Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.

  1. Fool's avatar
  2. Santa Monica's avatar
  3. Charles Bakker's avatar
  4. Matty Silverstein's avatar
  5. Jason's avatar
  6. Nathan Meyvis's avatar
  7. Stefan Sciaraffa's avatar

    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

What’s going on with the APA Meeting in Boston in Light of the Weather Disaster?

Brian Leiter

The American Philosophical Association website is on its "winter holiday," while the most important meeting of the year is snowed under in Boston, and I am hearing from loads of folks that they don't know when they can get there.  The APA site has no information about what's going on.  Have departments made contact with interviewees about re-scheduling?  Are some interviewing schools cancelling altogether?  Will the conference be extended?

Feel free to post any pertinent information and links here.  Hiring departments are welcome to post information as well about their contingency plans.

UPDATE:  Comments on this thread are now limited to logistical and informational posts (e.g., session cancellations, interviewing plans of hiring schools, travel info and the like).  We'll open a separate thread after the New Year about the lessons to be learned from this fiasco going forward.  Thanks.

Leave a Reply to another_anxious_traveller Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

32 responses to “What’s going on with the APA Meeting in Boston in Light of the Weather Disaster?”

  1. Anxious Job-seeker

    I am driving from the NYC area (planning on it anyway), and most of the major highways are currently closed. Bridges are closed too. Trains are not running. Airports are closed. I have an interview tomorrow afternoon and have not heard anything yet from my interviewing department. I really cannot believe that the APA has not even issued a statement. My mother just said something really funny: "A bunch of Ph.D.s and they can't figure out how to cancel a meeting?"

    Reply
  2. Jamie Dreier

    Amtrak is running (service resumed early this morning).
    It's still snowing, and Logan is in bad shape, but the snow is supposed to stop in a few hours.

    Do people really think the APA should cancel the meeting?

    We should stop having APA interviews. This weekend's weather is another good reason.

    Reply
  3. Boston Job Seeker

    IT'S A SNOWPOCALYPSE!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  4. Michael Weber

    I have contacted all of the candidates we (Bowling Green) were to interview: some are here in Boston, some are hoping to travel today or tomorrow. I plan to interview any candidates who make it to Boston. For those who don't, I suspect we will conduct phone interviews.

    Just heard that no flights will come in or go out of Logan until 3 p.m. today.

    No word from APA here in the hotel.

    Reply
  5. Ram Neta

    Many graduate students who are on the market this year found ways to get up to Boston early — often at great financial (and other) sacrifice — on the assumption that their professional prospects would be affected by their presence here. Of course, I'm sure that there are some who simply won't be able to make it, no matter how hard they try. It seems unfair to disadvantage the latter. But it also seems unfair to the former group to cancel the interviews now that they've done so much to get here.

    Reply
  6. Anxious Job-seeker

    "Of course, I'm sure that there are some who simply won't be able to make it, no matter how hard they try."

    Yes – "some" as in "vast majority".

    Reply
  7. john doris

    "We should stop having APA interviews. This weekend's weather is another good reason."

    Aww Jamie . . . with an epic exercise of virtue, I was able to refrain from posting along these lines, and then you go and do it!

    Ram's concern is very well taken; I hope that departments take special pains to avoid invidious comparisons between the convention-interviewed and phone-interviewed.

    Wishing safe travels for all coventioneers,

    doris

    Reply
  8. bob

    it is already dumb enough that this stress-fest is held during the holidays thus ruining peoples' vacations and family time, but to hold it in the snow belt as well is even dumber. apprently no PhD in philosophy ever minored in geography, for if they had, they'd realize that Miami is also on the east coast (as is San Juan, and Havana), any of which would be cheaper and warmer than BOston or NYC. But seriously, it's time to rethink the dates and the place. While we're at it, we might also rethink application and interview procedures too (I mean is it really so hard to send me an acknowledgement or rejection email? can't committees enter the 21st century?)

    Reply
  9. Steven Hales

    Jamie– of course the APA should cancel the meeting. And then consult with me about when it would be as convenient as possible for me personally to attend a rescheduled conference. I thought that was obvious. Failing that, see you in Boston.

    Reply
  10. another_anxious_traveller

    As an individual on the market my frustration has more to do with the APA's lack of initiative in providing updates and information for travelers on the status of the APA. Will all the sessions run on time? Will all the speakers still attend? Have some schools canceled due to the weather or other factors? I don't expect the meeting to be canceled but would greatly appreciate updates from the APA as opposed to a 'winter holiday' statement on their website.

    I wish everyone a safe travel to and from Boston and the best of luck with the interviews and interviewing.

    Reply
  11. David Sobel

    Given that the APA is not stepping up, it might be good for Brian to have a post that is only for coordinating info about the meetings, rather than having such mixed in with venting and proposals for the future.

    Reply
  12. stranded interviewee

    It would take all of ten minutes for APA to set up a Facebook page where messages could be posted in a central location accessible to anyone, anywhere. Why are they not doing that? Are they oblivious to the many hundreds of stranded travelers who need to know what's going on? Do they just not care?

    Reply
  13. stranded interviewee

    Huh. Whaddayaknow? There is an APA facebook page. And there's absolutely nothing on it about the meeting.

    Reply
  14. Susan Vineberg

    Now is not the time to worry about where meetings should be held in the future and how interviews should be conducted. There are things that the APA could be doing now to make the best of a bad situation. First, they could help negotiate late departure times so that we can interview in our suites until late afternoon on the 30th. If this is not possible, then they should be helping to arrange additional interview tables. If our situation is in anyway typical, we are going to have to rearrange a lot of interviews to accommodate late arrivals (ours included). The APA and the hotels could cooperate to have our registration materials delivered to our rooms. When we finally do arrive, there will be no time for standing around in lines. Most importantly, the APA needs to step up and keep us informed with the latest information at a time like this.

    Reply
  15. Brian Leiter

    Per David Sobel's suggestion, let us confine further comments to logistical and practical information; we can discuss waht the APA should do going forward after the New Year. Thanks.

    Reply
  16. Anomaly

    Those job-seekers flush with cash will be able to alter their plans in light of the weather. The rest of us may have to sit this one out and wonder why more departments don't transition to skype or equivalent online technologies to conduct preliminary interviews (especially those which profess a commitment to reducing their carbon footprint).

    Reply
  17. Anonymous

    At the APA registration desk in the Marriott at Copley Place, they posted a notice which states the following:
    "Because of flight cancellations and other travel difficulties, many session participants have been unable to get to the meeting or are unsure whether they will be able to do so. As a result, numerous sessions will be either disrupted or canceled. In a quickly changing situation, it is impossible to keep track of all these changes to the program. Sessions will occur, if they do occur, at the times and places specified in the program. More than that we cannot guarantee."

    I find this to be utterly unhelpful.

    Reply
  18. Anonymous JobSeeker

    For those of you relying on Delta:

    My Delta flight has been canceled. Delta isn't answering the phones for rescheduling, and the website doesn't give me any alternatives for planning a new flight itinerary.

    Reply
  19. grad student

    It's also utterly disingenuous. Coordinating the changes would take effort, but it's not impossible; I've seen worse snafus negotiated on a larger scale by other organizations, academic and private sector. Of course, that would take some effort from the shiftless poltroons at the head of our professional organization. I believe Prof. Vineberg is correct to note that this is not the time to talk about such matters as where future meetings ought to be held; nonetheless, this incident alone argues decisively that we need reform for the APA.

    Reply
  20. Shane J. Ralston

    The Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy session, titled "Pragmatism and International Relations: Theory and Practice," scheduled for Monday 6:30-9:30 pm, has been canceled.

    Reply
  21. Richard Holton

    Monday night's symposium on belief and its cousins is cancelled. We're trying to find another slot for it.

    Reply
  22. Anonymous Job Seeker

    For people with flight reservations on Delta:

    It is true that the phone number most easily found for Delta has not been working for the last day or so. But last night I successfully managed to talk to several Delta customer service people by calling the phone number for Delta's website support system (888-750-3284), and they were helping customers find other flights.

    Good luck everyone.

    Reply
  23. Cheryl Chen

    In case anyone has been planning to go to the "Belief and its Cousins" session tonight, it has been cancelled. I e-mailed the "meeting coordinators", but I have no idea whether they will post the information anywhere at the Marriott. (Perhaps we should have a separate thread here to announce session cancellations?)

    Reply
  24. Ben

    1. The next available US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Boston is at 6:15 AM on 30 Dec.

    2. US Airways customer service is doing pretty well. I called the 1-800 number, pressed "1" for travel within the US and Canada, got a busy signal, hung up, called back, pressed "1" again, and in the midst of the recorded message about the unusually high call volume someone picked up.

    3. The Marriott customer service is also doing pretty well. I called the 1-800 number to cancel and was told that, although my reservation said I could cancel until 6 PM on the day of arrival, there was some kind of "restriction" on my reservation that prevented them from cancelling it; I was put on hold for maybe a minute; and it was all sorted out.

    Reply
  25. Antony Aumann

    Weather Update: Downtown Boston is a slushy mess in the wake of snow removal efforts. Visibility is quite poor, so I expect continued flight delays. The highways seem fine at this point in time.

    Placement Services: The APA placement service desk is open and some schools conducting interviews have checked in. However, there are also several cancellations posted on the bulletin board.

    I spoke to someone at the registration desk and suggested posting an informative status update regarding placement/sessions/etc. on the APA website.

    Reply
  26. Brian Leiter

    Per suggestions, above and in e-mail, I've now created a separate thread for each topic: APA session cancellations, travel info, and interviews. Please post additional information in the appropriate thread. Thanks to all who have contributed so far. Anyone who has psoted here is welcome to repost pertinent info in one of the new threads.

    Reply
  27. stranded interviewee

    Brian, thanks for stepping up and doing something helpful and constructive during this situation!

    Reply
  28. Fritzmc

    I think we all owe Brian Leiter a share of our APA dues for hosting these threads.

    BL COMMENT: Thanks, but it would be better to ask the APA for a partial refund for falling asleep at the wheel.

    Reply
  29. Jaded Angry Job Seeker

    Dear Brian, The APA Eastern is obviously by far the most important event of the year for the APA. This is NOT the time for them to take a "winter break." If anything, this is the one time of year they should be double staffed, working overtime. Let them go on break for the entire summer (no one needs them during the summer anyway)–just NOT during their most crucial week.

    Their decision to go on holiday during the most important week for them is not unlike were the Winter Olympics website to take a "winter break" from the opening ceremony to the closing games, so that they can "attend the games" as opposed to inform people where the hell the games are and what time they start.

    Since you are effectively providing the service our APA dues go for, you should be entitled to a cut!

    Reply
  30. Greg

    Due to flight cancellations, the Society for Systematic Philosophy's Symposium on Hegel's Logic of Objectivity, originally scheduled from 2-5pm on Wednesday, December 28th, has been cancelled.

    Reply
  31. David Hildebrand

    Instead of December: departments get job ads finalized by late spring or early summer; JFP out in August with deadlines in September. Sorting and calling candidates by late September. Hold APA in mid to late October. Campus visits in November/December. Done.

    Reply
  32. Thom Brooks

    Flights seem still to be an issue. I was never able to get to Boston, but did manage to get to New York (Newark was similarly impossible) from Europe (and I was stranded on the tarmac for 5 hours, etc). That said, I managed to get to NY. I'm still waiting for my luggage which I am told may be another 2-3 days. On the journey to my native New Haven, I was the only one who had a flight at all: everyone else had cancelled flights. Hopefully, flights are much better today, but for the great many flying into Boston this may prove too difficult.

    A pity the US is not the size of the UK where we all might just take the trains. You may not be on time, but you'd get there in all likelihood at least…..

    Reply

Designed with WordPress