<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/14/australian-academics-refuse-to-attend-us-conferences-for-fear-of-being-detained>
"When Gemma Lucy Smart received an invitation to attend an academic conference
in the US, she was excited. But that was before Donald Trump was returned to
office.
Now Smart, who has a disability and is queer, has decided it’s too risky to
travel to Seattle for the social sciences conference in September.
The disabilities officer at the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
and a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney will instead attend remotely.
Shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the Society for Social Studies of Science
made its conference “hybrid” in response to what it said were “unpredictable”
developments at the US border.
“They were concerned about people entering,” Smart said.
Miami International Airport, terminal welcome sign US Customs and Border
Protection
“I work on the history of psychiatry, so my field has a lot to do with
diversity, equity and inclusion. They [the conference organisers] very
explicitly said, ‘We don’t believe it is safe for everyone to travel to the US,
particularly our trans and diverse colleagues.’
“The focus on that is really troubling. That, if you legitimately have a
different passport than you were given at a young age, you could be detained.”
The conference’s co-chairs announced the hybrid move on 21 January – a day
after Trump began his second term. They said the decision reflected
“conversations with disability justice and environmental justice scholars and
activists”.
“It also comes on the heels of political shifts that have made travel to the US
more tenuous for many STS [science, technology and medicine] contributors,”
they added.
Australian academics are not only cancelling trips to the US for key
conferences. Scholarships are being rescinded and grant funding pulled as the
fallout from the Trump administration’s interference continues.
It follows media reports of travellers having their devices searched at the US
border and being denied entry, including a French scientist who had messages on
his phone critical of Donald Trump."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
