Scientists around the world are striking against racism in academia

New Scientist ^ | 10 June 2020 | Leah Crane

[fluorescence]

Scientists around the world are striking to raise awareness of institutional and systemic racism against Black academics. This event comes in conjunction with widespread protests against police violence after the killing of George Floyd, who died on 25 May after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground by his neck.

The strike was organised by a group of academics, many of them physicists and astronomers based in the US, and promoted on social media with the hashtags #ShutDownAcademia, #ShutDownSTEM and #Strike4BlackLives. The organisers are encouraging academics across STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields to take the day away from their normal research and instead spend it educating themselves on racial disparities in their field and taking action against racial violence and discrimination. At least 5000 academics based at universities from around the world have joined the course.

“As academics, we do not exist in a vacuum and it is important to recognise the current events: Black members of our communities are being harassed and lynched with little to no consequence, as well as being disproportionately affected by the current pandemic,” says Tien-Tien Yu, a particle physicist at the University of Oregon who has helped organise the event through the Particles for Justice group. “We need to acknowledge that this takes a toll on the well-being of Black academics and that Black Lives Matter.”

The organisers are also hoping that this event will inspire academics to hold their institutions to a higher standard. “We hope everyone comes out of this with concrete steps they can take and ask for from their academic institutions,” says Seyda Ipek at the University of California, Irvine, another particle physicist and member of Particles for Justice. Those steps could include hiring more Black faculty members, deeply interrogating how researchers’ academic work is used...

[shanover]

I think America is far past peak. I didn’t think the left would actually pull it off.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

Because affirmative action scientists will improve science.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“I literally watched a black women get a pass in Calculus without turning in any homework or taking any tests. The professor claimed he had to pass her because the school demanded it to keep blacks enrolled due to federal Department of Education requirements.”

Back in the early 80s my Graduate Professor was forced to give a black female medical student multiple attempts to pass a Biochemistry final. After she failed 3 times she was barely able to pass with some very generous grading.