The CAMWS Executive Committee has received a substantial response from concerned colleagues about the 2023 annual meeting scheduled to meet in Provo, Utah, at the invitation of Brigham Young University. Many have called upon the Committee to move all activities of the 2023 meeting off the BYU campus and hold the entire meeting in the hotel. The Committee has listened seriously to the voices of our colleagues and has now voted to act on this request. All activities of this meeting will be held at the hotel.
The broad response has made clear to the Executive Committee the impact of BYU’s policies on LGBTQ colleagues and the conflict between those policies and CAMWS’s own policies on diversity and inclusivity (camws.org/codeofconduct). While the Executive Committee respects our colleagues in Classics at BYU and the many contributions they make to the organization, CAMWS does not support the policies of the BYU administration. In the coming year, the Executive Committee will consider the viability of its model of selecting host institutions for future meetings to ensure that conflicts with the organization’s policies do not arise again. CAMWS strives to be a welcoming and inclusive society for the free exchange of diverse ideas and viewpoints. Thank you to all who took the time to give feedback about the meeting.
Posted Saturday, April 20, 2019