > > What do the rest of you think?
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > > Neel
> > > >
> > >
> >
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>


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