Re The 'March for Science' is gaining mainstream momentum

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 2:05 AM
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The 'March for Science' is gaining mainstream
momentum
To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>


The ‘March for Science’ is gaining mainstream momentum
By Joel Achenbach
Feb 9 2017
<
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/02/09/the-march-for-science-is-gaining-mainstream-momentum/
>

Many scientists are reluctant to leap into politically charged territory,
but these are not normal times, and even the most mainstream science
organizations say there may be no choice but to take to the streets. The
much-discussed “March for Science,”organized via social media and scheduled
for April 22 in Washington, has been gaining momentum.

Christine McEntee, executive director and chief executive of the American
Geophysical Union, said Thursday that her organization has been talking in
recent days with march organizers and looking for ways to support the
effort.

“We are pleased to see the growing support for the value of science and
scientific integrity. AGU has begun discussions with the organizers of the
march and we are exploring how we can best support their efforts. Democracy
is based on active participation. We fully support the efforts of
scientists to speak out on these important issues,” she told The Washington
Post.

Also on Thursday, Rush Holt, a physicist and the CEO of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, published an editorial in the
journal Science that urged researchers to leave the comfort of their
laboratories and institutions and get involved in the political fray.

Although Holt, a former Democratic congressman from New Jersey, did not
explicitly endorse the march, his editorial — headlined “Act for science"
-- is the latest sign that even relatively stodgy organizations that make
up the scientific establishment are lining up behind the April 22 effort,
which in addition to the Washington march will include satellite marches
around the country and the world.

“I think we have to be more forceful in our defense of science,” Holt told
The Washington Post this week in an interview in the association's downtown
Washington headquarters. Asked whether he was giving scientists a green
light to join protests, he said, “It's not up to me to give the green light
on anything. Scientists are and should be fiercely independent in their
defense of science.”

Holt said that roughly a dozen individuals who had planned to go to Boston
next week for the AAAS annual convention are not going now because of
President Trump's executive order limiting immigration from seven
countries. A Sudanese scientist was supposed to attend to receive an award
for her work helping women in the developing world, but she has canceled
her trip, he said. Sudan is among the countries named in Trump's executive
order.

[snip]

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