A junior colleague in the discipline writes me with the following concern: he had submitted a paper to a good conference in his niche; the paper was accepted; he applied for travel funding in his department, and learned that times are tough and that resources are being mainly devoted to support the activities of the tt/tenured faculty.
That is annoying enough. But then when he sadly and politely withdrew from the conference about a month in advance, he was initially scolded and then pressured to supply comments on another speaker (which he dutifully did being junior and vulnerable and all). In particular, the conference organizer insisted that there was a norm that if one submits a paper to a conference one commits to attending it (with exceptions made for extreme circumstances).
Now I have hosted over 25 workshops/conferences during the last five years; I was unfamiliar with such a norm. (Of course, I hope that after speakers have confirmed their participation -- a crucial step! -- they do show up. If they withdraw in time, I often fill the spot with another speaker. But if not, it's no problem; it just means more time for discussion of other papers.)
So, I am genuinely curious what folk think. Is there a disciplinary norm that one commits to conference attendance if one submits a paper? And, if so, can one still hold folk to it in these tough budgetary times?
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