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Chemistry Department Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Statement

As a Chemistry Department of diverse students, faculty, and staff, we seek to build an equitable and just learning community* where the individual humanity of each person is welcomed and celebrated. Science is a systematic and inquiry-based social enterprise that is directly influenced by the cultures of its practitioners. As scientists, we do not turn away from our humanity, but we embrace it. It is our humanity that enables us to collaborate and communicate with one another, and drives our passion, our creativity, and our curiosity to explore. However, as human beings we also have biases we must surmount as we seek to better comprehend the world based on empirical evidence, and our humanity is the source of our humility, allowing us to admit when we are wrong. As scientists, we therefore must acknowledge that we are not isolated from societal systems but rather part of them and help sustain them. We cannot act as if we are unaware of and not impacted by the anti-Arab, anti-Asian, anti-Black, anti-Hispanic, anti-Islamic, anti-Indigenous, anti-Semitic, transphobic, homophobic, sexist, classist, ableist, and xenophobic sentiments and violence that are prevalent in the world. This bigotry is unacceptable.

Consequently, we condemn the systematic racism and the violent acts that have been perpetrated against people of color, especially Black and Indigenous communities, in the United States since its founding and continue sadly to this day. However, we must also do more than condemn the systematic racism in the U.S. and in the world at large; we need to examine our own practices and the impact they have on our community members of color in chemistry, both here at Skidmore and more broadly, and modify them to be actively anti-racist. Without significant revision of our program, we are prone to sustain the systematic racism and other systems of oppression in chemistry and our world. To live up to our aspirations of equity, inclusion, and justice, we must go beyond the words of a statement. We must act in keeping with our principles. Outlined below are the steps we will be taking to do exactly that. We understand the problems and issues in chemistry and our society are complex; we welcome further input. Accordingly, these are the initial steps we will be taking. This statement is a living document to hold ourselves accountable, to reflect on, and to build upon.

* We are using equity and justice in terms of education (i.e., educational equity and educational justice). Educational equity is a framework to offer customized tools that identify and address inequality in education whether at the level of an assignment, a course, a curriculum, a research or study group, a department, or the institution.

Providing students with disabilities accommodations on an exam is an example of an equitable educational practice. Educational justice is a framework to fix the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities in education at the level of an assignment, a course, a curriculum, a research or study group, a department, or the institution. Designing a course around universal design for learning principles would be an example of a just educational practice.

Action Items

Curriculum

1. Understand the ways certain teaching methods and approaches are grounded in the context of systems of oppression and not centered in student learning (e.g., curving courses or a course that is taught only by traditional non-interactive lectures and grades predominately determined by scores on just one or two exams), I. to reflect on own our teaching practices and II. to work to adopt, in a deliberative and reflective manner, evidence-based practices centered on equity and justice that promote the success of each and every student to learn.
2. In courses, make a conscious effort to amplify, highlight, and promote the work of chemists of color with a particular emphasis on representing the work of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous chemists as well as other marginalized and minoritized identities. Identify (e.g., Diversify Chemistry @DiversifyChem on Twitter, and Editors of Color) and create common resources to be shared to sustain these practices.
3. Develop community norms/rules of engagement for courses.
4. Using evidence-based practices centered on equity and justice: in a deliberative and reflective manner, work to adopt, establish, implement, and communicate policies and multiple paths for students with and without disabilities to access and successfully engage and learn in the curriculum to meet their individual needs (e.g., Universal Design for Learning practices).
5. Integrate ethics, equity, and justice throughout the curriculum as well as connections of chemistry to society.
6. In teaching, advising, and mentoring students, connect the importance of the Bridge Experience: Power & Justice and Global Cultural Perspectives requirements, as well as the rest of the liberal arts, to our curriculum and major requirements.
7. Expand the diversity of outside speakers in seminars and courses. Also, expand the backgrounds of our outside speakers to highlight different paths one can take with a degree in chemistry or biochemistry.
8. Further strengthen PLTL and PAC in chemistry to support student learning and success. Clearly articulate how students can be involved as PLTL mentors, PAC coaches, and student lab assistants.
9. Further strengthen teaching students how to collaborate in an inclusive manner to pursue common goals.
10. Create and offer courses relating STEM to concepts of power, equity, and justice.
1. Being Human in STEM, Spring 2021
2. Minoritized Identities in Science, Spring 2022
3. Look for ways to work with Intergroup Relations to offer IGR courses
11. Look for ways to reduce the cost of our courses to students.

Research

1. Build and sustain equitable and just research group communities with each lab group regularly reflecting on its culture and continuing to grow and develop.
2. Build and sustain a student mentoring network for collaborative research across different research groups.
3. Each laboratory group will routinely reflect on the impact their research has on society and how the group will act to promote ethical and equitable uses of its research.
4. Promote and support students attending & participating in meetings focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM (e.g., Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), SACNAS national meetings, etc.) in addition to disciplinary conferences such as the national and regional meetings of the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.
5. Clearly articulate how students can be involved in research and paths to participating in collaborative research building from the Chemistry Research Open House.
6. Pursue and advocate for resources to better support students in research including better pay during the summer and the option to do research for pay rather than academic credit during the semester.

Policies

1. Using evidence-based practices centered on equity and justice (e.g., Bhalla, N. 2019. Strategies to improve equity in faculty hiring. MBC.30(22):2744-2749.), continue to establish, implement, and communicate policies, procedures, practices, and strategies to recruit, hire, support, mentor, evaluate, and promote faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds in the Department. Demonstrate to the College both the importance and benefit of these policies, procedures, practices, and strategies, and in doing so, push Skidmore to implement these ideas more broadly across campus. These should include equity and justice as a central priority in supporting, teaching, assessing, mentoring, and advising students from diverse backgrounds.
2. Using evidence-based practices centered on equity and justice; establish, implement, and communicate policies, and multiple paths for faculty and staff with and without disabilities to meet their individual needs to succeed in the workplace.
3. Further support and provide on-going education (training, development, workshops, reflection, and dialogues) for faculty and staff in equitable and just teaching, mentoring, academic advising, hiring, assessment, evaluation, and culturally responsive and sustaining practices to develop a departmental curriculum and culture that eliminates gaps in the successful participation of individuals in chemistry due to racism, sexism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry.
4. Conduct regular departmental climate assessments (e.g., surveys, focus groups, and dialogues).
5. Create a departmental committee on equity, inclusion, and justice to identify resources and areas of improvement to support the efforts of everyone in the Department in this critical work.

Building New Spaces

1. Support formation of and sustenance of a student Diversity in STEM club(s) (g., STEMpathy). Once established, engage with and listen to the club. Consider ways to connect this club with Association of Women in Science, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Queer Science, Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, and other national groups dedicated to diversity, equity, and justice in STEM.
2. Develop mentoring networks for students of color as well as other marginalized identities that includes alumni.
3. Work with the college and students to develop a pre-orientation option for students of color interested in STEM.
4. Support further opportunities to work with local K-12 schools.