1/ Academia and science has a long way to go with making it a safe and welcoming space for black people. One institution that makes it abundantly clear that black people are not welcome is @CSHL. The graduate school is named the Watson School of Biological Sciences.

2/ Name after James Watson, an unapologetic racist and sexist. THE NAME MUST BE CHANGED. Having the name after him is a sign on the promotional material and application that many are not welcome here. Before you try to defend him based on anything else he has done in his life.

3/ STOP. That does not matter. Your are not exempt from your duty as a citizen in the scientific community based on your research contributions.

4/ Cold Spring Harbor sells itself as a place that brings scientists together from all across the globe with its @cshlmeetings and @cshlcourses. Yet the school, located on the same campus isn't welcoming.

5/ In the CSHL grad school ethics course you learn that @cshlbanbury hosted a meeting that led to the creation of @innocence , that has saved numerous black lives. You even have to write a @nature news and views style article about one case.

6/ Yet the school is saying black are not welcome here. The name change has been brought up. After his documentary came out Jan 2019, the school formed a committee to explore changing the name. There has been no report on from the committee, and the members we never announced.

7/ At the last state of the lab address on 12/4/19 the president of the lab, in front of everyone, was asked what the state of the name change was and he dodged the question.

8/ We, as students in the school, have been told numerous times to not bring attention to this, specifically on twitter.

9/ Current and former grad students and post docs on campus have been forced to to meet with president or dean to discuss tweets they have made that are critical about @CSHL, both regarding the school name and other issues.

10/ Many of us do science to make the world a better place and that includes our direct community. The critical speech we make is to make our community better, and if that creates bad press it is DESERVED until the issues are resolved. #BlackLivesMatter #phdchat #stem