AdCom takes a stand against IEEE Honoring William Shockley

Abstract

After a spirited discussion at its April 11 meeting in Denver, the Administrative Committee of the Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing Society voted unanimously to disassociate itself from the award of the IEEE Medal of Honor to William Shockley. The formal motion (which appears in the Minutes of the AdCom Meeting, see page 24) is based on the observations that Shockley has already been honored very widely for his electronics research which took place long ago and that he has used his prestige to gain support for a eugenics program which the AdCom views as contrary to basic principles of human rights. This program has two aspects: first to prove that Blacks and others are biologically inferior and then to enact measures to restrict their reproduction. Although several AdCom members expressed reservations about involving the Society in politics, the prevailing feeling was that the IEEE Board of Directors, in making this award, had raised a fundamental issue involving the human rights of our members and that the need to respond was compelling. Indeed, the Board of Directors has itself set a precedent of putting human rights issues above technical considerations in suspending the exchange between the IEEE and the Soviet Union's Popov Society. In coming to its decision, the AdCom amended an original motion in order to make it clear that it was acting as a Committee and not speaking for the entire Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing Society. Meanwhile several speakers expressed the hope that Society members would express their own disapproval of the award.