The first resolution, passed by 57 percent of those who voted, expressed the society’s refusal to lend “a spurious scientific legitimacy” to the SDI program by endorsing or supporting it. The measure states that the AMS “will lend no support to the Star Wars program” and that "persons representing the AMS shall make no efforts to obtain funding for Star Wars research."
Yale mathematician G.D. Mostow, AMS president, said that the voting "reflects widespread skepticism in the mathematical community about the ability of the SDI program to achieve its stated objectives. It also reflects concern about SDI’s incalculable cost and the waste incurred by premature deployment."
By a two-to-one margin, AMS members agreed that military funding "may skew and ultimately injure mathematics in the United States." The resolution urges AMS members to direct their efforts towards increasing the fraction of non-military funding for mathematics. Three other resolutions, adopted by overwhelming ...
