CALL FOR COLLABORATION

“We do not propose to remain silent.”

(founders of the Antioch Review, 1941)

Inspired by the AAC&U’s “Call for Constructive Engagement” and the Big 10’s developing “mutual defense compact,” and drawing from the commitment to justice and free inquiry among our subjects of research, the Margaret Fuller Society, Transcendental Concord, and the Thoreau Society are seeking collaborators in developing a public statement and potential solidarity compact. We seek collaboration in responding to dramatic recent assaults, originating in the US, on intellectual freedom, research funding, and the integrity and safety of learning environments.

We invite author societies and other organizations to join in conversation about our shared values as teachers, researchers, cultural workers, and thinkers in this extraordinarily challenging time for free inquiry. Through developing this statement, we hope to cultivate empathetic community and the capacity for a future mutual aid compact. 

We are seeking cross-organizational collaboration among a broad and diverse array of societies and groups, including members and leaders at all levels.

Questions we hope to discuss include:

· How might a statement reflect our shared values and communicate support for researchers, teachers, and cultural workers?

· What forms of mutual support can author societies and similar organizations offer to one another in terms of sharing information or pitching in labor?

· How would we want to respond if a society or society member’s research were targeted by funders, political officials, or academic officials because of that research’s political context or the researcher’s background? How would we want to respond to unjust employment actions against fellow teachers and cultural workers?

· How can we keep each other safe from harassment, especially in the classroom and online?

· What kind of community capacity can we build to weather the coming storm in and outside academia?

If this enterprise speaks to you, send your name, affiliated author society or similar organization, and contact information to authorsocietycollaboration@gmail.com. Please also help us spread the word by bringing our call to the attention of others you know who are active in author organizations. General body members of any organization are welcome to participate in conversation regardless of whether they represent their organization as a whole.

Our next steps will be to 1) invite everyone who has expressed initial interest to share core concerns they’d like to see considered in the drafting process; and 2) enlist a small committee to draft our statement.

Looking forward in solidarity,

The Executive Council of the Margaret Fuller Society

Transcendental Concord

The Thoreau Society