Ground Rules
Ideas for additional ground rules are welcome!
“The geosciences are the least diverse of all STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields … the uniformity worsens from undergraduate to graduate to faculty level.”
Figure 1.
“over the 40 years covered by our data, the representation of students from underrepresented minorities (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino groups) has essentially been stagnant”
Discussion
‘Colourblind Racism’�White scientists unintentionally perpetuate racial disparities simply as a result of “obliviousness, not malice” - ie not acknowledging those disparities.
‘Colourblind Racism’�White scientists unintentionally perpetuate racial disparities simply as a result of “obliviousness, not malice” - ie not acknowledging those disparities.
Why is this a problem?
“First, many individuals who are privileged by belonging to dominant groups do not feel responsible for the systemic racism in that culture.”
“Second, the subject of privileges that White researchers enjoy is an uncomfortable topic as many White people equate it with being implicated in racism, feeling that it challenges their identities as good people.”
“Third, when it is the norm to be White, maintaining the comfort of White people becomes part of the unwritten code of a culture, a code that people of colour often follow.”
Suggestions for a path forward�How to take responsibility at both a personal level and an institute level.
Personal
Institute
Discussion
Very few of the recommendations that various committees and organizations have taken the effort to compile have been invested in.
On average, only 39% are completed.
Some of the Black Student Union (BSU), Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), and Black Alumni of MIT (BAMIT) recs which have been acted upon …
Taken from the scorecards for individual reports, score of 0.75 or higher.
And some which haven’t.
Taken from the scorecards for individual reports, score of 0.
And some which haven’t. (cont’d)
Taken from the scorecards for individual reports, score of 0.
Many more recommendations have only been partially or not very meaningfully implemented.
The BGSA, in particular, had very few of their recommendations implemented.
Discussion
Additional slides
MIT’s definition of URM
The federal definition of a minority employee includes all U.S. citizens, both naturalized or permanent residents that have African, Hispanic or Native American heritage. A broader definition of minority group includes Americans and permanent residents of Asian descent, including Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders. At MIT and most other STEM institutions, the underrepresented minority (URM) refers to those minority groups that are not represented in the STEM fields in numbers proportional to their composition in the U.S. population, which would not include the Asian group. It should be noted that the Initiative team recognizes that although Asians as a group are not underrepresented in the science and engineering fields, Asian women are significantly underrepresented among the ranks of faculty in all fields at MIT. While the focus and scope of this work was on the traditionally underrepresented minorities in science and engineering, it is recommended that attention also be paid to diversity with respect to Asian faculty, in particular Asian women, in future studies on diversity. It is thought that the recommendations of this Initiative will also positively impact numbers of Asian women and other groups with racial, gender or ethnic differences.
Source: Report of the Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity
http://web.mit.edu/provost/raceinitiative/exec-a.html
Source: Report of the Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity
http://web.mit.edu/provost/raceinitiative/exec-a.html