[AISWorld] AIS Response to the Recent Executive Order on Immigration in the United States

Montazemi, Ali Reza montazem at mcmaster.ca
Fri Feb 3 04:02:20 EST 2017


Dear colleagues,

It is interesting to note that other academic societies (e.g., ACM) have expressed their concern in support of their members. However, AIS has adopted silence. May be Jason can enlighten us on this unique position.

Thank you

Ali

Ali Reza Montazemi, PhD
Professor, Information Systems
DeGroote School of Business | McMaster University
1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4M4
Tel. 905-529-7070 Ext. 27434
http://profs.degroote.mcmaster.ca/ads/montazem

> On Feb 2, 2017, at 8:55 PM, Prashant Palvia <pcpalvia at uncg.edu> wrote:
> 
> Good point, Hossein.
> 
> In a previous email, I had recommended to the AIS membership to take a vote
> of its membership regarding drafting an appropriate resolution. I don't
> think we will be breaking any laws. This will be well within a democratic
> process.
> 
> As President Roosevelt, in his famous inaugural speech, stated: “the only
> thing we need to fear is fear itself”.
> 
> Prashant
> 
> ----
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Prashant Palvia, Ph.D., Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor,
> https://baelearn.uncg.edu/people/palvia/
> <https://baelearn.uncg.edu/people/palvia/>Bryan School of Business and
> EconomicsThe University of North Carolina at Greensboro 426 Bryan Building,
> Greensboro, NC 27402, USA, Ph: 336.334.4818*
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 8:27 PM, Hossein Seif Zadeh <hossein.work at icloud.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Dear Jason,
>> As a member of AIS, I thank you for taking the initiative to put pen to
>> paper.  That is a great start and I am sure most (if not all) AIS members
>> continue to support the list you have included in your email (rotating
>> conferences, rotating leadership, eLibrary, etc).
>> 
>> But I am obliged to point out none of these were the point of discussion
>> over the past few days.  The point was, and remains, whether the so-called
>> Muslim-ban affects enough AIS members to warrant putting a collective
>> statement forward.  I am not promoting one side or the other of the
>> argument, but re-iterating a set of principles which have little to do with
>> the argument does not resolve it.
>> 
>> Warm regards,
>> Hossein
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 1 Feb 2017, at 12:55 pm, Jason Thatcher <jthatch at clemson.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
>>> 
>>> Following the recent Executive Order on Immigration in the United
>> States, many members have reached out to me and the Association's
>> leadership team to express concerns about how recent changes in the global
>> political landscape:
>>> 
>>> *   affect members' ability to participate in Association for
>> Information Systems (AIS) conferences;
>>> *   undermine members' ability to engage in free and open academic
>> inquiry; and,
>>> *   to ask AIS to speak out against the Executive Order, as it hurts
>> academic freedom.
>>> 
>>> Please accept my thanks for sharing your thoughts and your many
>> expressions of support for sustaining our inclusive, global Information
>> Systems community.
>>> 
>>> That AIS supports free and open exchange of ideas, as well as the free
>> and open movement of our members as they seek to do so, should not be
>> questioned.  We are a global Association, composed of more than 4,400
>> members, who work in 107 countries, and who represent many more
>> nationalities. As an Association, we thrive from the diversity of social,
>> political and cultural beliefs that shape the intellectual culture of our
>> field, and are represented at our conferences.
>>> 
>>> However, because of our diversity, AIS has a long standing best practice
>> that restricts our officers from taking a position on national or regional
>> political issues on behalf of the Association, no matter how personally
>> repugnant leadership may find a policy.
>>> 
>>> While the global political landscape may have changed, the AIS
>> leadership team remains true to the Association's core values of
>> inclusiveness, diversity and open exchange of ideas.  We are dedicated to
>> furthering the Associations' primary mission, of growing and sustaining an
>> inclusive, diverse, global information systems community.
>>> 
>>> To that end, we remain committed to:
>>> 
>>> *   Requiring the location of our largest conference, the International
>> Conference on Information Systems be held on a different continent each
>> year, thereby creating opportunities for our members to learn more about
>> different cultures and ways of doing things.
>>> *   Rotating our leadership, such that AIS Presidents and most AIS Vice
>> Presidents are drawn from different regions of the globe every year,
>> thereby ensuring diverse views and voices are represented in policy
>> decisions.
>>> *   Providing an accessible dues structure that ensures IS academics
>> from the lowest income countries can afford to participate in the
>> Association.
>>> 
>>> Further, we support:
>>> 
>>> *   Conserving scholarly artifacts from all regions of the world in the
>> AIS e-library, as a means to ensure all members' work has a permanent and
>> globally-accessible repository.
>>> *   Hosting conferences and workshops in all regions of the world,
>> irrespective of the dominant faith, creed, or ethnicity, thereby supporting
>> the growth of our scholarly community.
>>> *   Growing diversity in our Association, through Colleges such as the
>> AIS Women's Network and SIGs, such as SIG Inclusion, that afford
>> opportunities for all members of the IS discipline to fully participate in
>> our Association; and,
>>> *   Exploring alternative means of conference participation,
>> particularly for members who are unable to participate due to restrictions
>> on movement.
>>> 
>>> For 22 years this global mission and principles have been the bedrock of
>> AIS. I encourage AIS members to join us in supporting these initiatives -
>> and to suggest more - because by doing so, we enable better scholarship,
>> more effective pedagogy, and strengthen our global Information Systems
>> community.
>>> 
>>> Sincerely,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> [https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/vJSmnxinG1kIZB3Tkvpdf26MZNTwMX
>> FzeD-8gAd5Qh_IM5_6bXHm0t6PkERH8eHwomYmt7KhgsY0M
>> yZRSUfELkBHuxzmo9wRVIrLIzOZAx9u_LlzCZD26LV8NIUJBj7cKhVicHm02zr
>> G-ca8=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/
>> c424cca9001/b8c92862-4165-4485-b82b-f39781cb97cc.jpg]
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Jason Bennett Thatcher
>>> President
>>> Association for Information Systems
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> AISWorld mailing list
>>> AISWorld at lists.aisnet.org
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> AISWorld at lists.aisnet.org
>> 
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