ASA Connect

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Derrick,

I don't defend eugenics and don't know enough about Fisher to assert that he wasn't racist. On the other hand, I think there's a lot of mitigating context that hasn't been presented on this message board and which causes me to seek more information before I make up my mind about Fisher. 

To your point that eugenic sentiments were not accepted by Blacks. Actually, leading Black intellectuals of the early 20th century did embrace eugenics as part of the Racial Uplift movement. This essay has a good summary.
https://nursingclio.org/2017/06/01/the-black-politics-of-eugenics/ 

This history dissertation is one of the sources cited in the above.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.674.852&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The strongest quotes presented in this forum to damn Fisher as a racist is where he asserts that "the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development". I question that assertion.  But in the early 20th century one didn't need to be a white supremacist to express that belief.  See Kealing's "The Characteristics of the Negro People", from the classic essay collection "The Negro Problem" (1903) which also includes essays by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Kealing lists several mental traits which he describes as  "inborn and fundamental, belonging to the race everywhere, in Africa as well as America." where "Inborn qualities are ineradicable; they belong to the blood;" and  which "belong to all [races], but in varying proportions".
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15041/15041-h/15041-h.htm#The_Characteristics_of_the_Negro_People

We could all go on indefinitely and produce articles and quotes from archives to argue whether eugenics (and by implication Fisher) were all about advancing white supremacy, or whether there were eugenicists with other agendas. But for me the key question is: what ideas did Fisher personally advocate and what actions did he take that were harmful to people of other races, specifically those of black African descent? He made assertions that there was between-group hereditary variation of both mental and physical traits across races. But I'm still searching unsuccessfully for any document where he asserts that, say, any one race is inferior or superior to any other, or that people of one ethnicity should therefore be treated differently from any other, or that one nationality should be subservient to another, or that he deemed that people of one group were not capable of serving in one profession or another, or that he blocked the advancement of any ethnicity in the statistical profession. If anything along those lines comes to light, I would not hesitate to condemn Fisher.

Have I overlooked something?

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Derrick,

I don't defend eugenics and don't know enough about Fisher to assert that he wasn't racist. On the other hand, I think there's a lot of mitigating context that hasn't been presented on this message board and which causes me to seek more information before I make up my mind about Fisher. 

To your point that eugenic sentiments were not accepted by Blacks. Actually, leading Black intellectuals of the early 20th century did embrace eugenics as part of the Racial Uplift movement. This essay has a good summary.
https://nursingclio.org/2017/06/01/the-black-politics-of-eugenics/ 

This history dissertation is one of the sources cited in the above.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.674.852&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The strongest quotes presented in this forum to damn Fisher as a racist is where he asserts that "the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development". I question that assertion.  But in the early 20th century one didn't need to be a white supremacist to express that belief.  See Kealing's "The Characteristics of the Negro People", from the classic essay collection "The Negro Problem" (1903) which also includes essays by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Kealing lists several mental traits which he describes as  "inborn and fundamental, belonging to the race everywhere, in Africa as well as America." where "Inborn qualities are ineradicable; they belong to the blood;" and  which "belong to all [races], but in varying proportions".
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15041/15041-h/15041-h.htm#The_Characteristics_of_the_Negro_People

We could all go on indefinitely and produce articles and quotes from archives to argue whether eugenics (and by implication Fisher) were all about advancing white supremacy, or whether there were eugenicists with other agendas. But for me the key question is: what ideas did Fisher personally advocate and what actions did he take that were harmful to people of other races, specifically those of black African descent? He made assertions that there was between-group hereditary variation of both mental and physical traits across races. But I'm still searching unsuccessfully for any document where he asserts that, say, any one race is inferior or superior to any other, or that people of one ethnicity should therefore be treated differently from any other, or that one nationality should be subservient to another, or that he deemed that people of one group were not capable of serving in one profession or another, or that he blocked the advancement of any ethnicity in the statistical profession. If anything along those lines comes to light, I would not hesitate to condemn Fisher.

Have I overlooked something?

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I would like to offer another perspective on this decision, and make a request of the ASA leadership. First of all, while I deplore the concept of eugenics, I had misgivings about this decision. My reasoning was expressed by a previous commenter; we are essentially judging someone born in the 19^th century by 21^st century ethical standards. This is a tough bar for anyone to pass! However, a decision has now been made, and I encourage my fellow ASA members to support it, as I do, in the interests of "moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society," in the words of Ron Wasserstein.

While supporting this decision, it should be obvious to all of us that there will be more decisions of a similar nature to be made in the future. As I look around the country, and even the world, there are numerous statues and monuments being torn down, as well as buildings and awards being renamed. As an aside, it is a bit shocking that it took this long to tear down confederate monuments, but that is not my point today. Rather, my point is that from my perspective, many of these decisions have been made as "one-offs," in an isolated manner, often driven by emotion or the latest news headlines.

As a professional society that prides itself on objectivity, I would think that we, the ASA, should be guided in such decisions by sound ethical principles, which could be documented, debated, and modified over time. In fact, we do have ethical guidelines for statistical practice, but I don't think they answer the question of ex post facto guilt. For example, article 11, paragraph 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no person be held guilty of any criminal law that did not exist at the time of offence, nor suffer any penalty heavier than what existed at the time of offence." Of course, we are not talking about criminal law here, but I think the ex post facto principle is still relevant.

In short, while supporting the current decision on renaming the R.A. Fisher Award, I am calling on ASA leadership to consider documentation of principles to be used to guide future decisions on renaming of awards, lectures, buildings, or statistics departments. These should be shared with the membership for input and debate, of course, and modified over time as necessary. I would be happy to help in any way that I could.

Sincerely, Roger

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

I am writing to protest the removal of Fisher's name.  Removing the names of statistics pioneers from lectures, awards, buildings and lecture halls (University College London has had similar discussion regarding Galton and Pearson because they also had ties to eugenics) fits in with the currently popular if-you-ever-said-or-did-something-we-claim-we-don't-like,-you-should-lose-your-career-and-reputation movement. These statistics pioneers were people of their times.  How shameful it is that statisticians had the gall to want to even exist in society as it was back then.  How shameful it was that people of their times didn't have the enlightenment of today.  Progress and enlightenment are necessarily evolutionary and sometimes arrived at through pain.  It is necessary that this be recognized.  That aside, I propose that each of the individuals who came up with the recommendation to change the name should never have anything named after them because they violate the sense of morality I happen to have at this moment or might have in the future, and that the ASA close up shop because it once honored Fisher and his ilk.  Sorry for being sarcastic, but I see a bigger picture in the movement to rename awards, rename forts, tear down statues, deface monuments and such.  While some discussants try to weigh the tenth decimal place of a nit of a pro against the tenth decimal place of a nit of a con in arriving at a decision, we should not miss that this name removal is but one small part of a bigger picture – the cancel-culture anarchy and the eradication of history.  We should not roll over.

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron

Dear Colleagues,
The leadership of the ASA has recommended to the awarding organization – COPSS – that the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship be retired and that this year's award be retitled. There is no principle of greater value than the principle of strengthening the statistical community by moving forward to form a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. We are committed to future diversity and inclusion across the generations in the statistics profession.

We celebrate and commend the outstanding accomplishments of past award recipients and especially this year's recipient, Kathryn Roeder. She richly deserves to be and will be appropriately honored at JSM, and we look forward to her lecture.

Ron