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Nick, Here's the e-mail. Originally posted by Deb Cowen. Best, Lawrence Dear urban geographers, A few weeks ago there was a discussion on the 'crit geog' listserv regarding the AAG military geography specialty group's fieldtrip at the upcoming meeting in Denver. List members expressed outrage about the event for a variety of reasons, one being that the fieldtrip is only open to U.S. citizens. A list member pointed out that this directly contravenes the AAG's own statement of professional ethics. A few AAG members gathered recently and drafted the statement below, which we intend to bring to the business meeting at the 2005 AAG meeting in April. We would like as many AAG members as possible to sign. If you support the statement and would like to have your name added, please send an email to <[log in to unmask]> with just YOUR NAME IN THE SUBJECT HEADING. Please circulate this statement to any potentially interested people. Inquiries can be directed to me at this email address. Many thanks, Deborah Cowen Department of Geography & Program in Planning University of Toronto 100 St. George St. Room 5047 Toronto, ON M5S 3G3 deb.cowen@utoronto ---------- In association with the 2005 Association of American Geographers annual meeting, the AAG's military geography specialty group has organized a visit to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Inclusion in this official AAG fieldtrip is limited on the grounds of United States citizenship. Non-US citizens are prohibited from participating in this AAG event. This violates the AAG's 'Statement of Professional Ethics', endorsed by the Council of the Association of American Geographers on October 18, 1998. According to this statement: "Discrimination is extraordinarily destructive. Geographers should adhere to fair employment practices and ensure equal opportunity when evaluating peers and other employees. They should not discriminate against individuals or groups using criteria irrelevant to professional performance. Such irrelevant criteria generally include (but are not limited to) age, class, ethnicity, gender, marital status, nationality, politics, physical disability, race, religion, or sexual orientation." Despite the AAG's principled position on exclusion, many hundreds of AAG members found themselves excluded from this official event. We recognize and support the independence of specialty groups vis a vis the AAG central office, but we do not support the right of specialty groups to discriminate against AAG members in contravention of the AAG's own ethics policies. As members of the AAG, we demand that the Association issue an apology to its membership for sponsoring this discriminatory event as part of its annual meeting. We further demand a commitment from the AAG that in the future this organization will live up to its own ethics policies regarding non-exclusion. At 3:37 PM +0000 3/3/05, Nick Megoran wrote: >Does anyone have the email sent round yesterday (or the day before) calling >for AAG members to attach their names to a protest against a study group >organising a trip, from which non-US citiezns were excluded, to a US >military base? I can't find it on the archives and would be grateful if >anyone could forward it. thanks, Nick. -- Lawrence D. Berg, D.Phil. Canada Research Chair Director, Centre for Human Rights, Diversity & Identity http://www.chrdi.org Okanagan University College, Kalamalka Campus 7000 College Way, Vernon, B.C., Canada, V1B 2N5 Voice: +1 250 545-7291 ext. 2264; Fax: +1 250 545-3277 E-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.chrdi.org/ldb/index.htm http://www.chairs.gc.ca/web/chairholders/viewprofile_e.asp?id=972 Editor: The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/cg Co-Editor: ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies http://www.acme-journal.org Commissioning Editor: Praxis (e)Press http://www.praxis-epress.org Note new address as of 1 July 2005: Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences University of British Columbia - Okanagan 3333 University Way Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, V1V 1V7 Telephone: +(250) 762-5445 http://www.okanagan.ubc.ca