An Open Letter to SAA Members Regarding the Location of the 2019 Annual Meeting

August 24, 2017—The SAA Council announced on July 24 that we were considering relocating the 2019 Annual Meeting from Austin, Texas, based on pending legislation that would “require people to use restrooms and other facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate.” The legislation was not taken up in a special session of the Texas House and therefore failed on August 16. But there’s more to the story.

In mid-June the Texas governor signed a discriminatory law that allows child welfare providers to refuse adoptions to LGBTQ individuals based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Subsequently the California attorney general invoked California’s AB 1887 (which prohibits the state from supporting or financing discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people by prohibiting state-funded or state-supported travel to states that have passed discriminatory legislation since 2015) to place a ban on travel to Texas.

On Tuesday the SAA Council held a conference call to make a final decision about our 2019 conference site. We carefully reviewed a list of options and a recommendation prepared by SAA Executive Director Nancy Beaumont and, ultimately, we made the very tough decision to keep the conference in Austin. The Council vote resulted in a tie; I cast the deciding vote.

Our heartfelt beliefs were brought forward as we discussed SAA’s options, and ultimately a majority of us were swayed by three important considerations:

• The penalty for cancellation of the conference (by August 23) would have been $140,000 – an amount that would compromise SAA’s programs and services for several years, with no tangible benefit to SAA’s members and no tangible economic impact on Texas.

• Given our experience with the Liberated Archive Forum in Portland, we think there is an opportunity in Austin to once again craft programming that addresses the intersection of social and political issues with the work of archives and archivists. There is an opportunity to partner with groups in the trenches in Austin and throughout Texas who are working against discrimination and oppression. As one Council member said: “Texas is one of the places that needs more activism, not less, to counter hateful forces. If we go to Austin, we’ll be showing up on the front line—and that’s a powerful move for an organization such as ours.”

• In light of the travel ban imposed on our members who are California state employees—and also based on the fact that just a third of our members are able to attend any given conference due to financial and other constraints—we are committed to implementing in Austin (and beyond) live-streaming and/or other virtual conferencing options that will make it possible to participate for those who can’t travel. This long-overdue option will be an expensive proposition (we will allocate up to $100,000 from SAA’s technology fund to get us started), but it is one that we can plan and budget for, that will build the organization’s capacity going forward, and that will open the conference to more members.

Austin has a well-deserved reputation for being a welcoming city. As one example, Austin mayor Steve Adler recently posted a series of tweets inviting transgender people who are dismissed or rejected from the military to apply to the Austin Police Department.  He wrote:  “If you’re qualified to keep our country safe you’re qualified to keep Austin safe.” / “Austin is the safest big city in Texas partly because we know our differences make us a stronger community.” / “If you get kicked out of the service because you're transgender, please apply to join our police force.” 

We can't know what the next two years may bring in state and national politics and legislation. California may lift its ban. Texas may adopt more onerous laws. But we can direct our resources to implementing an outstanding education program, innovative programming that highlights our core values as an organization, and virtual conferencing that enables broader participation by our members.

We will work with our hotel partners, our members in Austin, and the broader Austin community to provide a safe and welcoming environment at SAA’s 2019 Annual Meeting.

As always, please contact me at president@archivists.org if you have questions or concerns.

Tanya Zanish-Belcher
SAA President, 2017-2018