Faculty Response on Immigration Executive Order

The Institute for Advanced Study, since its founding in 1930, has aspired to provide an unbiased environment for international scholars to pursue vital and groundbreaking work in the sciences and humanities. Its mission is to recruit the world’s most prominent scholars, “in the spirit of America at its noblest” and “with no regard whatsoever to accidents of creed, origin or sex.” Against the backdrop of Fascism’s rise in Europe and in the best tradition of American higher education, some of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, immigrants and refugees themselves, found a safe haven within our walls, among them Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, Erwin Panofsky, and John von Neumann.

It is therefore with deep conviction regarding the freedom of inquiry and intellectual exchange and the respect for the principles of justice and non-discrimination that we, the undersigned, condemn and oppose the recent federal executive order that suspends the entry of refugees, immigrants, and other visitors. It unnecessarily and unfairly impedes scholars, students, and more generally individuals and families, in particular those fleeing persecution, from traveling to the United States. It is contrary to the values of the international community to which we belong. We believe that the advancement of the sciences and humanities must make no distinction — geographical, political, or religious — among people. We stand unified against the unjust and discriminatory restrictions of the executive order, and we are committed to doing everything we can within the limits of the law to protect and support those who are affected.

February 1, 2017

Stephen L. Adler, Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences
Victoria B. Bjorklund, IAS Trustee
Yve-Alain Bois, Professor, School of Historical Studies
Jean Bourgain, IBM von Neumann Professor, School of Mathematics
Glen W. Bowersock, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Caroline Walker Bynum, Professor Emerita, School of Historical Studies
Angelos Chaniotis, Professor, School of Historical Studies
Veena Das, IAS Trustee
Lorraine Daston, IAS Trustee
Pierre Deligne, Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematics
Nicola Di Cosmo, Luce Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies, School of Historical Studies
Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor
Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences
Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor, School of Social Science
E. Robert Fernholz, IAS Trustee
Patrick J. Geary, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, School of Historical Studies
Peter Goddard, Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences
Peter Goldreich, Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences
Phillip A. Griffiths, Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematics
Benedict H. Gross, IAS Trustee
Christian Habicht, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Jeffrey A. Harvey, IAS Trustee
Helmut Hofer, Professor, School of Mathematics
Piet Hut, Professor, Program in Interdisciplinary Studies
Jonathan Israel, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Robert P. Langlands, Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematics
Irving Lavin, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Arnold J. Levine, Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences
David K.P. Li, IAS Trustee Emeritus
Nancy MacMillan, IAS Trustee
Robert MacPherson, Hermann Weyl Professor, School of Mathematics
Juan Maldacena, Carl P. Feinberg Professor, School of Natural Sciences
Narayana Murthy, IAS Trustee
Peter Paret, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Sabine Schmidtke, Professor, School of Historical Studies
Ronaldo H. Schmitz, IAS Trustee Emeritus
Joan W. Scott, Professor Emerita, School of Social Science
Nathan Seiberg, Professor, School of Natural Sciences
James H. Simons, IAS Trustee
Thomas Spencer, Professor, School of Mathematics
Richard Taylor, Robert and Luisa Fernholz Professor, School of Mathematics
Scott Tremaine, Richard Black Professor, School of Natural Sciences
Vladimir Voevodsky, Professor, School of Mathematics
Marina v. N. Whitman, IAS Trustee Emeritus
Heinrich von Staden, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies
Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus, School of Social Science
Avi Wigderson, Herbert H. Maass Professor, School of Mathematics
Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor, School of Natural Sciences
Matias Zaldarriaga, Professor, School of Natural Sciences