Read on Twitter
Most of my Twitter feed is currently having different conversations about the conduct of one person. I have my own stories and my own sets of screenshotted messages I could throw in as well. I’m not sharing those today, but I need to add my voice about abuse in my profession.
I could share texts that would neatly and demonstrably fit the narratives of racism in some of these discussions. Others would take the conversations about how women senior scholars behave toward people without job security in entirely new directions.
I’ve heard similar stories from a lot of colleagues, and I even referenced one I’d been dealing with as a grad student adviser in a publication (see page 14) https://www.resolvenet.org/system/files/2019-12/RSVE_RVESeries_MaletKorbitz_December2019.pdf
The malicious gossip and cyber bullying, the attempts to derail the careers of multiple graduate students (they’re ALL plagiarists?), the unprofessional conduct – it all needs to be called out.
There are a lot of colleagues I haven’t felt safe around – some until I saw your posts today – because I thought you were in on it. Collaborations, chummy photos, Twitter engagements – you assume other people condone by their silence and endorse by professional interaction.
I see I was partly wrong, and I need to be clear where I stand so that I’m not making thing worse for others. And I need to call out friends and mentors who have stood by and who are conspicuously not saying anything now.
Some of you position yourself as allies to junior scholars, particularly women and/or underrepresented minorities. Some of you recently said cops shouldn’t be afraid to call out their own.
But you have to call out those in our profession too or you have no moral authority, and some of you have amplified the abuses and should consider atonement.
For years I held my tongue about unprofessional conduct I experienced from multiple big names in our field. I justified not saying anything because I didn’t have job security and my kids need food and medicine. I don’t have that excuse now. If not me, then who; if not now, when?
So consider this my “me too” moment – and yes, I’m using that phrase very intentionally for some of these actions (by more than one prominent scholar) because it fits.
I know that I’m not alone. And if you’re reading this and afraid to say anything about any kind of professional abuse or unprofessional conduct in academia, you need to know that you’re not alone either.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for listening.
