IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THE 2021 WPSA CONFERENCE

The in-person part of the 2021 Annual Meeting has been cancelled and the meeting will be held entirely online. The format of the conference will remain the same, with the individual panels meeting on Zoom. The dates of the conference also remain unchanged (April 1 to 3). In addition to the regular panels, we are anticipating holding most of the workshops and official meetings that are held each year.

If you were accepted as a panelist for the conference, you should have already been contacted by email about the move to an online-only format. Please respond to that email by December 11. It is especially important for you to let Elsa Favila know if you are NOT going to participate virtually. Please contact Elsa at favilaej@skymail.csus.edu as soon as possible. All participants will be charged our lower online conference fees.

Once the December 11 deadline passes, we will begin moving forward in sharing the online program and providing more details about conference events. Even though our deadline for regular panels has passed, there is still an opportunity for special events to be hosted virtually in association with the meeting. Any scholarly communities, affiliated committees, caucuses, subject area sections, universities, or other groups that wish to schedule an event or session during the 2021 WPSA meeting should promptly contact Elsa Favila. We do ask that participants in these special events pay the lower online conference fees.

WPSA President Jessica Lavariega Monforti, Program Chair Ricardo Ramirez, Associate Director Elsa Favila, and the section chairs are continuing to work hard to make the online conference a success. We are looking forward to seeing you there, virtually at least!

 

WPSA Statement on Racial Violence, Systemic Racism, and Police Brutality

The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd underscore the intolerable cost of racial violence, systemic racism, and police brutality in the United States. Protestors filling our streets are proclaiming their refusal to tolerate the profound racial injustices that have defined our country since its inception. Many of our colleagues and students have joined the struggle for political, institutional, and cultural change.

The Western Political Science Association condemns the systemic racism and institutionalized violence that have inflicted so much destruction on Black lives and communities of color. We recognize the burdens that systemic racism has imposed on Black and Brown colleagues and students in our own institutions. We celebrate the activists and scholars whose hard work over many generations has enabled a greater understanding of and more powerful response to these evils. Read the full statement here.

The Climate Crisis, Academic Conferences, and the
Western Political Science Association

A statement reflecting on the choices confronting the WPSA in light of the carbon impact of academic conferences. Written by WPSA president Jamie Mayerfeld, joined by the members of the WPSA Climate Action Committee.

WPSA Anti-Harassment Policy

1. Purpose

The Western Political Science Association was created for the purposes of promoting the study and teaching of government and politics, to foster research, and to facilitate the discussion of public affairs. The Association promotes these purposes in the spirit of free inquiry and free expression. The primary event in which WPSA members gather is at the Association’s annual conference. Harassment of colleagues, students, or other participants at the conference, or at any other WPSA-sponsored event or forum, undermines the principle of equity at the heart of the Association’s principles and is inconsistent with the principles of free inquiry and free expression. Consequently, harassment is considered by the WPSA to be a serious form of professional misconduct.

The WPSA is committed to providing a safe and welcoming conference environment for all participants, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, or religion.

“Participant” in this policy refers to anyone present at or directly involved in WPSA meetings, including staff, contractors, vendors, exhibitors, venue staff, WPSA members, and all other attendees.

2. Expected Behavior

All participants at WPSA meetings are expected to abide by this Anti-Harassment Policy in all meeting venues including ancillary events and official and unofficial social gatherings.
• Abide by the norms of professional respect that are necessary to promote the conditions for free academic interchange;
• If you witness potential harm to a conference participant, be proactive in helping to mitigate or avoid that harm;
• Alert conference or security personnel if you see a situation in which someone might be in imminent physical danger.

3. Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behaviors include:
• persistent and unwelcome solicitation of emotional or physical intimacy;
• persistent and unwelcome solicitation of emotional or physical intimacy accompanied by real or implied threat of professional harm;
• intimidating, harassing, abusive, derogatory, or demeaning speech or actions by any participant in an WPSA meeting and/or at any related event;
• prejudicial actions or comments related to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, or religion that coerce others, foment broad hostility, or otherwise undermine professional equity or the principles of free academic exchange;
• deliberate intimidation, stalking or following;
• harassing photography or recording;
• sustained disruption of talks or other events;
• physical assault (including unwelcome touch or groping);
• real or implied threat of physical harm.