A Statement on the SECSOR Meeting in North Carolina

SECSOR’S spring meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, comes on the heels of the North Carolina General Assembly’s failure to rescind HB2 (the “Bathroom Bill”) and renewed calls for a boycott of North Carolina meeting and event venues due to the Legislature’s reaffirmation of discrimination. SECSOR is deeply concerned and distressed about the current law, which additionally prevents local principalities from passing their own anti-discrimination and worker justice provisions.

SECSOR finds itself in this bind because we typically make contractual arrangements with hotels two years in advance. When HB2 was approved by the North Carolina Legislature, SECSOR already had a contract with the hotel that included cancellation fees higher than the funds SECSOR had available.

In response to our concerns, irrespective of state law, Marriott has reiterated that all persons (regardless of race, religion, gender identity, or any other difference) will be treated in an affirming manner on their properties.

·In scheduling future conferences, the board will make every effort to take into account the political vicissitudes of serving in a region in which state governments may not share the commitments to human dignity and value that are a part of our ethos as an academic organization.