Dear friends in the United States and elsewhere,

With regret I need to inform you that I will not be able in good conscience to attend any academic or other events in the United States. Obviously, I also can’t consider any job offers either.

This decision pains me because ever since I was about six, I’ve held the United States and her citizens in great regard, and have always enjoyed my visits there. However, I have no desire to support, aid or abet the proto-fascist regime that is now trying to take power in that once-great country. Even more so, I cannot just pretend nothing happened as my colleagues and fellow humans are so unfairly discriminated against. Among other outrages, just last weekend five PhD students from Aalto University, my own academic home, were denied entry to a long-planned study trip to the United States.

Furthermore, I shall direct my academic and other work towards publications outside the United States. I currently have one manuscript forthcoming in an US-based journal, and I shall not withdraw it at this late stage; however, I shall prioritize all further works to outlets whose taxes do not support a proto-fascist regime. I shall also endeavour to shift the focus of our research group towards non-US outlets. It is high time for top scholarship to return to Europe, from where the predecessors of Mr. Trump once drove it away. Fortunately, we are now in a position to offer similar sanctuary to scholars from other countries, and if you or anyone you know needs any help relocating, please let me know. Right now Finland is unfortunately not the best place to do research due to budget cuts, but other European countries might be.

I understand these actions will have little impact on actual politics and may greatly harm my career prospects. However, to quote another scholar, Stu Marshall, I’d rather have a conscience than a career.