I didn't make a big deal at the time, as I had colleagues still working hard to right the ship and didn't want to throw them under a bus.
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As we're less than a week away from the
#sciencemarch, and a number of women (and several women of color) just left, I wanted to reflect. -
My involvement with
#ScienceMarch started when#usofscience trended last inauguration.@LadyNaturalist and I tweeted about a science march. -
Several of us started chatting on Twitter, and were sporting approached by another group who said, "let's join forces." We said, "great!"
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That other group became the leadership of the
#ScienceMarch. Many of us struggled to find footing as the organization exploded overnight. -
As someone with organizing experience, I urged for clear communication and transparent decision-making. Lots of folks were new at this.
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Many of us were outspoken about the need to have diversity, inclusion, and accessibility built into the structure from day one.
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We were hopeful that
#sciencemarch would learn from the mistakes the#WomensMarch had made, and do better. We had the expertise to do it. -
Initial issues with
#ScienceMarch's messaging, organization, and communication could be attributed to being a new org of volunteers. -
But as time went by, I increasingly felt that there were serious dysfunctions: micromanaging, lack of transparency, hostility to diversity.
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I want to be clear that I am speaking for myself, though many others shared these concerns. I just don't want to claim to speak for others.
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Despite assurances to the contrary, diversity and inclusion work was increasingly compartmentalized, and decisions made without our input.
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Several in leadership positions said, in effect, "diversity is a distraction from the real work of the march. We're trying to save science."
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Those of us working on the diversity team weren't asking for diversity issues to supplant the march's goals, but to be included at all.
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We fought for weeks to be involved with the M4S Twitter account, and to remove individuals who were openly hostile to diversity issues.
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It felt like internal loyalty to
#ScienceMarch was more important than getting it right. Constructive criticism was portrayed as attacks. -
Often, work that women (especially WOC) did (much of it assigned!) was ignored until a white man suggested it, or redone.
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We had so much incredible expertise in science communication, accessibility, and organizing in the M4S team that routinely went ignored.
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Meanwhile, the climate could be hostile for women, and women of color especially, on M4S team Slack channels.
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I don't want to get bogged down in a laundry list, but I truly think the
#ScienceMarch suffered from all the New Organization mistakes. - 18 more replies
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