Ban on travel affects U of M
California decision to limit attendance at local event
A ban on California state-sponsored travel to Tennessee is stopping students and professors from the Golden State from attending a national conference held at the University of Memphis in April.
The University of California-Davis confirmed six students and two teachers were supposed to come to Memphis for the Council on Undergraduate Research conference, but “they changed their plans and will not be attending,” university spokeswoman Julia Ann Easley said. The L.A. Times reported at least 18 students from three California universities, including UC Davis, lost their funding for the conference.
California recently passed a ban on state-funded travel to states with laws that California’s attorney general views as discriminatory against the LGBT
community. Besides Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina and Mississippi are also on the no-go list.
Last year, Tennessee passed a law allowing therapists to refuse treatment to a patient whose “goals, outcomes or behaviors” conflict with the counselor’s “sincerely held principles,” a law many have called discriminatory against the LGBT community.
The April conference is one of the first known events affected by the California travel ban, as public institutions across the state begin to grapple with its impact on both academics and athletics.
University of Memphis President David Rudd said he fought against the Tennessee counselor bill at the time, calling it “unnecessary” and noting it would have consequences. But a travel ban prohibiting students in other states from coming to Memphis — for a conference or to play football — hadn’t crossed his mind, he said.
But Rudd said the university is committed to offering a welcoming environment to anyone who comes to campus.
“My encouragement would be that, absolutely, for all individuals and all groups to understand that they’re welcome,” he said. “We’ve made a strong statement to that, we’ve been unwavering to that and we will continue to be supportive.”
The university and the Council on Undergraduate Research released a joint statement pledging that same commitment to “a welcoming, safe, and inclusive environment for all students and other participants.”
Elizabeth Ambos, executive officer of CUR, said planning for the April 6-8 event began three years ago. An extensive site selection process required potential hosts to commit to a welcoming environment.
Ambos said usually 2 to 3 percent of the 4,000 attendees at the national conference are from California, and that the majority are at state institutions affected by the travel ban. Each student or professor must now decide how and if they can still attend the conference without the financial backing of their institutions.
Memphis may also see the impact of the travel ban in athletics, as the UCLA football team is scheduled to play at Memphis on Sept. 16, the Bruins’ first time to Memphis Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
The California law will not prevent UCLA from traveling to Memphis in September because the contract for the game was signed before the implementation of the new law, according to a UCLA athletic department spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that UCLA’s athletic department does not receive any state funding, and the California law does not affect trips that are financed or reimbursed using non-state funds.
However, in keeping with the spirit of the law, UCLA “will not schedule future games in states that fail to meet the standards established by the new law,” the spokesperson said.
Both the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and Vanderbilt University declined to comment on whether they’d seen any impact from California’s travel ban.
Karen Simsen, director of media and internal relations at the University of Tennessee, said she is unaware of any issues arising from the new California law at the Knoxville campus.
“Because we have so many activities across campus it would be impossible to poll every person, but nothing has been brought to our attention since the law passed last session,” Simsen said in an email. She said UT is planning to send 28 students to the Council on Undergraduate Research conference in Memphis.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
Reporters Tom Schad in Memphis, Rachel Ohm in Knoxville and Adam Tamburin in Nashville contributed to this report.