Science Is, Well, No Longer Science
The dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, Albert (“Al”) P. Pisano pronounced himself “absolutely dedicated” to turning the engineering school into an “anti-racist organization.” Doing so “crucially includes unconscious bias work we must do within ourselves,” he added. How that work will interact with research on nanoparticles and viral transmission was unspecified.
The chairman of the earth and planetary sciences department at the University of California at Davis, announced an “anti-racist reading group” for faculty and students. The group’s purpose was to confront the “structural racism that pervades” the field of geology. Such structural racism in the study of igneous rocks is apparently so obvious that the chair did not bother to elaborate further.
The American Astronomical Society held color-coded Zoom meetings, one for white astronomers to “discuss direct actions to support Black astronomers,” one for black astronomers to “talk, vent, connect, and hold space for each other,” and one for “non-Black people of color to discuss direct actions to support Black astronomers.” See AAS Endorses #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia & #Strike4BlackLives, AAS website, June 9.