Scholars for Social Responsibility

At the November joint meeting of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory, a group of music scholars met to discuss social responsibility, ending up with a document that was signed by the participants. This is a similar document to the one signed by participants at a similar meeting within the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition in August. The AMS/SMT group has called themselves Scholars for Social Responsibility. They have a website that describes the agenda and the results of the meeting, and provides an opportunity for people who were not at the meeting to electronically sign the declaration. You do not need to be a member of SMT or AMS to sign, though you probably should be a professional scholar of some sort. Scholars for Social Responsibility have also started a listserv email list to continue the discussion.

I didn't attend the November conference, and I missed the meeting at ICMPC in August because my dinner took too long (caused by slow service and having the kids along). But as you can tell by any of my political posts, I strongly agree with the stance taken by both groups. I have signed the declaration, and will be taking part in the listserv discussion. I encourage any of my scholar readers to do likewise. The declaration reads as follows:

Prompted by the war in Iraq, waged by a coalition led by the US and UK governments, and in the light of the ensuing occupation and continuing violence and loss of life and property, we, the undersigned, comprising an international group of scholars meeting at Seattle, Washington, November 12, 2004:

* express our commitment to the principle of international cooperation and its application to the constructive, long-term resolution of international problems, and adherence to international law;
* encourage study of the profound moral and legal questions raised by the preemptive use of military power;
* peacefully oppose governmental, individual, and corporate acts that impede, disregard, override, or ignore the sanctity of human life;
* seek to promote these views throughout the international community.

Anyone signing now is listed separately as a Post-Conference signatory, so don't worry that you weren't at the meeting.