Defenders of the law argue that educators and researchers can use other, non-state funds to pay for travel. For instance, as an older professor, I have external grants and access to other funding sources that I can join. But junior faculty members are more dependent on university funds to start their careers.
To achieve tenure promotion, an assistant professor often needs to demonstrate significant success in education, service, and research. One of the ways a professor does this is by presenting at national conferences and building a reputation as an expert in his field. However, if such conferences are held in states on the travel ban list, some will be delayed.
Jon Goodwin, one assistant professor of counseling, clinical and school psychology who also works at UC Santa Barbara, is interested in how to support unusually gifted students. He recently had a proposal accepted at the National Association of Gifted Children’s Annual Meeting, the must-attend event in his field. He looks forward to presenting his work and networking with other like-minded individuals.
Unfortunately, this year the convention was held in Indianapolis. Because Indiana is on the banned list passed legislation similar to Georgia (ignoring Governor Eric Holcomb’s veto), he can’t get there with work funds. He had to pay about $1,700 out of pocket to attend the meeting. Colleagues from other states can use their work funds to travel.
“These types of travel restrictions disproportionately affect people working in the behavioral and social sciences,” Dr. Goodwin told me. “They prevent us from interacting with communities adversely affected by discriminatory laws. We couldn’t disseminate our work to them or learn anything new about them.”
Next year’s convention takes place in Florida, another state on the travel ban list.
“I don’t think the law is doing anything useful,” said Brandon Robinson, Research Chair in Gender and Sexuality at the University of California, Riverside, told me. Much of Dr. Robinson’s research took place in Texas, following LGBTQ youth to study how fostering families and their acceptance of gender and sexuality affects issues such as stability and security. all about housing. In addition to having more difficulty doing this work directly, Dr. Robinson is also unable to attend many conferences, such as those of the Southern Sociological Association, and cannot use university funding. to go present research locally in Texas, where it can do best.
“I don’t know how banning us from travel will affect the way local legislators vote in Texas,” Dr Robinson said. “There is no evidence that the law is doing anything that people can claim to be ‘effective’.”
