Chemistry Faculty Support #shutDownAcademia

Dear Chemistry Community,

The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, in addition to the treatment of Christian Cooper, serve as stark reminders of the unjust and unfair treatment of black members of our community.  Unfortunately, this treatment is too commonplace in our society and the biases that lead to it are not absent in the sciences nor in this department.  

Recently, an op-ed masquerading as a scientific article was authored by T. Hudlicky and was briefly published in Angewandte Chemie.  In addition to many factual errors, the article espoused viewpoints that are overtly racist and sexist, and that are hurtful to many of our students and faculty.  The Chemistry Faculty condemn these viewpoints.  The clear bias and lack of appreciation for diversity in the sciences is counter to the values of our Department.  We believe that diversity in the sciences is vital for achieving excellence and that an inclusive culture strengthens our research programs.

When it comes to matters of discrimination in the sciences, either explicit or implicit, we can always make progress in bettering our actions.  In that vein, and in respect for the #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, and #Strike4BlackLives effort (https://www.shutdownstem.com), we invite you to spend time tomorrow reflecting on ways the department might act to eliminate racism within our community and to share them with us.

Professor Jeffery A. Byers,  Professor Abhishek Chatterjee,  Professor Jianmin Gao, Professor Amir Hoveyda, Professor Shih-Yuan Liu, Professor David L. McFadden, Professor Udayan Mohanty, Professor James P. Morken, Professor Jia Niu, Professor Marc L. Snapper, Professor Chai-Kuang (Frank) Tsung, Professor Matthias Waegele, Professor Dunwei Wang, Professor Masayuki Wasa, Professor Eranthie Weerapana, Professor X. Peter Zhang