The ACSOL board of directors has decided to cancel this year’s conference in order to protect registrants, their families and those who support them. The conference was previously scheduled to be held on September 26 and September 27.
“Cancellation of this year’s conference was a difficult decision to make for the ACSOL board of directors,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Cancellation was necessary, however, after an extremist organization threatened violence against an allied organization, NARSOL.”
NARSOL was scheduled to conduct its conference in Michigan in June 2025. However, the hotel where the conference was to be held canceled its contract with NARSOL after the Proud Boys and others threatened to disrupt that conference. NARSOL is expected to reschedule its conference this year at a different location, however, no date or location has been announced.
ACSOL will conduct its next conference in fall 2026. The exact dates and location of that conference have not yet been selected.
‘For bad men to accomplish their purposes it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.’
Proud boys or not, do something!!
We cannot continue to stay silent. We have to fight back.
The problems between NARSOL and the Proud Boys has nothing to do with ACSOL. They didn’t bother us when we did the ‘Teamwork Makes the Dream Work’ in Arlington Virginia in 2023 or the two WAR conferences in 2017 and 2018.
Did the Proud Boys or other groups threaten the conference? Does that mean the vigil in Washington will be cancelled next year? I understand being cautious, however now is the time to Stand up, show up and speak out in greater numbers to shut down these terrorist man babies.
It’s sad to see one group being able to silence another group.
Those that are willing sacrifice their freedoms for the sake of security deserve neither. To cancel the event gives the enemy of freedom a win and emboldens them even more. What this does in reality is silence our voices. Question, so at what time and/or place is a conference going to have without fear of having a confrontation?
One of the factors considered by the board of directors was cancellation by conference speakers who had already agreed to make presentations. They are concerned that even speaking at a virtual conference could result in harm to themselves or others.
This is terrible news. I’m not saying I don’t understand it with the current climate and the government hyping up the prevalence of SVPs and Ps to justify their actions and fuel mindless people, but it is definitely a huge step backward for us.
They are chilling speech, tamping down thoughts. We are losing what tiny voice we had if other attorneys, sociologists, researchers, etc will no longer speak up.
I think this sends the wrong message we should NEVER cancel events out of fear. We stand up and if we show fear it is weakness and they have won and did their job. Ours is to not succumb to threats or be scared of groups of any kind.