Infuriating is an excellent word to describe what is happening here and in so many other spaces. (h/t to Karen Peterson for providing a word for me to use as I sat, staring at my computer monitor practically shaking with rage).
I was particularly struck by one of the last paragraphs of this Ms. Magazine article. It made me think about someone I spoke with regarding the administration’s dismantling of DEI (and can’t forget the A for accessibility, that’s getting attacked too) efforts.
This was a white male who doesn’t like how scientific research has been done in the past. He worries about who pays for research, especially medical research (which, in and of itself, is a fair question to ask). However, I won’t get into all of the ideas he holds regarding the deep state.
He prides himself in being open to listening to a wide variety of voices, doing his homework, and while we disagree on some topics, our conversations are always respectful.
He prefers voices on the fringe who are rejected by “the mainstream media” as he sees them as more trustworthy.
I just wonder if he would would be receptive to the fact that HIS questioning of how science has always been done actually aligns with feminist efforts, such as the ADVANCE Journal: Individual and Institutional Transformation for Social Justice, to actively challenge the status quo.
“As feminists, we wanted to do academic publishing differently. We wanted our journal to be accessible to everyone rather than behind paywalls. We also take seriously the need for mentoring women and making academic publishing possible for women, and so as editors we spent a great deal of time working with authors whose work might have been rejected out of hand by traditional journals. Our journal was interdisciplinary and invited conversation between STEM and the arts and humanities. We accepted a wide variety of genres beyond traditional research articles, including poetry, personal narrative and artwork.”
I’m going to share the article with him to see what he says. Research on communication of controversial topics has shown that we are most likely to influence the beliefs of others if we begin in a place of shared values. As I told him the last time we spoke, I absolutely agree that change is needed in how we fund and do research. But right now it really feels like we’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater and that’s not something that will serve us well.
Thank you Susan Shaw, Kelly Mack, Sarina Saturn, PhD and Nithya Rajan for all the work they have done on this project so far and for being willing to share their story. The current NSF cuts to these types of projects need to stop.
