APS has updated its criteria for the selection of future venues for its scientific meetings. Cities in which APS meetings might be held will be asked to report demographic statistics on police use of force, policies on strangleholds and other restraint methods, and the status of independent investigations into instances of deaths while in custody, among other issues.
According to Susan Gardner (University of Kentucky), chair of the APS Committee on Scientific Meetings, the change was primarily in response to a proposal to the Committee by Philip Phillips and Michael Weissman (both at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)—a proposal based on letters they had published in Science (June 19, 2020) and Physics Today (July 2020). The committee also considered other factors, including discussions at a recent APS webinar "From Passion to Action" hosted by APS President-Elect S. James Gates, Jr.