Dear all,
On June 10th, we, as the members of the Chemistry Department, participated in #ShutDownSTEM in response to the national attention regarding the systemic anti-Black racism that pervades our society. Throughout that day, members of the department explicitly expressed a desire for more conversations and concrete action to improve departmental climate moving forward. Although development of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee has been announced to lead our department in enacting such changes, now, more than a month later, there remains uncertainty regarding the concrete next steps. In this time, members of the department have worked together to formulate concrete action items, based on previous advocacy by student leaders in the department. Briefly, in order to create meaningful and sustainable change, we urge the department leadership to:
- Permanently stop accepting Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores from graduate student applicants
- Hire a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Chemistry by the end of 2020
The full details can be found here. The link to sign-on can be found here.
If executed in a timely manner, these actions will stand as the first steps towards transforming the Department of Chemistry into a more inclusive environment and inspire further change. These action items have already been discussed in various conversations throughout the department over the years; for that, we are grateful for those who have laid the foundations for what we now can accomplish. However, the collective support and engagement of all members of the department is now crucial for catalyzing meaningful and sustainable change.
Sincerely,
#ShutDownSTEM @MIT Chemistry Team
Chemistry Graduate Student Committee
ChemREFS
Women in Chemistry Executive Board