Wouter EllenbroekToday is #InternationalWomenInScienceDay . After overhearing a conversation between students yesterday, I have a very simple request. Do not make fun of women for choosing a STEM college program, or a STEM career. They belong here, and it's not up to you to tell them they don't.
Veronika Cheplygina@wg_ellenbroek why not speak up to them? I guess they are not on here
@DrVeronikaCH As already pointed out in another reply, my post was unintentionally unclear about the fact that I did not witness the harassment itself, only an account of it. My bad.
@wg_ellenbroek ok but still why not speak up? I understand you'd have to admit to listening in, but... Really, why not?
@wg_ellenbroek I know you mean well so don't want to be adversarial. I understand now it's about one student's account of experiencing it to another student. I still think that hearing you would mean a world of a difference for these students
@DrVeronikaCH in this case the situation really didn't lend itself to that. For a couple of reasons, one of which being that I didn't want to bring the whole classroom into a conversation between students about something that happened off-campus.
@wg_ellenbroek alright, I thought you overheard in the train or something. Given it was in a university setting I feel you have a chance to do something. What would you have done @lakens @keesstorm
Daniel Lakens@DrVeronikaCH @wg_ellenbroek @keesstorm I don't know the details, but it sounds like an overheard conversation about something that happened elsewhere, not a live event. I think using that as inspiration to make a statement here is already very nice. Sometimes I might walk up to a student after the lecture - if I know them a bit better, or if the situations invites it (it can also be awkward so it really depends!).
@lakens @wg_ellenbroek @keesstorm I guess I just feel a bit tired because I get a lot of students who experience this and never come across faculty saying something about it
@lakens @wg_ellenbroek @keesstorm (my employer is doing pretty great at this btw, but academic mentoring goes beyond employment agreements 😊
@DrVeronikaCH @wg_ellenbroek @keesstorm I mean I am a psychologist. We make fun of ourselves for not choosing a STEM education when we could have, so we would have learned real skills, so the idea anyone would criticize anyone going into STEM is just crazy to me 😅
@lakens @wg_ellenbroek @keesstorm here I am thinking I should have done psychology so I'd have real skills 😁