Conference Best Practices
Best Practices and Advice for Organizing Academic Events
The Hindu Right has long tried to exercise control over what academics may or may not say about a range of issues related to the study of South Asia. Recently, this attempt at control and censorship has targeted academic conferences, most visibly in the globally coordinated attack on the Dismantling Global Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives conference, which was co-sponsored by over 90 programs and centers at over 50 universities in the US. The Hindutva harassment directed against this event was extreme and affected academics in numerous countries, including the United States. The conference organizers and many other scholars involved received violent threats from Hindu Right groups and individuals. Going forward, academics and institutions should be prepared for fierce Hindu Right opposition to scholarly events ranging from individual lectures to conferences.
Accordingly, here are some best practices and important issues to consider when planning, organizing, and conducting any academic event that may attract the vituperative assaults of the Hindu Right.
Organizing the Organizers
Before we begin, it is important to organize the organizers of the conference. Especially for larger events, make a standing organizer committee with dedicated roles for:
Institutional outreach and point person (a tenured faculty)
Social media and news point person (a tenured faculty)
Digital security person
Ensure that your conference organizers have a mix of tenured faculty who volunteer and are comfortable being in public
Ensure you have a diverse and inclusive committee across divisions of caste, gender, and religion.
With this committee, you can then take on the various roles and steps as articulated below.
Educate University Colleagues and Officials
Inform and educate department chairs, deans, provosts, presidents, and any other relevant figures at the hosting institution about the Hindu Right, its extensive reach, and its record of harassing scholars.
Protests made by the Hindu Right are often cloaked in the language of victimhood, a phenomenon explained further here. It is critical to emphasize that the Hindu Right–not academic critics–seeks to marginalize certain groups and viewpoints. Moreover, this sort of harassment is just that, namely, harassment. Its goal is to infringe on academic freedom and shut down reasoned discourse. You may need to emphasize that Hindu Right objections to academic work are not an internal disagreement among members of the South Asian diaspora but, rather, a threat to academic freedom.
If your university has other support structures, such as a union, it may be useful to keep them involved. Likewise, keep your university’s Media Relations office in the loop.
Academic Freedom
Academic freedom is a sacrosanct principle essential to free inquiry and the academic vocation itself. It is defined in the 1940 statement by the American Association of University Professors. A statement from your university’s administrative leadership about their commitment to academic freedom—in the specific context of attacks against your event– can be very helpful. This can be displayed prominently on materials related to the conference or academic event, such as a website. Professional bodies such as the American Historical Association, Association for Asian Studies, etc. may also be important resources for defending collective academic freedom (e.g., see AHA statement in support of the 2021 Dismantling Global Hindutva conference). If there are organized attempts to harass event organizers or prevent the conference from taking place, alert the relevant body. Share any statements of support prominently on your site.
Legal Support
Consider your options for legal support. In some cases, we have seen Hindu Right organizations file frivolous court cases against specific academics that seem squarely aimed at harassing scholars. In other cases, Hindu Right organizations have filed complaints against entire universities. The Hindu Right in the US has significant financial resources that can be difficult for any individual scholar to match.
Also see our section on Legal Considerations for targets of Hindutva harassment.
Technological Support
Ensure security of any online components for the conference to prevent hacking, defacement of or denial of service attacks on the conference site, or Zoom-bombing. Try to build in several layers of security. Invest in a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for your website. When choosing a hosting provider, consider whether they provide web application firewalls or denial of service protection. Keep passwords secure and back up the site regularly. Keep it as simple as possible—a single html page using a static site generator (SSG) is much easier to keep secure.
For online events, do not share the Zoom link directly. Instead, use an event management interface for the audience to register, not least because registration can help you control access to the event. (Eventbrite has integration capability with both Zoom and Vimeo.) If you are using Zoom, use the Webinar format. This only allows panelists, moderators, and key organizers in the room. The audience link is separate and should be distributed through the event management interface just before the event to registered attendees only. Requiring a password adds an extra layer of security. Communicate expectations of audience behavior clearly. Ensure you receive consent from all speakers before the event if it is to be recorded, both for recording and for the manner in which the recording will be disseminated. Keep questions to the chat format and have a moderator screen the questions. If you plan to share the recording, disable comments on the video platform. Do not platform trolls.
Depending on the event and your position, you might involve your university’s IT team and appraise them of the larger context. The global Hindu Right also has formidable technological resources at its disposal. One recent tactic is to bombard university servers with click-generated form letters demanding the cancellation of academic events. Since university systems are not designed to withstand such attacks, this can be hugely disruptive. Alert your university’s IT team to the possibility of such coordinated attacks. If your university has threat assessment resources, alert them to the possibility of coordinated swarms on social media. Alert them to any accounts you suspect may try to organize such a swarm so that they can monitor them in case the swarming behavior turns into violent incitement.
Physical Safety for In-person Event
If the academic event is being held in person, inform your campus security and police. Make sure to offer any speakers the option of having security officers be present at the conference location. Set the ground rules for the audience at the start of the event, including whether photos or live tweeting are permitted. Remind everyone that recording is not permitted. Again, requiring registration and ID to access the event may be advisable. Depending on the nature of the event, you may consider confining attendees to those with university ID cards.
Consent of Participants
Inform all participants of the possible risks of being targeted by the Hindu Right. Chances are most South Asianists will be aware of these already. Check with everyone involved in the academic event about the following:
Do they wish to remain anonymous in public announcements about the event?
When would they be comfortable with their name being shared in advertisements for the event?
What personal details are they willing to share? (Be especially careful with sharing contact information, including physical office locations, email addresses, or phone numbers.)
Do they consent to being recorded?
How may any recording be shared? For how long?
Check each of these things and obtain formal permission.
Establish Contacts for Addressing Harassment of Participants
Establish a point person who can be contacted by conference participants if they are harassed before, during, or after the conference. Have a protocol in place about necessary action to be taken. This may involve—
(a) having a legal firm or a university legal department respond
(b) assisting the individual with filing a police case and alerting law enforcement or the FBI if the threat warrants doing so
(c) supporting the individual facing harassment by writing to their institution
(d) coordinating with the individual’s university about any response
Public Relations
Decide early on who will speak for and about the conference to the media. It is best to have a small team focused on communication, media outreach, and media relations. In addition, if funds permit (for larger events especially) consider hiring a PR firm for the event. The media team of conference organizers and participants should work closely and in coordination with the PR firm. Given the amount of misinformation, not to mention threats and abuse, that may follow, it helps to have a professional team respond so that organizers and participants can focus on other aspect of the event.
Keep the Event Focused on Scholarship
The goal of your event is to showcase academic work, and you should not allow the Hindu Right to derail that mission. Hindu Right organizations have no right to vet topics or speakers, or to interfere in any way with your event. This is an academic event, and the Hindu Right—which is pushing a specific political ideology—does not get to set the terms on which intellectuals engage.
In some cases, in order to avoid having to deal with Hindutva harassment, it makes sense to keep an event private or semi-private, such as limited to a specific audience of invited people or those affiliated with a particular university. Audience links can be shared with individuals or networks at the discretion of participants and organizers. A general registration page may draw a lot of Hindutva harassment, and screening every person who registers can be an unproductive use of time. The goal is to maintain the academic focus of the event and keep all involved safe.
Recording Proceedings
Make it clear on all publicity materials linked to the event that no third-party is allowed to record the event, nor post any such illegal recordings on any platform. Even with all precautions, some people may well violate this stipulation. Check with your university beforehand if their legal department can follow up on any DDCA violations or get a couple of conference volunteers and organizers to track this.
Afterlives of the Event
Have a plan in place about whether—and if so, how—you will make conference proceedings available more widely. Consider whether videos will be shared on a university or conference website or on YouTube (with the express permission of all participants). Be aware that the Hindu Right has a record of ripping and posting clips from videos out of context on YouTube and other platforms, dog-whistling, and setting targets on the backs of scholars. In order to avoid this, one option could be to host such videos on the conference site or a university site and making the area password protected, with the password shared at discretion.