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Is the Pacific APA Meeting Scheduled to Meet on Easter Intentionally? And Should It Be?

Brian Leiter

Philosopher Justin McBrayer calls my attention to the fact that it looks like the annual meeting for the Pacific APA is regularly scheduled to fall on Easter weekend.  Here is the information Professor McBrayer forwarded:

85th Annual Meeting
April 20 – 23, 2011, Hilton Bayfront, San Diego (Easter is April 24)

84th Annual Meeting
March 31 – April 4, 2010, San Francisco (Easter was April 4)

83rd Annual Meeting
April 8 – 12, 2009, Vancouver (Easter was April 12)

82nd Annual Meeting
March 19 – 23, 2008, Pasadena (Easter was March 23)

81st Annual Meeting
April 3 – 8, 2007, San Francisco  (Easter was April 8)

I am not, needless to say, a religious observer of the Easter holiday, but I was astonished by this pattern, which seems to place a burden on at least some observant Christians who might want to attend the APA.  Can anyone explain why the Pacific APA is scheduled this way?  And what do philosophers think about this? 

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50 responses to “Is the Pacific APA Meeting Scheduled to Meet on Easter Intentionally? And Should It Be?”

  1. Eddy Nahmias

    The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SSPP) was, until recently, intentionally scheduled to fall on Easter weekend, because it allowed for less expensive hotel rates. The Executive Council decided to move the date, in part because of the conflict with Easter and in part because of the conflict with APA Pacific. I'd guess that the APA picks that weekend in part because of the hotel rates, but it's only a guess (isn't that part of the reason the Eastern schedules at its "family-friendly" late December dates?). The SSPP's experience is that it does not look like Easter rates are much cheaper anymore. I think it's a bad idea to conflict with Easter, not only because it poses a conflict for observant Christians (and Jews when Passover hits the same dates), but also because non-observant folk with family still tend to do family things on Easter, especially when it coincides with their children's spring break.

    Reply
  2. Robert Allen

    For me, the problem isn't so much Easter- that's on a Sunday, where I'd go to church anyway- but Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. There are services on the first 2 and all 3 are to be spent solemnly meditating upon our Lord's Passion. But philosophy is a serious matter itself, consonant with a spiritual exercise. (At least I don't think it gets in the way; but, then, I always take a copy of Anselm to church with me in case the pastor starts asking for money.) So, if the PD were to honor me with an invitation, I'd accept and work around my religious obligations, just like I have to do around here- what, do you think the capitalists give a damn about the Triduum? Having said that, the one time I was in SF at that time, I did wonder about the possibility of the APA avoiding the conflict. So I thank you Prof. Leiter for raising the issue.

    Reply
  3. John Schwenkler

    I've long been bothered by this. As a graduate student I once had to pass up the invitation to comment on a paper because it couldn't be guaranteed that my session wouldn't be scheduled on Good Friday. What a terrible practice.

    Reply
  4. Mike Austin

    This is slightly off topic, but since it was mentioned in passing above I'll bring it up. I really think the Eastern APA should be held at a different time. The size of the conference should help with negotiating rates. Whenever I tell a colleague from outside of the discipline of philosophy when the conference is, they are astounded. If the other disciplines can "afford" to have their conferences at less "family-friendly" times, then it seems we could as well. This is not because of concerns over Christmas, but rather the extra burden this puts on faculty and especially graduate students. Grad students likely travel to see family or friends over winter break, and to have a week of their vacation swallowed up by the misery that is the Eastern APA (if you're on the market or simply can't stand all of the glances at your name tag to see if you're important) seems unnecessary.

    Reply
  5. Margaret Atherton

    As Eddy Nahmias suggests, the Pacific APA policy is not just anti-Christian, since this time, as is frequently the case, they conflict with Passover as well. And since Passover is typically celebrated among family and friends which cannot be replicated by services elsewhere, this can render the APA meetings inaccessible to a lot of dues-paying Jewish members.

    Reply
  6. Paul Weithman

    A propos of the comment about the Eastern Division meeting: I frequently attend meetings of my wife's professional association, the Society of Christian Ethics. SCE meetings are generally held on the second weekend of January. Because these meetings are held out of the Christmas season, the reasoning that seems to dictate holding the Eastern Division meetings in the last week of December initially led me to expect that conference and hotel rates at the SCE would be very high. In fact the SCE seems to be able to negotiate quite reasonable rates in attractive venues, despite the fact that the SCE is a much smaller association than the APA. I'd love to see the APA explore other dates for the Eastern and Pacific meetings.

    Reply
  7. Peter Vanderschraaf

    I have wondered about this for many years so thanks for raising the issue. The last three days of Pacific APA have coincided with the Easter Triduum every year I have belonged to the APA. This has happened so consistently and so often I've concluded this can't be a coincidence. I have found this coincidence only mildly inconvenient over the years, probably because the Pacific APA is always hosted in a large city where one can easily visit Roman Catholic churches fairly nearby the APA hotels. I have missed Holy Thursday Mass a few times over the years because of conflicting APA sessions where I am presenting or commenting. But I have always been able to attend Good Friday services and the Easter Vigil Mass on the evening of Holy Saturday in the APA host city because these take place at times that generally don't overlap with APA sessions, and I have the option of attending church on Holy Saturday instead of Easter Sunday. Indeed, I rather like the opportunity to participate in Easter services in new places.

    Still, I'd favor a change in APA policy because: (1) current policy does create time conflicts for members who wish to participate in religious services during this weekend, particularly on Sunday, and (2) current policy discourages members whose families celebrate Passover and/or Easter from attending the Pacific APA at all.

    Reply
  8. Michael Kremer

    The Central Division a few years back accidentally scheduled a meeting to conflict with both Passover and Easter. The result of this was, I believe, the move of the Central Division meeting to February. I attributed the sensitivity to this issue in the Central Division to the large number of religiously-affiliated schools in the Division.

    I, like Robert Allen, celebrate the Triduum, but for me this is very much a family observance, and that means it does not help to think I can duck out to attend services. So I will regularly refuse invitations to attend conferences that conflict with the Triduum. (i.e. Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday.)

    As to the Eastern Division — as a friend of mine recently pointed out to me this is hard on anyone who has any family at all — even those whose children are grow and have grandchildren, or who have elderly parents… I think it is basically unconscionable that a meeting that is for many of us a professional obligation (due to the market) should be held during the main family holiday of the year for most people (religious or not).

    Like many others I know from marital experience that other fields do not find themselves compelled to meet over Christmas and Easter. In my case the experience is with history. The Organization of American Historians is meeting this year in March, a month before Easter. The American Historical Association is meeting in early January. Is there some real reason the APA could not follow suit?

    Reply
  9. D.P. O'Connell

    I would second what Paul Weithman wrote: I don't really understand why (when it seems 95% of universities don't begin the Spring semester until mid-January) the APA-Eastern can't be held between January 7 and January 14.
    The Pacific APA timing doesn't bother me, as I only ever go to Central or Eastern, but I can see how it would bother those who do attend with religious and/or family commitments.

    Reply
  10. Julia

    I have never met a philosopher who expressed approval of the Eastern APA meeting being between Christmas and New Year's every year, and apparently there are similar problems with the Pacific APA meeting. As far as I understand – I am a grad student and I haven't been a member for very long – the APA is basically us philosophers, so it's hard for me to see why the schedule is kept this way. Does anyone know who is the person/people one would have to talk to to change the schedule?
    Saving a few bucks on a hotel certainly does not outweigh missing out on the holidays year after year.

    Reply
  11. harry b

    My understanding is that the scheduling of the eastern APA (and MLA, and other associations) is a relic from the time (not so very long ago) when it was, indeed quite a bit cheaper to get hotels between Christmas and New Year than at other times. As someone upthread observed, that is no longer the case (esp in NYC). Getting large organizations to change anything is very hard work though. This timing is also, probably, a relic of a time when almost all professional men assumed a general permission to take leave of their families whenever their professional enthusiasms dictated, and when professional academics were mainly professional men. Philosophy, of course, is, embarrassingly, still a little bit stuck on that latter point, but that is something to be changed, not a reason to avoid other changes.

    Reply
  12. Steven Hales

    I'm not opposed to moving the dates of any of the APAs, but I should note in response to Michael Kremer et al. that the number of attendees at APA meetings is nowhere near the ginormous number of people who attend AHA or MLA meetings. This surely has an impact on hotel costs.

    Reply
  13. Manuel Vargas

    I'm sensing a collective action problem. What exactly would need to happen to move either of these meetings? I imagine things couldn't move right away, given hotel contracts and the like, but is the only barrier to meetings moving (say, four years from now) a failure of concentrated effort?

    Reply
  14. Mike Rea

    I have long wanted to see the timing of the Pacific meeting changed for this very Eason, and I seem to recall Al Plantinga telling me that the Society of Christian Philosophers protested some years ago to no avail. Ironically, the meeting last year to get the APA to take action against Christian colleges for certain kinds of discrimination on their part happened at the Pacific–I think on Easter Sunday. So I'm very glad to see this issue being taken up here.

    Reply
  15. Dan Speak

    As one involved in organizing the Pacific APA session of the Society of Christian Philosophers for the past few years, it really is a challenge to work with the Easter conflict to get folks to participate and attend. The APA has made some effort to schedule us earlier in the week… which helps a little. But the better solution for all of us is to endow Manuel Vargas with the power to execute our collective action.

    Reply
  16. Ben Caplan

    I don't go home for Thanksgiving (Canadian or American). I go home for Passover — except when it conflicts, as it sometimes does, with the Pacific APA. As far as I'm concerned, scheduling the Pacific APA to conflict with Passover is like scheduling the Pacific APA to conflict with Thanksgiving.

    Reply
  17. Michael Kremer

    Steven Hales: The American Society for Environmental History met this year in March. Considerably before Easter.

    The American Philological Association used to meet between Christmas and New Year's (I remember meeting someone on the bus from Washington to Pittsburgh the year I was first on the market who told me he had been at the APA meeting; it took me a few minutes to figure out it wasn't the same APA). Now they meet in early January.

    These aren't as big as the AP(hilosophical)A. Maybe there is something about the exact size of the APA that makes December 27-30 the only time that will work for it, though other times work for smaller and larger organizations?

    Reply
  18. Mark Silcox

    Having spent the first five years of the present century on the job market, I have had more opportunity than most to seethe with rage at the scheduling of the Eastern APA. And the Pacific APA problem is a secular one as well, given the number of colleges that schedule their Spring breaks around easter weekend. It would be nice to hear from some APA rep in these forums who could provide a justification for why things haven't changed yet.

    Reply
  19. Jamie Dreier

    On the Easterns:

    1. NY is not cheaper between Christmas and New Year, but other cities are.

    2. A number of years ago (maybe ten years?), the Eastern Division did a poll of its members on the timing question. A majority wanted to change the timing of the meeting. But when specific times were offered, none was preferred to the Christmas/New Year slot. So, they didn't change it.

    3. It would be difficult to change the timing without a major change in the way the convention is used for the job market. I personally favor disassociating the convention from the job market entirely, but not many people agree with me.

    Reply
  20. john doris

    The Central APA moved to Feb., not due to consideration of holidays, but because a hotel offered a better rate on rooms and services. (Anyone who has spent time in Chicago in Feb. understands the Hotel's motivation.)

    Like (very) many of us, I think the Eastern meeting time is a disaster, and should be changed. I'm happy to agree that the other divisions should take more care about the spring holidays.

    Likely, the APA would need to think about ways to make up the savings lost by moving to more desirable time slots. A couple of possibilities:

    1. Move to "second city" venues, which might well be cheaper. For example, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh might work for the Central; all of these have more than adequate places for philosophers to eat and drink. (Question of fact: is the Central saving money by using Minneapolis this year?)

    2. Use an aggressively sliding scale for conference registration (akin to what the APA currently uses for dues) to generate more conference revenue. I expect senior faculty (or their research funds) at well-heeled schools can afford more than is currently asked. Conferences in other fields very often have stiffer admission.

    -doris

    Reply
  21. Fritz Warfield

    Does Steven Hales include Paul Weithman among the "et al"?

    Reply
  22. Michael Kremer

    John Doris: I happily stand corrected on the move of the Central Division APA. I note that this coming year it is at the end of March and beginning of April, several weeks before Easter.

    Reply
  23. harry b

    Dissociating the conventions from the job market requires people to admit that for decades they have been wasting enormous amounts of their time. They have (in my opinion), because the 10-20 interviews done by people who do not replicate the same interview conditions for each candidate and have no training or expertise in making personnel judgments imply don't yield useful information. But getting people to accept that is difficult. This is why you (and I) are in a minority, Jamie.

    BL COMMENT: We have discussed the topic of whether or not job interviews are really useless before–see here:
    http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2009/09/do-job-interviews-for-philosophy-posts-serve-a-purpose.html

    Reply
  24. L.A. Paul

    Jamie: why do you think moving the APA to early January would require a major change in the way the convention is used for the job market? I agree that this would effectively push the whole schedule back about two weeks, but this doesn't seem that major to me, and I think it might happen naturally. Is there something here I've missed?

    I favor the change for four reasons.

    (1) it is much more humane for job-seekers. They should be allowed to spend time with their families relaxing during the winter holidays rather than frantically preparing for the market.
    (2) It is family-friendly for anyone who has family of any sort, as Michael Kremer pointed out.
    (3) It avoids causing distress and inconvenience to members of our profession who observe religious holidays.
    (4) I want to tentatively suggest that it might ease overall burdens on departments, if people are smart about how departmental work and deadlines are arranged. Currently, admissions and APA/hiring happens at about the same time. The bulk of grad applications are received in mid-December. If a department is hiring, then the work of the admissions committee coincides with the work of the hiring committee. If the APA was moved, causing the job talks to be pushed back two weeks, this would spread out the pain. Admissions committees could finish their work in January and turn to hiring duties (apart from APA interviews) in February.

    I also favor changing the schedule of the Pacific, for reasons 2&3.

    Reply
  25. Justin McBrayer

    Professor Vargas, et alia, I've e-mailed David Schrader at the APA national headquarters about the procedure to change the dates for either the Eastern or the Pacific. Here's what he had to say:

    "All decisions on the scheduling of APA divisional meetings are made by the Divisional Executive Committees. For example, the Central Division's decision a couple of years ago to move its dates in Chicago to mid-February was a decision of the Central Division Executive Committee, following a survey of the divisional membership. Hence any concerns about the scheduling of the Pacific Division meeting should be raised with the Pacific Division Executive Committee, probably addressed through the Secretary-Treasurer.

    I should add that the sole concern of the National Office is that no two divisional meetings fall too close to each other. In 2007 the Central Division meeting fell less than two weeks after the Pacific Division meeting. The last day of the Pacific Division meeting was April 8, and the first day of the Central Division meeting was April 18. That kind of situation creates substantial difficulties for both staff and exhibitors."

    So it appears that if any of us are interested in shifting these dates, we need to let our concern be known to the respective executive committees. I'm not sure the most effective way to do so. Can we commission a poll of members in the respective divisions to find out if there are strong preferences among those philosophers?

    Reply
  26. Margaret Atherton

    John Doris is correct that cost was a reason why the Central Division moved its meeting, but it was by no means the only reason and Michael Kremer is quite right that the Central Division Executive Committee was unhappy on the occasion that the meetings ended up conflicting with Easter/Passover and did some jiggling of the schedule to try to get rid of the worst conflicts. There was a strong sentiment at the time not to repeat such a scheduling conflict

    Reply
  27. Matt Burstein

    Overall, I would agree with rearranging the APA meetings to be more accommodating of people's lives; I think this would be good for the profession, the conferences, and the attendees.

    An aside to Mike Rea: Your memory is defective, as the business meeting at the 2009 Pacific APA was held on a Thursday. Also the policy in question did not target "Christian schools" — unless by "Christian schools" you mean "schools that use sexuality as a grounds for selecting and retaining faculty." Clearly those are not coextensive groups. So the situation you described is ironic only in the Alanis Morissette sense of the term.

    Reply
  28. Eddy Nahmias

    Why not push either Central or Pacific to Fall, so they are more spread out (we don't really need both in spring for hiring, do we)? Then we can have Eastern in early January, say between Jan 5-15, when many schools will still be on vacation; Central or Pacific in March, avoiding holidays; and the other one in October. Just a thought, but probably one with lots of problems I wouldn't know about.

    Reply
  29. Mike Rea

    Matt: I stand corrected on the timing of the meeting. And yes, I realize that the discussion had wider implications; but Christian schools were clearly the focus of a lot of the conversation–especially here.

    Reply
  30. DCH

    I had always assumed that the rationale for holding the Eastern APA between Christmas and the start of the year was that those days are the only ones (except summer months) during which both quarter and semester schools are not in session. Semester schools typically finish exams just before Christmas, and quarter schools typically start again in the first week of January. That rationale – which evidently turns out not to be the operative one – at least renders the decision intelligible from the point of view of the participants.

    I am sympathetic to those who find the timing of the Eastern to be a burden – it undoubtedly is. But I want to register a slightly different opinion. As a job seeker with classes to teach, if I am going to spend four days frantically consumed with job-seeking activities in a distant city, I would much rather those days happen while I am not also frantically trying to write lectures and grade papers. I do wish that I didn't have to depart from my family so quickly after Christmas, but winter break is several weeks long and I find that I can (partially) compensate by spending more time with my family earlier in my break.

    So I can see some rationale for leaving the Eastern APA alone. I find it much harder to justify holding the Pacific APA over Easter weekend. I am not an observer, but many are and the considerations that dictate in favor of the timing of the Eastern are absent in the case of the Pacific.

    Reply
  31. Jamie Dreier

    Laurie, if the meeting is moved into January it interferes with the beginning of term for some schools. I believe that's why a move into January is unpopular (or anyway strongly disfavored by many).

    Reply
  32. rachel b.

    I suppose this is stating the obvious, but the advantage of the current dates for the Eastern APA is that everyone *can* be there without dereliction of (professional) duty. Many schools start classes right after the new year, and I suspect that many of us would not feel comfortable about cancelling classes (especially so early in the term) just to go do interviews or whatever. Unless there's some way to squeeze the whole APA into a weekend, there is a real trade-off here to any change in date — lower turnout and still less efficacy as a vehicle for the job market.

    Reply
  33. L.A. Paul

    OK, so what has emerged as the most significant objection to moving the Eastern is that a meeting in early January would be inconvenient for those whose terms start early. (I am assuming that since we all travel during term time for conferences, such as the Central, the Pacific, or other venues, that conflicting with term time would not absolutely prevent people from attending.)

    I think such a conflict is a fairly good reason to keep the APA in late December. However, this reason needs to be balanced against the reasons for moving it to early January, especially the reasons based on sensitivity to religious observance and on family-friendliness. In my view the reasons in favor of moving the APA to early January pretty clearly outweigh the reason for not moving it.

    Reply
  34. Steven Hales

    Clearly some people favor moving the dates of the meetings and others not. It seems to me that the divisions could have a mail ballot referendum on the issue and we could all just vote for our preference. I do think it is important for them to give relevant facts, should they do this. For example, would we be willing to pay an extra $50 per night (for example) at the conference hotel if the meeting is moved to a more popular date. For tenured folks, or those with decent travel funds, that amount of money is negligible, but it could be a real burden on grad student job seekers. But some empirical facts and voting would be better than a priori arguments here.

    Reply
  35. Matt Drabek

    To add to the flurry of recent comments about the Eastern and the start date of the semester, it might be worth pointing out that the folks most likely to be on the job market, and hence most likely to be *required* to attend the Eastern, are those who are least likely capable of creatively evading one's professional duties to teach. I imagine it's much less problematic, on average, for a tenured professor to cancel a class or two in January than for a graduate student, temporary lecturer, or adjunct to do so. So, it's probably even more beneficial to folks in the latter groups to hold the Eastern when classes are not in session.

    Reply
  36. Andrei A. Buckareff

    I'm surprised no one has suggested moving any of the APA meetings to the fall and summer. If one were held during the summer, the APA could do what the Canadian Philosophical Association does (in conjunction with a bunch of other humanities and social science organizations) and hold the meeting on a large university campus. I would gladly stay in a dorm room for half of what I pay at the conference hotels at any of the APA division meetings. Moreover, it would be nice to spread things out a bit more. Finally, I can usually get travel funds to completely cover only one conference during the fall term, spring term, and during the summer. I'm guessing that others are in similar circumstances. This would allow those in situations like mine who wish to attend multiple division meetings to spread things out and get their travel and accommodations covered by their institutions.

    Reply
  37. Eddy Nahmias

    I think moving the Pacific off the holidays is the more important (and more feasible) issue for the APA to address, so I don't want to distract from that discussion. But does anyone know the answer to these questions:

    1. Are there a significant number of schools that start back January 7 or earlier? (If it's not many, it seems like Jan 2-6 or 3-7 would be preferable to Dec. 27-30, especially if the hotel costs are roughly comparable.)

    2. Is there a reason none of the APA divisions meet in the fall? (Did any of them used to?)

    Reply
  38. Chuck Cross

    Apparently moving a huge meeting from late December to early January is not completely infeasible. The MLA and AHA have both done it. That said, I hasten to add that I have grown to like having the Eastern APA between Christmas and New Year's.

    Moving either the Central or the Pacific to the fall could have significant consequences for the job market. In recent years some departments have made offers before Thanksgiving. The recipients of such offers then had to reply before knowing what interviews they would get at the Eastern APA. It's a pretty good strategy for making a stronger hire than you could otherwise make. An APA meeting held in the fall would be an opportunity to move up the hiring schedule without sacrificing the possibility of conducting preliminary interviews, at least for departments that are able to get early permission to hire. Perhaps a fall meeting would even replace the Eastern as the primary job scene, in which case early hiring would no longer be preemptive. The worst case scenario, it seems to me, would be for APA interviews to be more or less evenly divided between the Eastern and a meeting earlier in the fall. The APA could refuse to run a placement service before the Eastern, but why should they if the demand is there?

    Reply
  39. Anonymous multi-year candidate

    To follow up on Chuck Cross' comment, many folks upthread have supposed that the alternatives are to have a conference either in late December or in January, each of which has its downsides. But why do we need a conference during that period at all? Even for those who find Eastern APA interviews (plus smoker) valuable, in the age of Skype as an alternative for first-round interviews, how is it justifiable to impose the costs of conference travel on poor job seekers and increasingly cash-strapped departments/schools/etc.? Skype might not be *as good* as an in person interview (although it's close!), but it's surely good enough to outweigh imposing the costs of conference travel on those people. (Then, if we can divorce the Eastern from the job market, we can hold it whenever we want. We could even move *it* to summer.)

    Regarding Manuel Vargas' comment, my view is that, since it is wrong to unreasonably impose these costs on people (in a context where Skype is an alternative), *individual* departments have their own independent obligation to not hold interviews at Eastern. Once enough departments do that–and anecdotal evidence suggests that avoiding the Eastern is increasingly common–collective action at the level of the profession will take care of itself. (Not for nothing, but in the current job market, where most candidates will not have very many interviews, it may be rational, all-things-considered, for some candidates themselves to avoid the Eastern, which will also put pressure on schools who want to interview those candidates to find another way to interview them. Of course, that's an incredibly hard choice to make, )

    Reply
  40. Ben Caplan

    I realize that we're not going to come up with a solution that suits everyone.

    But, in response to L.A. Paul's reason (3), Eastern Orthodox Christmas is observed in early January, I believe.

    And, in answer to Eddy Nahmias's question (1), I checked the academic calendars of the four universities I've been at. The start dates for the winter session in 2011 are 3 January (UCLA and Ohio State), 4 January (McGill), and 5 January (the University of Manitoba).

    Reply
  41. Dominic McIver Lopes

    This post was attempted yesterday but seems not to have gone through….

    It's true that the APA Pacific Division has met for several years on (Western) Easter, which sometimes coincides with Passover or Eastern Easter, and the Division's Executive Committee is aware that this may be an inconvenience or a barrier to some who would like to attend the annual meeting. However, Easter is "off peak" season for conferences held in the spring. When the Secretary-Treasurer puts out a request for bids from conference hotels, many hotels only offer Easter dates and offers of non-Easter dates come with substantially higher room rates and demand substantially higher expenditures for food, beverages, and the like. So far, the premium to attendees and to the Division has been too large for non-Easter dates to be viable. The Executive Committee does wish to convey that circumstances vary from year to year and the Division will continue to look out for non-Easter dates at reasonable rates. Moreover, when we do meet on Easter, every effort is made to accommodate scheduling requests from those with religious obligations.

    Dom Lopes
    On behalf of the Pacific Division Executive Committee

    Reply
  42. David Manley

    one of my students has been calling the Pacific the "Easter APA" for a while now. It does confuse interlocutors.

    Reply
  43. Robin Smith

    Some comments from someone who has been involved in scheduling and organizing several APA meetings:

    1. The Central Division moved its meetings earlier in the year both in order to obtain cheaper rates, especially in Chicago, and in order to avoid coming too close to the Pacific Division (the National Office staff have to work at both meetings, and having them within three weeks of each other is a serious problem).

    2. I thought it was common knowledge both that the Pacific Division often met on Easter weekend and that this was primarily a matter of getting better hotel rates and availability. But if you want confirmation, ask Anita Silvers or Dom Lopes.

    3. Richard Bett can provide more details, but until recently the cost advantage of a meeting on Dec. 27-30 was huge (and it still would be, in many cities). That's the overwhelming reason why Eastern Division room rates are typically lower than those at the other meetings. For New York, at least, this is now no longer true, and indeed has dramatically reversed: Manhattan hotels can sell all the rooms they have during that period to "transient" traffic at two or three times a typical APA room rate.

    4. The Central Division has put some time into exploring alternative meeting times, including moving to the fall or even the summer. A fall meeting would raise problems for the National Office staff, especially if it came too close to(say within two months of) the Eastern Division meeting. It would also *not* be cheaper than a spring meeting in, for example, Chicago: rates are higher except for Labor Day weekend (where they're better, but not vastly better) or Thanksgiving weekend (any takers?). Here's an anecdote: the American Political Science Association holds its meeting on Labor Day weekend, and that's a vestige of the time (some of us are still alive who remember this) when universities didn't start their terms until mid-September or even October. Ask your local APSA members what they think about having to go to a meeting during the first week of classes. I don't deny that a fall meeting time is worth exploring (in years long, long past, the Pacific Division in fact met in the fall), but as long as we continue to run three national meetings a year,

    5. For the record, while our meetings (for all three Divisions) are significant chunks of business for hotels, they have to compete for space with other meetings that are often much more lucrative. First, we do only a tiny amount (by hotel standards) of food and beverage business (by which I mean banquets, receptions, etc., paid for by the Association). A hotel in Chicago once told me that they would simply assume a meeting our size would have about $100K in catering charges. If you don't have that kind of business to offer them, then hotels raise your room rates to compensate. Second, we need a *lot* of meeting rooms for a convention our size, since our meetings consist almost entirely of many simultaneous sessions. That makes it harder for a hotel to schedule other events at the same time as us, and thus cuts into their revenue. Third, while APA members do spend money on food and beverages, they don't spend as much money as, say, the American Bar Association.

    5. The Central Division's 2000 meeting was over Easter weekend (and also coincided with Passover). The reason we went with those dates was that at that time, it had become increasingly difficult to find meeting dates in Chicago (times do change, and quickly). The Palmer House offered us just those dates, and we elected to go with it; many members complained, and subsequently the Division's Executive Committee adopted a policy of avoiding such collisions. For perspective, our next Chicago meeting in 2002 was at the Westin Michigan Avenue because that was the only Chicago hotel we could get into. It was considerably more expensive, especially in terms of costs to the Division. As I said, times have since changed.

    6. The Central Division polled its members in 2009 concerning choices of meeting site other than Chicago. Three cities were clearly ahead of all others: Minneapolis, New Orleans, and St. Louis. We then negotiated a multi-year contract with Hilton for meetings in Chicago (2012, 2014, 2016), Minneapolis (2011), New Orleans (2013), and St. Louis (2015). Chicago is a more expensive city than the others, but it's also (1) a cheap place to get to, (2) a very short trip for a large fraction of Central Division affiliates (there are many colleges and universities in the upper midwest), and (3) very popular. We've met in Kansas City, Louisville, Denver, Milwaukee, Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, but in our poll our members were (in varying degrees0 less enthusiastic about these cities, as well as Memphis, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Indianapolis (where we've never met).

    7. At the risk of inciting further discussion, note that the APA's Bylaws (5.1.A) actually impose a further constraint on meeting locations: the Eastern and Pacific Divisions hold their meetings "on or near the Atlantic coast" and "on or near the Pacific coast", respectively, and the Central Division holds its meeting "in the Midwest" (whatever that means). Since by tradition the Eastern Division meeting is also in December, and thus the main job meeting, all our large job meetings happen "on or near the Atlantic coast".

    Robin Smith

    Secretary-Treasurer, APA Central Division

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  44. John Schwenkler

    Professor Lopes's comment is frustrating, especially given my own experience (noted above) in getting accommodation for a Triduum-related scheduling request. He writes that in recent years "the premium to attendees and to the Division has been too large for non-Easter dates to be viable" – but exactly what has been done to determine this? Have members been surveyed to gauge their preferences? Have studies been done to determine how many would-be attendees skip the Pacific APA due to its conflict with Easter or Passover? (There is probably a *reason* why conference sites designate this weekend as "off peak".) And if the concern really is with the cost of attending, then why not try holding the meeting in less expensive locations than San Diego, Vancouver, Pasadena, San Francisco, and so on?

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  45. Alastair Norcross

    I sympathize with those who find the conflict of the Pacific APA with Easter or Passover onerous. While not religious (raised C. of E, so obviously not religious), I celebrated the rabbity eggy chocolatey aspects of Easter with my wife and son, and regretted missing out on that important family time, or even scheduled a red eye flight late Saturday evening a couple of times. However, I think many posters here are vastly underestimating the cost penalties of scheduling on other dates, when much larger and/or wealthier organizations would be competing for hotel business. We are talking about at least $50 per night extra room rate, and probably tripling (or more) the registration fee. The burden that would place on grad students, junior faculty, or, in fact, most of us now that travel budgets have been drastically cut in many places, is probably far greater than the current burden of meeting at an important holiday time. Many conferences, including academic conferences, charge several hundred dollars for registration fees. Can you imagine the howls of protest, if the APA did that? Or how about tripling our membership dues?
    Some posters have said things of the form "organization X has meetings on different dates at reasonable rates, so why can't we?". In just about every case, though, organization X is either smaller, larger, or wealthier (or two of the three).

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  46. Justin McBrayer

    It's obvious from many of the comments that a case can be made both for keeping the Pacific APA on a schedule that coincides with a major religious/family holiday and for moving the Pacific APA to a different weekend. The case to keep it revolves around cost, and the case to move it revolves around fairness/increased participation. Given that it's not an obvious decision, shouldn't we deal with it in a philosophical and democratic fashion?

    Why don't we have two, thoughtful APA members put together a SHORT statement of the case for and against moving it, mail (or better, e-mail) this document along with a ballot to the appropriate APA membership and have them vote? Surely this would be more comprehensive, rational, and representative than merely dismissing one side of the issue or the other as misguided, uninformed, etc.

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  47. Alastair Norcross

    Justin McBrayer's suggestion is certainly worth thinking about (and has been thought about quite a bit in the last few days). I have one correction to the way he puts the alternatives, though. He says the case for keeping the Pacific APA on a religious holiday "revolves around cost", whereas the case for moving it "revolves around fairness/increased participation". This makes it sound like fairness and increased participation only favor moving it. This is certainly not true.
    First, and most obviously, increased cost may well reduce participation overall. Just as there may be some people now who don't attend because of the conflict with Easter or Passover, there would almost certainly be some, and perhaps more, people who wouldn't attend if the cost were significantly higher. A survey may give valuable information about that issue.
    The fairness case for moving it is presumably that it is unfair to make religious philosophers (or simply those who want to participate in religious traditions at home) choose between attending the APA and participating in an important tradition. But, if the APA were held on alternate dates at a higher cost, it would also be unfair to make those philosophers who are not comfortably wealthy (that is most philosophers), but who have strong ethical commitments to relieving suffering in the world by donating what small extra amounts of money they can, choose between attending the APA and satisfying their ethical commitments. Many philosophers have institutional travel allowances that are small enough (even, in some cases, zero) that they already have to pay for some of their conference expenses out of their own pockets. To suggest that fairness only favors moving the APA implies that the strong ethical commitment to relieving the suffering of actual people is somehow less worthy of respect than a religious commitment to participating in a tradition in a certain way at a certain time with certain people. Although I'm sure that Justin McBrayer didn't intend this implication, it is highly offensive. Finally, it might also be thought to be unfair to make those philosophers who aren't wealthy and don't have strong ethical commitments to aiding the less fortunate have to choose between attending the APA and, for example, eating.

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  48. Justin McBrayer

    Hi Alastair. You're right that issues of cost can be translated into issues of fairness. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

    Does this mean that you're volunteering to write up one of the short rationales for the survey? 🙂

    Reply
  49. Anon

    I have often missed the Pacific APA because it coincided – and will this year again – with Passover. To me, this practice is of a piece with philosophers generally pretending that we are all such brilliant atheists that no one celebrates traditional holidays with their families. The meeting is always in the middle of a semester anyway so there is no reason to keep holding it during Easter and/or Passover. Cost is a pathetic excuse. Find other ways to save money.

    Reply
  50. Alastair Norcross

    Given that anon thinks that cost is a "pathetic excuse", perhaps s/he would care to share with us some of the "other ways to save money" that s/he seems so confident can be found? Perhaps anon has enough money, either of his/her own or from generous research budgets, not to have to worry about the costs of attending conferences. Or perhaps anon simply doesn't understand that many philosophers have just as deeply felt and significant commitments to moral principles that require financial expenditures as s/he does to spending religious holidays with family. Either way, his/her description of cost as a "pathetic excuse" betrays the kind of insensitivity to other philosophers that s/he implies the APA displays towards him/her.

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