Dear Members of the SACP, dear all who submitted a paper or panel proposal or an essay,

We sincerely hope that this mail finds you and your loved ones healthy and well.

We are sorry to inform you that, because of the uncertainty of the current world situation around the COVID 19 pandemic, and in order to safeguard the safety of everyone involved, we will postpone the next SACP meeting in San Francisco to October 2021 (same location at University of San Francisco, and same conference theme of “One and Many”). The submission deadline for the newly scheduled October 2021 conference is February 1, 2021. We will review all submissions at that time. (We did not yet review original submissions, given that our time recently has been occupied with determining what to do with holding the original conference at all.)

For those of you who submitted an abstract for the original October 2020 conference, we can keep your submission on file if you wish, or we can accept an alternate submission prior to February 1, 2021. In any event, we ask that you let us know between January 1, 2021 and February 1, 2021, whether option 1, 2 or 3 applies to your submission:

1. You would like us to process your original submission. (If you would like to participate in the Graduate Student Essay competition, then you have the option to use your original submission for the October 2020 conference. For those who will earn their PhD prior to the February 1 2021 submission deadline and can attend the newly scheduled October 2021 conference, we will consider your original submission for the October 2020 conference—though please note that you [i.e., those of you who will have earned their PhD prior to February 1 2021] cannot submit a new essay for this competition.)
2. You would like to submit a new abstract. (If you would like to participate in the Graduate Student Essay competition, you are welcome to submit a new essay ONLY IF you will still be a graduate student as of February 1, 2021.)
3. You would like to withdraw your original abstract submission for the original October 2020 conference. (Please let us know if you do not intend to participate in the newly scheduled October 2021 conference in order to save us time in reviewing submissions.)

If we do not hear from you by February 1, 2021, then we will withdraw your submission. However, we would prefer hearing from you directly.

For those of you who submitted annual dues on the assumption that you would attending the October 2020 conference, please let SACP Treasurer Geoff Ashton know, and he will process a refund.

Emails can be directed to sacpweb@PROTECTED. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding concerning this complicated issue. We understand that at least some if not many of you may be inconvenienced by our decision to postpone. But please know that our decision has in view the best interests of the society and its members.

Please stay safe in the meanwhile. We are very much looking forward to seeing you in October 2021 in San Francisco, should conditions allow you to attend.

The SACP Board