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I'm not going to dunk on the Harvard dean because so many people are doing it with so much skill that I couldn't add anything of entertainment value. But it got me thinking about the last training grant I worked on....
The PI got really upset with me when I told them that they have an inclusion problem because there was a sizable discrepancy in grade outcomes between their non-URM and URM students.
We went around and around for a few days and no matter the amount of data that I showed them, their statement was always that the URM students need to just be prepared better. Let's add another course.
So I dug around. We have a STEM PI - we'll call her Zoe - who studies STEM education and diversity. So I took Zoe's sections, in a really hard STEM course, and compared them to the other sections.
All sections for that STEM course had URM and non-URM discrepancy - except for Zoe's. Going back 10 semesters. Zoe's URM students did just as well as her non-URM students.
Once I showed that up to the training grant PI, they finally agreed that the problem was not with the students. And the grant focussed on bringing our STEM faculty up to speed instead of placing more training burden on URM students.
I think this story has more impact because Zoe is white. It shows that with the right skill set, even white faculty can close the STEM achievement gap.
And it got me thinking that with the right attitude, even white STEM leadership can diversify our STEM departments.
It's just clear that that attitude is not going to be found at Harvard Med.
