Thousands of mathematicians to boycott US Fields Medal event

Thousands of mathematicians have signed a petition calling for their field’s most prestigious gathering to be relocated from the US, citing the attacks on Iran and a crackdown on immigration that they say poses a threat to international attendees.

The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), held every four years, is set to take place in Philadelphia this July. The event is where the prestigious Fields Medal, one of the highest honours in mathematics, is awarded. 

More than 2,100 mathematicians from 75 countries have signed the petition, organised by Ila Varma, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, and Tarik Aougab, an associate professor at Haverford College. 

It calls for a boycott of the event if it is not moved outside the US, citing the US-Israel attacks on Iran, the “escalating militarisation” of US immigration enforcement, travel bans and the capture of Venezuela’s former leader Nicolás Maduro.

“Mathematicians across the world recognise that the United States’ war on Iran, war on immigrants, and violent foreign policy are fundamentally incompatible with the principles of free and open science. We cannot, and must not, host an international congress under these conditions,” Aougab said in a statement. 

Times Higher Education has contacted the ICM for comment. 

The petition comes after the French Mathematical Society and the Brazilian Mathematical Society announced that they would boycott the event if it were held in the US. In response to the concerns, the International Mathematical Union (IMU) defended the move in a statement, saying that holding the ICM in person in Philadelphia was “especially important” at a time when science faced “serious challenges”. 

“We understand the concerns about entering the United States, as well as about feeling safe and welcome in Philadelphia and at the Congress. The Local Organizing Committee is fully committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all participants and has recently made additional arrangements to help mitigate risk,” it said.

“The Local Organizing Committee has also confirmed that recordings of all sessions will be made available online, after a short editing process.” 

Organisers of the petition said making sessions available online was a “minor concession” that failed to address a “double standard”. 

“In 2022, the IMU swiftly relocated the congress out of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, aligning with a community boycott petition that gathered roughly 400 signatures,” they said. 

The petition also says US immigration enforcement poses a physical threat to attendees.

In recent months, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has faced criticism from academics over a climate of uncertainty for international scholars travelling to the US for study, work and conferences. 

Some academics have already opted against travelling to the US over fears of detention and deportation, and those anxieties have spread across the international research community. 

“Many signatories of the petition from Cuba, Iran and countries in Africa were hoping to participate in the ICM but unfortunately will not be able to attend due to the travel restrictions and visa bans. Even European mathematicians who have collaborations with mathematicians for Cuba are having difficulty getting visas," said Varma.

Haynes Miller, professor emeritus at MIT and a former ICM speaker, said hosting the event in the US was a “political act”. 

“The IMU must declare itself independent of American hegemony, respect its own 2022 precedent, and secure a host country that will allow as many members of our global community as possible to safely attend the 2026 ICM.” 

seher.asaf@timeshighereducation.com