For conferences, worried academics prefer Canada

Fears over border scrutiny, discrimination and political tensions are prompting Canadian academics and professional organizations to pull back from conferences in the United States.

"There are a number of reasons why Canadians are unwilling to go to the United States," said Ann Travers, a professor at Simon Fraser University, and president-elect of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, or NASSS.

"We've had one of the professors in our member organization who was denied entry, and the next time he went, he was detained for three hours," Travers told China Daily. "Then they let him go — but he'd already missed his flight."