[AISWorld] Question: do we really want to risk turning AIS into a political lobbying organization?

[Nima Kordzadeh]

Dear Leon,

Thanks for your comments. But, did anyone talk about government policies on
abortion, Obamacare, gun rights, and taxes via the aisworld mailing list
during the past 48 hours? I think these items were brought up by you only.
As far as I know, everybody has only talked about the immigration executive
order that is discriminatory and can directly affect hundreds or
potentially thousands of IS scholars, faculty members, PhD students,
post-docs, etc. who are citizens of those banned countries and are legally
living and working in the U.S. or in other countries. They would like to
travel and attend academic events in the U.S. and outside the U.S. without
stress, just like you do.

I am aware that you have always had great doctoral students from Iran in
your department at the University of North Texas. So, the question is: does
it matter to you if they cannot leave the country at least during their PhD
studies (4-5 years) and their families cannot also visit them? Have you
ever been in that situation? And can/should AIS support them and oppose
discrimination against them as they are and will be part of the AIS
community?

Best.
Nima

*--*

*Nima Kordzadeh, Ph.D.*
Assistant Professor of Informatics
Southern AIS 2017 Program Chair

College of Business
Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID 83209-8020
Office: (208) 282-5731
kordnima at isu.edu

On Sun, Jan 29, 2017 at 1:37 PM, Richard Watson <rickwatson at mac.com> wrote:

> I want AIS to oppose discrimination. Surely, that is something we all
> agree upon.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Jan 29, 2017, at 15:15, Kappelman, Leon <Leon.Kappelman at unt.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > There are other venues send organizations through which to deal with our
> personal issues with government policies.
> >
> > The question is, what do we want AIS to be?  Should we also divide up
> into the divisions that support one government policy about energy versus
> those who don't support it?  How about abortion? Our views on that may also
> affect the ability of some of us to do their jobs.  Where do we draw the
> line?  Surely these could be valid topics for our research.  But are they
> the issues we want our organization to be known by?  Do we want AIS to step
> into the fray of political advocacy?  Personally, I think not.  To do so
> would  only divide us even more than our diverse teaching and research
> interests already do.
> >
> >
> > - From iPhone - Please excuse typos -
> > Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D., Professor of Information Systems
> > Director Emeritus, Information Systems Research Center
> > College of Business, University of North Texas
> >  Voice: 940-565-4698<tel:940-565-4698>   kapp at unt.edu<mailto:kapp at unt.
> edu>
> >
> >
> > On Jan 29, 2017, at 1:45 PM, Mohammed Rahman <mrahman at emporia.edu
> <mailto:mrahman at emporia.edu>> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Leon,
> >
> > If government policies affect and prevent academics to engage in
> research and teaching, I believe it is appropriate and should be allowed to
> use AIS to raise concerns. I agree with your statement, "... we should keep
> AIS focused on the issues that concern us as academics ...". This on-going
> issue, although happens to be a government policy, indeed concerns many
> academics. Within the last year, I have witnessed many discussions in our
> AIS community about issues, impact, research opportunities, etc. that were
> evolved and impacted from Brexit and past US election. Similarly, many of
> our past and ongoing research/teaching activities influenced by political
> decisions at regional as well as global level. As an AIS member, I would
> like to see discussions about issues influence academics and other human
> lives, whether they are political or not so political.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> >
> > Mohammed Sajedur Rahman, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor of Information Systems
> > School of Business, Emporia State University
> > One Kellogg Circle, Emporia, KS 66801-5415
> > Phone: (620) 341-5088
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AISWorld [mailto:aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Kappelman, Leon
> > Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2017 12:30 PM
> > To: aisworld at lists.aisnet.org<mailto:aisworld at lists.aisnet.org>
> > Subject: [AISWorld] Question: do we really want to risk turning AIS into
> a political lobbying organization?
> >
> > Question: do we really want to risk turning AIS into a political
> lobbying organization or are there already other venues for the political
> activities in which AIS members may wish to engage?
> >
> > Seems to me we should keep AIS focused on the issues that concern us as
> academics - our research and teaching - and keep government policies on
> immigration, healthcare, gun rights, taxes, abortion, tariffs, and
> everything else in the venues where they belong.
> >
> > "Let us be men, not monkeys minding machines, or sitting with our tails
> curled, while the machine amuses us." - D. H. Lawrence
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------
> > Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D.
> > Professor of Information Systems<http://www.cob.unt.edu/profiles/112>
> > Director Emeritus, Information Systems Research Center
> >   College of Business, University of North Texas
> >   Voice: 940-565-4698   Email: kapp at unt.edu<mailto:kapp at unt.edu><mailto:
> kapp at unt.edu>
> > Primary Investigator, SIM's Annual IT Trends Study<
> http://www.simnet.org/?ITTrendsStudy>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------
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> >
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