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1/12 I recently protested Israel& #39;s education minister& #39;s decision to rescind Oded Goldreich& #39;s Israel prize
https://twitter.com/boazbaraktcs/status/1380149213066096646?s=20
I">https://twitter.com/boazbarak... also signed a letter protesting Jeff Ullman& #39;s Turing award
https://csforinclusion.wordpress.com/
In">https://csforinclusion.wordpress.com/">... this
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ§”" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">, I& #39;ll try something crazy - nuance on Twitter
https://twitter.com/boazbaraktcs/status/1380149213066096646?s=20
I">https://twitter.com/boazbarak... also signed a letter protesting Jeff Ullman& #39;s Turing award
https://csforinclusion.wordpress.com/
In">https://csforinclusion.wordpress.com/">... this
2/12 One of my first exposures to theoretical computer science was through the Hopcroft-Ullman book, and I remain grateful to Ullman for it.
I appreciate Ullman& #39;s contributions to the field, and do not want to "cancel" him.
I appreciate Ullman& #39;s contributions to the field, and do not want to "cancel" him.
3/12 In fact, the letter I signed does not even take a position if the award should be withdrawn or not. I am unsure what I think though believe it should not have been given in the first place.
4/12 The Turing award is not just about technical achievements, but is about celebrating a person. Turing laurates are widely honored, and considered the representatives of our field to both outsiders and new students.
5/12 Through my time in this field, I was exposed to beautiful ideas and got to work with amazing collaborators. I& #39;ve written papers with people from many backgrounds, including orthodox Jews, Iranian Muslims, and even VI users https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="LĂ€chelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund" aria-label="Emoji: LĂ€chelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund">
6/12 This is enabled since by and large, scientists are able to treat students and colleagues as individuals, independently of their background and country of origins.
It is unfortunately clear now that Jeff Ullman was not able to maintain that distinction.
It is unfortunately clear now that Jeff Ullman was not able to maintain that distinction.
7/12 As the letter details, for many years he was well known by the Iranian community for his offensive responses to potential students.
8/12 He also explicitly called for blocking admission of Iranian students, claiming that "Iranians who did not leave Iran when the religious fanatics took over ... may well be sympathetic to Iranâs desires to build a nuclear weapon and ... for terrorists" (see letter)
9/12 I think that unless a person that behaves in this way recognizes the harm and apologizes for it, they should not get a personal award (as opposed to an award given to a paper or book), and especially the highest award in the field.
10/12 To give an analogy, while I personally oppose the BDS movement, I respect people that support it. They are free to sign petitions and to personally refuse to travel to Israel or to work on joint projects with Israeli institutions.
11/12 They are NOT free to discriminate against Israeli students, and I support taking actions against them if they do as was done here https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/oct/28/internationaleducationnews.accesstouniversity">https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/o...
12/12 Science can continue to work if we maintain the distinction between our opinions about countries& #39; and institutions& #39; policies and individual researchers. I 100% stand behind Shafi Goldwasser& #39;s statement here: https://twitter.com/TheGradient/status/1380379434365022209?s=20">https://twitter.com/TheGradie...
