UC Davis senior Acacia Keith was excited to present her research on the anti-abortion movement at what would have been her first national conference this spring.
The Council on Undergraduate Research conference, which showcases work by more than 3,000 undergraduates, is considered a premier opportunity to make an academic mark and network for jobs and graduate programs. UC Davis was going to pay for Keith to travel there.
But theres a problem. The conference is being held this year at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. A new California law bans state-funded travel to states that discriminate against the LGBT community. And the California attorney general has listed Tennessee as one of them, along with Kansas, North Carolina and Mississippi.
At least 18 students at UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Long Beach planned to attend the Memphis conference with their trips paid by the state schools. More than 100 Californians were selected for the April gathering, but Elizabeth Ambos, the councils executive director, could not say how many attended public universities that are subject to the law.
The law also has led to the cancellation of preliminary talks between UC Berkeley and the University of Kansas for a mens basketball series, the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World reported.
Kansas is on the banned list because it adopted a law last year that allows campus religious groups to exclude LGBT students and faculty from membership.
Tennessee was included because of a 2016 law that allows allows therapists and counselors with "sincerely held principles" to reject LGBT clients.
At UC Davis, people have been trying to work out how they feel about the new law, which took effect Jan. 1.
