[INDOLOGY] IASS Policy on Discrimination and Harassment

[soni at staff.uni-marburg.de]

Dear Colleagues,
In the past several days under the subject heading “A regressive face  
of Indology at the World Sanskrit Conference”,  a discussion has been  
been going on in this INDOLOGY discussion list. The discussion refers  
to the Public Forum: “The Story of Our Sanskrit. Gender & Caste  in  
Sanskrit Studies” featuring Kaushal Panwar (Motilal Nehru College, DU)  
& Ananya Vajpeyi (CSDS, Delhi) in conversation with Mandakranta Bose  
(UBC), on 10 July 2018 from 8–10 pm in the Barnett Recital Hall on the  
UBC campus at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference in Vancouver which  
took place from 9-13 July 2018 (see p. 19 of the Conference Programme).

Both in this Public Forum and at some academic panels at this recent  
WSC in Vancouver, a number of disrespectful and inappropriate  
exchanges and statements were made. Invited guests and presenters were  
interrupted, shouted at, demeaned, and intimidated. In response, the  
IASS and the organizers of the WSC hereby issue this public apology to  
participants directly attacked and others in attendance who witnessed  
these events. Our goal is always to provide a civil forum for the  
exchange and debate of academic ideas and arguments related to  
Sanskrit. In these cases, we failed to do so. We rely on the goodwill  
of the membership and participants to maintain decorum appropriate to  
an academic conference and association. We condemn all threats,  
harassment, intimidation, discrimination, or intimations thereof. At  
future conferences, we will provide specific guidance about  
appropriate conference etiquette and institute a policy for the  
removal of disruptive individuals from IASS/WSC events.

Posts on the Indology list have also called for the stance of the IASS  
to be clarified. The IASS would like to (re-) affirm its commitment to  
treating all scholars equally with respect, regardless of gender,  
ethnicity, colour, caste or any other factor. The IASS Board is  
confident that the decisions it takes are fully in keeping with the   
spirit of the guidelines laid down by its esteemed founding members  
such as “its purpose to promote, diversify, intensify and coordinate  
Sanskrit Studies” and “to promote scholarly publication of  
Sanskrit-based studies” (point 4 of our Statutes, made public in full  
online: http://www.sanskritassociation.org/about-us.php).

On behalf of  the IASS
J. Soni
Secretary General

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