© ISTOCK.COM/CREATIVEARCHETYPE“We out here. We’ve been here. We ain’t leaving. We are loved.” These words rang through the Yale University campus twice this past year: first in the fall, when a series of racially charged incidents sparked protests demanding that the school affirm its commitment to diversity; and again in the spring, when after months of “listening sessions” the university and its governing body, the Yale Corporation, announced that John C. Calhoun Residential College would not be renamed, meaning the college would continue to honor the ardent racist.
Yale students, faculty, and staff are not alone in their fight to increase diversity in academia and, specifically, in the sciences. When second graders are asked to draw a scientist, the results are overwhelmingly outdated: old, white, and male. These caricatures reflect the cultural notion that women and minorities don’t belong in science. Despite the fact that many researchers genuinely want this view to change, this image is ingrained in our collective consciousness. The problem may lie in the widespread—but false—belief that the research community is purely meritocratic, that all young scientists have equal opportunity to be successful in their careers. We disagree. Only with an honest view of today’s biased world can we begin to overcome the obsolete stereotype.
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