APS Position on Supreme Court Decision

June 29, 2023

Dear APS Members,

While we at the American Physical Society (APS) are disappointed by the recent Supreme Court rulings on SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina, we reiterate our resolve to make the physics community more inclusive, drawing on and encouraging the many varied voices in our diverse society to ensure a robust future for science and technology in the United States.

“Creating a more inclusive community is not only a moral imperative, but also an essential step to strengthen our discipline,” said APS President Bob Rosner. “The advancement of science depends on a diversity of ideas; progress demands that we try harder to address inequity.”

APS is committed to strengthening the physics community by increasing the number of members from underrepresented groups at all career stages, fostering a sense of belonging, removing barriers to participation, and taking an active role in organizational and institutional efforts to bring about this change.

APS is prepared to vigorously defend and sustain its programs supporting this commitment, including:
 

• The APS Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA). APS-IDEA is a network of students, faculty, and researchers implementing research-based transformational methods to drive cultural change and center people with marginalized identities in 100 academic departments and laboratories nationwide. APS supports these teams of physicists through shared communities, online resources, and facilitation assistance, strengthening leadership at all levels, from students to faculty.
   

• The APS Bridge Program. The APS Bridge Program provides post-baccalaureate students with research experience, advanced coursework, and coaching to prepare them for graduate school. Through the Bridge Program, APS is working to increase the number of physics PhDs awarded to underrepresented minority students by creating sustainable transition programs and a national network of doctoral-granting institutions.
   

• The APS National Mentoring Community (NMC). NMC facilitates mentoring relationships between Black/African, Latin(a/o/x), and Indigenous physics students and physics mentors.

While APS is still evaluating the impact this ruling may have on existing programs, we remain steadfast in our pursuit of diversity, inclusion, and respect in physics.

APS urges the physics community to work collectively to bring greater diversity wherever physicists are educated or employed. APS will continue to support these efforts through programs, policies, partnerships, and directed activities.

APS will continue to conduct studies exploring these topics, host workshops for employees, offer related events at our meetings, and provide training sessions to our volunteers. We will also continue to take steps to ensure we have diverse candidate pools for APS-related opportunities, as we are doing now with our Congressional Science Fellowship Program.

APS encourages its members to get involved and make an impact. Specific avenues include joining our Forum on Diversity and Inclusion, working with our Government Affairs team to be a voice for physics, joining the mentoring community, or helping to establish new bridge program sites. For more opportunities to take part in APS programs supporting diversity, visit our Minorities in Physics page.

There is a lot of work to do, and we’re going to continue supporting the community in doing that work. This isn’t just a checkbox, it’s a commitment. We invite you to view our official position on diversity here.

If you’re interested in learning more about what APS is doing to support diversity and inclusion in physics, or how you can get involved, please reach out to membership@aps.org.

Sincerely,

Robert Rosner, APS President
Young-Kee Kim, APS President-Elect
John Doyle, APS Vice President
Frances Hellman, APS Past President
Robert McKeown, Speaker of the APS Council
Jonathan A. Bagger, APS CEO