Executive Committee Message on Diversity and Inclusion

Dear SIGMOD members,

We are committed to ensuring that all SIGMOD activities are carried out in an inclusive and diverse environment and we do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or any other form of misconduct as defined in the ACM code of conduct.

We appreciate ACM’s confirmation of these commitments in response to the controversy surrounding the recent Turing Award (https://www.acm.org/response-to-letter).

SIGMOD welcomes students, researchers, practitioners of all backgrounds, from all countries, ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions and discourages its members from actions that can be perceived to create an unwelcoming environment for the members of our community. In this context, SIGMOD has taken concrete steps towards nurturing and increasing diversity, including:

  • In collaboration with the VLDB Endowment, we have established DBCares (https://sigmod.org/sigmod-policies/dbcares-policy), a body that provides advice and support to members of our community who experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or other ethical policy violations;
  • We are founding members and active participants of the Diversity and Inclusion in Database group (https://dbdni.github.io);
  • Starting in 2021, the ACM SIGMOD conference introduced Diversity and Inclusion (DnI) chairs that are now permanent members of the conference organization. Together with the PC and General chairs, the DnI chairs have implemented a series of positive changes to our conference, such as providing writing guidelines to authors, reviewing guidelines to PC members, and presentation guidelines to speakers, which have been appreciated by our community; they are also organizing a series of events at SIGMOD to raise awareness regarding diversity and inclusion.
  • To be more inclusive, through an open-bidding process, anyone can volunteer to host SIGMOD anywhere in the world allowing us to experience different cultures and recognize our colleagues from all over the world;
  • We have set aside budget for activities to nurture and attract members of groups that are underrepresented in our community, as well as for various DnI efforts;

As students, educators, scientists, and intellectuals  we are well positioned in society  to rise to the occasion and unite around the values of diversity and inclusion. We encourage each and every one of us to contribute to this effort and keep these principles in mind when chairing and organizing events, serving as members of award and hiring committees and as reviewers.  We especially encourage senior members of our community to lead us by example. It is only by working together and constructively that we can break the vicious cycle of discrimination and inequality. 

Please reach out to the Diversity and Inclusion in Database group to indicate your interest and volunteer  in our activities. 

“Come, come, whoever you are…”, Rumi, Persian Poet, 13th Century

— ACM SIGMOD executive committee