So you read about racism...now what? A thread about minimum changes your institution should adopt.

It’s now August and your department has likely finished “So You Want to Talk About Race” or “White Fragility” and you have had some difficult discussions.

As this article so eloquently points out, that isn’t the hard work, and I need to stress this; we have had months of protests, we have had time to process, and now it’s time to act. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/white-antiracist-allyship-book-clubs/2020/06/11/9edcc766-abf5-11ea-94d2-d7bc43b26bf9_story.html

As another article in the Atlantic points out, if we let the reading be the anti-racist action, we have acknowledged white priveledge 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/your-anti-racism-books-are-means-not-end/614281/

We have one month until fall term and it is time to press your institution to change. Be insistent, because your black peers are being insistent and you can’t abandon us to fight alone. We must all ask for change, for every one of us.

What can you ask for? Funds to be allocated to resources for incoming students from underrepresented backgrounds. Your institution says that can’t be done because of Covid? Change travel grants for conferences to grants for virtual conferences for BIPOC

Also, offer grants to reward diversity and inclusion work. This is a form of outreach that our field undervalues, but we badly need to incentivize.

GET RID OF THE GRE OMG #grexit

A student in my department @osuib has set an excellent example by going through his course syllabus and finding ways to highlight BIPOC scientist contributions in each lecture @BrawnerORST

Having a seminar series? Why not invite more underrepresented speakers this year? Everyone is now a click away! Let’s globalize seminars!

Form a mentorship program where later-stage graduate students are paired with incoming graduate students. I WISH this had been a thing for me when moving to rural Oregon and being the first of my family in higher ed.

Create a detailed and public plan for sensitively acknowledging micro-aggressions within the department.
Keyword: 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓵𝔂!

Of course ask for more diversity but let’s focus on RETENTION. So you got POC instructors to campus — now how do you keep them here??

What are you asking for to make your institution a better place for all this month?