Last month, MIT Library Director Chris Bourg was chosen by community vote to deliver a keynote lecture at the Code4Lib (library software developers’) conference, in which she cited research examining why people from marginalized groups voluntarily leave jobs in the tech world. Since then, she has been subjected to widespread and coordinated harassment across several platforms, including homophobic and sexist personal attacks, as well as commentary that discounts her expertise, ignores the nuances of her argument, and misrepresents her position. The 2018 organizing committee and Code4Lib conference planners would like to express our wholehearted support of Dr. Bourg and our gratitude to her for her important message. We join with other members of the Code4Lib community in condemning this distressing and unprofessional behavior.
- Galen Charlton
- Ben Florin
- Peggy Griesinger
- Jaime Mears
- Bethany Nowviskie
- Eric Phetteplace
- Amy Wickner
- Roy Tennant
- Digital Library Federation (DLF)
Additional signatures are welcome. To sign, please open a pull request or issue at the GitHub repository or ask in the Code4Lib Slack or IRC channel.