I agree that being part of the social justice movement can be compatible with supporting free expression, and I added a note in my post to clarify that.
Speaking as an insider, I can explicitly say that ACE, as an organization, did not intend in any way to cancel this speaker in the sense that you mean here.
That’s a relief to hear, but it also seems hard to reconcile with the public Facebook post. ACE wrote (emphasis mine):
In fact, asking our staff to participate in an event where a person who had made such harmful statements would be in attendance, let alone presenting, would be a violation of our own anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy. Naturally, we want to abide by our own policy and support our staff in feeling comfortable in all of their workspaces, including the online sphere of virtual conferences and Facebook forums.
We took the initiative to contact CARE’s organizers to discuss our concern, exchanging many thoughtful messages and making significant attempts to find a compromise. We view our dialogue as healthy, productive, and collaborative, and we are grateful for CARE’s openness to and participation in our conversation.
Unfortunately, despite our joint efforts—and despite the fact that the presenter in question chose to rescind his own speaking engagement for reasons of which we are not aware—we ultimately decided on Monday to withdraw our ACE representatives
The post really does suggest that ACE didn’t want this person speaking at the conference, and contacted CARE seeking some type of concession.
But this might make sense in light of what you say here:
In particular, ACE’s statement erred on the side of taking responsibility as an organization for the actions of its employees. I think this is generally good practice. But it gave an impression that ACE was trying to deplatform someone, when that is not what was going on at all. I think that the communications aspect of this situation could have been much better handled.
Is the implication here that some ACE staff member(s), but not ACE as an organization, attempted to cancel this speaker’s talk? Clarifying this would be helpful.
After they learned that the facebook commenter in question would be on a panel talking about BLM, they indicated to ACE leadership that they felt unsafe going to the conference, and they pulled out. ACE then had no choice but to allow them to do this. There was no capacity to replace them with other speakers. ACE had to inform CARE that they were withdrawing.
I wouldn’t expect an organization to force staff to speak at a conference they’re uncomfortable attending. But my main concern here was that ACE contacted CARE organizers to voice concerns (and ask for some type of concession) and wrote a public post that heavily implied the conference organizers did something wrong by inviting this person to speak.
I’m also somewhat concerned that all three ACE employees scheduled to speak withdrew. I think that, combined with some other information available, suggests there’s a bit of an intellectual monoculture at ACE surrounding DEI issues.
Regarding the alleged penalization in charity reviews, you say:
While your words here are technically correct, putting it like this is very misleading. Without breaking confidentiality, let me state unequivocally that if an organization had employees who had really bad views on DEI, that would be, in itself, insufficient for ACE to downgrade them from top to standout charity status. This doesn’t mean it isn’t a factor; it is. But the actions discussed in this EA forum thread would be insufficient on their own to cause ACE to make such a downgrade.
I’m a bit confused how to interpret this.
Does this mean an organization receiving a “Weak” rating on Leadership and Culture caused by DEI concerns couldn’t be given a lower status compared to the same organization with a “Strong” rating?
Or would bad views on DEI not be enough by itself to give a charity a “Weak” rating there?
Or am I misunderstanding something about ACE’s charity review process?
I think it would be helpful for ACE to clarify this.
Note that I didn’t mean to imply that Anima would have received “Top” status if it weren’t for comments from leadership on DEI.
Regarding movement grants:
While this is true as stated, it is not as inappropriate as it sounds here. The text you pulled is from ACE Movement Grants, which is completely separate from the evaluations used for top and standout charities. This is relevant because the entire point of ACE Movement Grants is to foster the movement to become bigger and better through increased resiliency, and this includes being inclusive.
Thanks for raising the distinction; I edited the post to make it more clear. This still seems like harmful policy to me. Even if the overall goal of the grants is to make the movement stronger (including by becoming more inclusive), it’s plausible that there could be some really promising projects from people/groups who don’t fully align with ACE on DEI.
Clarifying [the specifics of the CARE conference decision] would be helpful.
Regarding the CARE conference decision, I want to give a disclaimer that I was not closely involved in this decision, so I’m not clear on what the exact reasoning was. I’ve shared my opinions above on the situation, but as this conference took place eight months ago and isn’t related to the core of ACE’s work, I don’t expect ACE to make any further official statements on the matter.
In my response to Wei Dai, I explain that it’s just not possible for me nor for ACE to share confidential details of this type. I’ve tried to strike the best balance I can of relieving some of the fears that you and others have about ACE’s reasoning in this case, while simultaneously respecting ACE’s policies around how we treat private communication with other charities. I suspect that I have been unsuccessful at this. I’m sorry that I can’t share more on this topic.
Does this mean…? …Or am I misunderstanding something about ACE’s charity review process?
It is difficult for me to go into detail here without breaking confidentiality. I’ve tried several times to draft something that I could say generally here, without reference to anything specific. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be possible. All I can do in this case is to refer you to ACE’s Charity Evaluation Criteria, which goes into more detail about Criterion 5: Leadership and Culture.
[The ACE Movement Grants DEI policy] still seems like harmful policy to me. Even if the overall goal of the grants is to make the movement stronger (including by becoming more inclusive), it’s plausible that there could be some really promising projects from people/groups who don’t fully align with ACE on DEI.
I agree that projects can be promising, regardless of the ideals of the people running them. But I disagree that ACE Movement Grants should fund such projects. The most important thing that ACE Movement Grants is trying to do is to help direct the shape of the larger movement. This is important because, unlike GiveWell with global poverty (for example), ACE and other EA funders direct at least 25% of the available funding for farmed animal advocacy. Whereas GiveWell can afford to solely advocate for top and standout charities, ACE is in the unique position of being responsible for a significant percentage of the money moved in some of these cause areas.
I’m not averse to all kinds of people doing promising projects. If they succeed, hopefully they can one day be recognized by ACE in its top or standout charity lists, as former AMG grantees Wild Animal Initiative, Vegetarianos Hoy, and Essere Animali are now. But while they are still in the ‘promising’ stage, I don’t think it is needed nor even appropriate for ACE Movement Grants to fund them if their values actively turn away BIPGM.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Eric.
I agree that being part of the social justice movement can be compatible with supporting free expression, and I added a note in my post to clarify that.
That’s a relief to hear, but it also seems hard to reconcile with the public Facebook post. ACE wrote (emphasis mine):
The post really does suggest that ACE didn’t want this person speaking at the conference, and contacted CARE seeking some type of concession.
But this might make sense in light of what you say here:
Is the implication here that some ACE staff member(s), but not ACE as an organization, attempted to cancel this speaker’s talk? Clarifying this would be helpful.
I wouldn’t expect an organization to force staff to speak at a conference they’re uncomfortable attending. But my main concern here was that ACE contacted CARE organizers to voice concerns (and ask for some type of concession) and wrote a public post that heavily implied the conference organizers did something wrong by inviting this person to speak.
I’m also somewhat concerned that all three ACE employees scheduled to speak withdrew. I think that, combined with some other information available, suggests there’s a bit of an intellectual monoculture at ACE surrounding DEI issues.
Regarding the alleged penalization in charity reviews, you say:
I’m a bit confused how to interpret this.
Does this mean an organization receiving a “Weak” rating on Leadership and Culture caused by DEI concerns couldn’t be given a lower status compared to the same organization with a “Strong” rating?
Or would bad views on DEI not be enough by itself to give a charity a “Weak” rating there?
Or am I misunderstanding something about ACE’s charity review process?
I think it would be helpful for ACE to clarify this.
Note that I didn’t mean to imply that Anima would have received “Top” status if it weren’t for comments from leadership on DEI.
Regarding movement grants:
Thanks for raising the distinction; I edited the post to make it more clear. This still seems like harmful policy to me. Even if the overall goal of the grants is to make the movement stronger (including by becoming more inclusive), it’s plausible that there could be some really promising projects from people/groups who don’t fully align with ACE on DEI.
Regarding the CARE conference decision, I want to give a disclaimer that I was not closely involved in this decision, so I’m not clear on what the exact reasoning was. I’ve shared my opinions above on the situation, but as this conference took place eight months ago and isn’t related to the core of ACE’s work, I don’t expect ACE to make any further official statements on the matter.
In my response to Wei Dai, I explain that it’s just not possible for me nor for ACE to share confidential details of this type. I’ve tried to strike the best balance I can of relieving some of the fears that you and others have about ACE’s reasoning in this case, while simultaneously respecting ACE’s policies around how we treat private communication with other charities. I suspect that I have been unsuccessful at this. I’m sorry that I can’t share more on this topic.
It is difficult for me to go into detail here without breaking confidentiality. I’ve tried several times to draft something that I could say generally here, without reference to anything specific. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be possible. All I can do in this case is to refer you to ACE’s Charity Evaluation Criteria, which goes into more detail about Criterion 5: Leadership and Culture.
I agree that projects can be promising, regardless of the ideals of the people running them. But I disagree that ACE Movement Grants should fund such projects. The most important thing that ACE Movement Grants is trying to do is to help direct the shape of the larger movement. This is important because, unlike GiveWell with global poverty (for example), ACE and other EA funders direct at least 25% of the available funding for farmed animal advocacy. Whereas GiveWell can afford to solely advocate for top and standout charities, ACE is in the unique position of being responsible for a significant percentage of the money moved in some of these cause areas.
I’m not averse to all kinds of people doing promising projects. If they succeed, hopefully they can one day be recognized by ACE in its top or standout charity lists, as former AMG grantees Wild Animal Initiative, Vegetarianos Hoy, and Essere Animali are now. But while they are still in the ‘promising’ stage, I don’t think it is needed nor even appropriate for ACE Movement Grants to fund them if their values actively turn away BIPGM.