I first encountered these sorts of attitudes and efforts some years ago in the EOS newsletter. It mainly covers topics of interest to geophysicists.
Three young graduate students wrote an article demanding that Geophysics be "decolonized". I gathered that they wanted all white people out of the field. What struck me as interesting was that one or two of the authors of this piece were actually foreign graduate students, studying in the US on visas. At least one was from China.
It takes a certain amount of temerity to be admitted to a graduate program in a foreign country, and supported there out of the generosity of the citizens of this foreign country. And then openly publish an article condemning your hosts.
I and other senior scientists discussed this. The way to get diversity in STEM is to prepare all students better so they can compete in a world market. If we do this, it will happen naturally.
This has the added advantage of improving our standards and the quality of our work.
Thank you. Even before DEI swept through academia, applications to government (=taxpayer)-funded agencies (including NSF) had to mention that the students for the project will be preferred if they came from minority backgrounds (geosciences, of course, are at the forefront of “troubling trends” based on metrics irrelevant to merit). The fact that the applicant is from a large urban university would imply that preference would be given to first-generation students. Not sure if this was checked by NSF when reporting progress, but the language had to be there to improve chances of funding (I felt like back in the USSR).
It is difficult to comprehend why anything but merit matters in field-based STEM research. Because mentioning students was mandatory, I wrote that I would select the best candidate for that project. What a novel concept! Hopefully, it is here to stay.
There are a number of programs at NSF purporting to increase the number of minorities in the geosciences. I have never seen anything discussing whether they work. Some of these programs have been around long enough that there should be results.
I first encountered these sorts of attitudes and efforts some years ago in the EOS newsletter. It mainly covers topics of interest to geophysicists.
Three young graduate students wrote an article demanding that Geophysics be "decolonized". I gathered that they wanted all white people out of the field. What struck me as interesting was that one or two of the authors of this piece were actually foreign graduate students, studying in the US on visas. At least one was from China.
It takes a certain amount of temerity to be admitted to a graduate program in a foreign country, and supported there out of the generosity of the citizens of this foreign country. And then openly publish an article condemning your hosts.
I and other senior scientists discussed this. The way to get diversity in STEM is to prepare all students better so they can compete in a world market. If we do this, it will happen naturally.
This has the added advantage of improving our standards and the quality of our work.
Thank you. Even before DEI swept through academia, applications to government (=taxpayer)-funded agencies (including NSF) had to mention that the students for the project will be preferred if they came from minority backgrounds (geosciences, of course, are at the forefront of “troubling trends” based on metrics irrelevant to merit). The fact that the applicant is from a large urban university would imply that preference would be given to first-generation students. Not sure if this was checked by NSF when reporting progress, but the language had to be there to improve chances of funding (I felt like back in the USSR).
It is difficult to comprehend why anything but merit matters in field-based STEM research. Because mentioning students was mandatory, I wrote that I would select the best candidate for that project. What a novel concept! Hopefully, it is here to stay.
There are a number of programs at NSF purporting to increase the number of minorities in the geosciences. I have never seen anything discussing whether they work. Some of these programs have been around long enough that there should be results.
The rot goes so deep that excising all of it might be impossible.