http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/13/hawaii-telescope-protests-tmt-mauna-kea_n_7044164.html
Relations were further strained when two UC Berkeley Astronomy professors made unfortunate choices of language in emails about the protests. Whatever their intent, the impact of these emails mattered. Members of our astronomy community and Hawaiians saw these emails as racist to varying extents, particularly in the context of the history of the US assimilation of Hawaii:
https://storify.com/docfreeride/team-science-apologizes-badly-widens-rift-with-mau
http://mahalonottrash.blogspot.com/2015/05/decolonizing-astronomy-or-why-debt.html
Wherever your opinions may lie, these events and others over the past year have led to conversations about race, sexual harassment, and the potential for change in our community. Importantly, those receptive to new, diverse viewpoints have had an opportunity to hear them.
In particular, I joined a new Facebook group promoting equity and inclusion in professional astronomy. This group is a "next level safe zone" where minorities and women can express their viewpoints, and have them echoed and supported by like-minded individuals. My role in this group is not to tell others what I think is best; it's simply to listen and learn. And it's changed me in the process too.
One of the leading voices of this new community is Professor John Johnson at Harvard University. He posts regularly to his blog at: http://mahalonottrash.blogspot.com/ . I've known John Johnson for a number of years, particularly while we overlapped at Caltech. We first met when we shared a dinner as graduate students at Lick Observatory. Since then, I've been fortunate to collaborate with him on the MINERVA Observatory among several other papers and projects. John Johnson is quantifiably the most prolific observational exoplanet scientist to earn their astronomy PhD in the past 15 years.
This past July, I found myself sitting down to dinner once again with John Johnson. We were both attending the Extreme Precise Radial Velocity Conference held at Yale. He's a busy guy, and we don't get to interact as often now that we've both left Caltech. I asked John - what can I personally do to improve the diversity of our field? How do I foster such an environment? John Johnson's answer was obvious in hindsight. It was a forehead slapping moment for me:
Recruiting.
If premier athletic departments can devote full-time personnel to recruiting the best athletes worldwide, why couldn't I borrow some of their techniques and switch from passive to active recruiting? What gets a top-level high school athlete to commit to a particular University? It's the personal connection that recruiters form with them number one, and number two, the promise of being in a successful environment.
John Johnson suggested I go recruit from predominantly minority area high schools in the St Louis area. John himself grew up in a suburb of St Louis, and went to college in nearby Rolla, Missouri before becoming an academic rock star as a graduate student at UC Berkeley. He recommended that I establish personal relationships with the physics teachers and their students, and to encourage the students to come to Missouri State University to conduct exoplanet research with me. Fostering an inclusive and equitable environment once they matriculate is the other half of the equation.
So, that's what I've done and I will continue to do. I contacted a few high school principals in the St Louis suburbs, including in Ferguson, one of the birthplaces of #blacklivesmatter. One forwarded my information on to their physics teacher. We corresponded for a few weeks, and he agreed to let me come and talk to the physics students at two of the high schools he teaches at.
One early morning this fall, I hopped into my car and drove the three hours to St Louis. I visited two physics classes at two different high schools. It was a real learning experience for me, the physics teacher, and the students. I opened the students' eyes to potential careers in science that they hadn't known about before. I gave each of them my business card and asked them to stay in touch if they decided to apply to Missouri State University. I offered them research opportunities in my group if they matriculated. The physics teacher has invited me back for next year. Personally, as I drove home later that afternoon, I found the experience to be incredibly rewarding. I was #ohdi - Out Here, Doing It. Time will tell, but I hope to have an impact on the future diversity of our field for the better.
Visiting a high school physics class room in the St Louis area to recruit the next generation of Astronomers. |
During one lecture in my general education astronomy class, I expressed support and encouragement to those students on my campus. After all, college is a place for students to find their voice, and education doesn't always come in the form of a classroom. After class, several students came up to me and thanked me for what I had said. Unbeknownst to me, one minority student was a freshman thinking about majoring in Physics and Astronomy. He was in the classroom at the back, listening. He hadn't spoken to me the entire semester. And on that day he came up to the front of the large lecture hall, shook my hand, and joined my research group.
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteAre you aware of the fact that Hawaiians support TMT? Do you know that we have Hawaiian astronomy students who aspire to higher degrees of education in your field? Why don't you support them, support us? There is a Hawaiian community that wants to study and follow in your foot steps.
Building TMT is not the same as sexual harassment, I can't even begin to see how you come to that conclusion. Can you even hear our voices, or do you hear only the voices of those who assume they speak for Hawaiians?
You had the chance to study and follow your heart's desire in astronomy. Why can't you support the Hawaiians who want the same thing? Our voices, our point of view carries as much weight as the opponents of TMT. But unlike the protesters we do not wait for cameras and news crews. We go about our business, with all the dignity and courage of our forebears. We are fully aware of who we are, we respect and cherish our culture and aspire towards higher learning.
I ask you to please read a book by Mary K. Pukui, "The Echo of Our Song". There is a birth chant, "Mele Hanau no Kau-i-ke-ao-uli", this is for the birth of Kamehameha the Third. Be sure to read the notes as well. You will learn that the cosmos is in our sacred chants.
Mahalo,
Veronica Ohara