An Open Letter to the Communications of the ACM
29 December, 2020
Dear CACM Editor,
We are a group of researchers, industry experts, academics, and educators, writing with sadness and alarm about the increasing use of repressive actions aimed at limiting the free and unfettered conduct of scientific research and debate. Such actions have included calls for academic boycotts, attempts to get people fired, inviting mob attacks against ‘offending’ individuals, and the like. We support discussion of policies aimed at a more diverse and inclusive society; a range of opinions is natural. We condemn all attempts to coerce scientific activities into supporting or opposing specific social-political beliefs, values, and attitudes, including attempts at preventing researchers from exploring questions of their choice, or at restricting the free discussion and debate of issues related to scientific research.
Such actions are antithetical to the very nature of scientific inquiry, which often advances most through the pursuit of that which others believe to be implausible, banal, or wrong-headed. Debate must be free of prior restraint, and the use of public shaming or similar tactics to restrict the scope of scientific research and discussion is regressive and contrary to the values expressed in the ACM Code of Ethics. Such actions are particularly odious when directed toward junior colleagues and students, who are especially vulnerable.
We urge the community to reaffirm their core principles that:
Scientific discourse should be based on mutual respect, use of civil language, and professional conduct. Indeed, all disagreements in the scientific community, however heated or fraught, should be addressed through argument and persuasion and not through personal attacks or by coercively shutting down those with dissenting points of view.
In short, challenging and debating ideas is always acceptable and ought to be encouraged. Marginalizing, intimidating, or attacking the holders of those ideas is not.
If you are an established researcher, educator, or professional in computing or an adjacent field and would like to add your name to the signatories of this open letter, please fill out this form (or email karyeh@cs.bgu.ac.il and lreyzin@uic.edu). Note that signatories will be vetted before being added.
Initial Signatories
Scott Aaronson
David J. Bruton Centennial Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of Texas at Austin
Ezio Biglieri
Honorary Professor
Department of Information and Communication Technologies
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Pamela Cosman
Distinguished Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California, San Diego
Harry Crane
Associate Professor
Department of Statistics
Rutgers University
Co-Founder, Researchers.One
Pedro Domingos
Professor Emeritus
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Shlomo Dubnov
Professor
Department of Music and Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of California, San Diego
Anthony Ephremides
Distinguished University Professor and Cynthia Kim Eminent Professorship Chair
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Maryland College Park
Georgios B. Giannakis
Professor and Endowed Chair
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota
Aryeh Kontorovich
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Ben-Gurion University
Marius Leordeanu
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Shachar Lovett
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of California, San Diego
Ryan Martin
Professor
Department of Statistics
North Carolina State University
Co-Founder, Researchers.One
James E. Moore, II
Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Southern California
Alex Olshevsky
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Boston University
Judea Pearl
Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus
Department of Computer Science
University of California, Los Angeles
Keshav Pingali
Professor and W.A. “Tex” Moncrief Chair of Computing
Department of Computer Science
The University of Texas at Austin
Lev Reyzin
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science
University of Illinois at Chicago
Ilya Safro
Associate Professor
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
University of Delaware
Niculae Sebe
Professor
Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science
University of Trento
Ari Trachtenberg
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Boston University
Pavan Turaga
Associate Professor
School of Arts, Media and Engineering
Arizona State University
Etienne Vouga
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of Texas at Austin