Culture
Creating a Shared Culture of Respect
The guilty verdicts in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd last year represent a small step in our journey of advancing racial justice. We want to be unequivocally clear: our Black students, postdocs, faculty, and staff lives matter. We acknowledge the grief, pain, and burden on our Black community due to the systemic racism, including the senseless loss of Black lives at the hands of police violence. This is not the end, and we remain committed to eradicating racism in whatever way we can.
A message to our Community (Posted 4/26/21)
The Department of Chemistry is committed to fostering a respectful workplace culture. We strive to cultivate a safe, inclusive, fair environment where our staff, faculty, researchers and students can thrive as they advance new chemical frontiers through research, innovation, collaboration and scholarship.
Supporting Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity Statement
Provost’s Statement on Diversity and Inclusion
Higher education has the mission to advance human welfare in a rapidly changing world. Institutions that are truly inclusive and embrace and advance diversity everywhere – in every program, every school and every area of operation – will be the most successful. Stanford must become one of those institutions!
Recognizing this, we must clearly articulate why diversity and inclusion are important to us, how these values support the mission of the university, and what goals we have set to advance our commitment to them. Read the full Diversity Statement.
During the past year, two new student organizations were established to foster camaraderie, research collaboration and inclusion amongst students and postdoctoral scholars in the Department of Chemistry.
The ChemWell initiative is a collaboration with WINGS (Wellness Information Network for Graduate Students) to nurture the health and well-being of students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty and staff.
The Chemistry Association in the Interest of Minority Students (ChemAIMS) is a group of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars interested in expanding the spaces and support for women and underrepresented minorities in the Department of Chemistry.
Created to increase communication and interdisciplinary collaboration between laboratories, the Synthesis Supergroup organizes bi-monthly meetings where students have the opportunity to problem solve and discuss their research challenges.
Created to inspire action towards nurturing the health and well-being of our community. Students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty and staff are welcome!
Events
Faculty, staff, students and postdoctoral scholars attended events where they engaged in thoughtful discussions about harassment, discrimination, and professionalism in the workplace.
Special Seminar with Dr. Nancy Gray
Nancy Gray, CEO of Gordon Research Conferences, shared how GRC has created a new forum for conversations about inclusivity, strategies for addressing harassment, and the culture change needed to support women throughout their scientific careers.
Creating a Shared Culture of Respect
In partnership with the Sexual Harassment Policy Office, we held a workshop where we learned how to work together as a community to make our workplace safe, inclusive and respectful.
A Wave of Change
The #MeToo movement has had an incredible impact, inspiring countless individuals to step forward with their stories of sexual misconduct and ushering in a wave of change in academia and industries across the globe.
The 2018 annual ACS meeting included a two-part session focused on the “Science of Sexual Harassment” examining sexual harassment and what communities are doing to stop it in chemistry and beyond.
NSF has taken steps to ensure that research environments are free from sexual harassment and has strengthened its policies, guidelines and communications so that institutions understand expectations and individuals understand their rights.
News
A brave woman in the Stanford Department of Chemistry, Dr. Maria Dulay, told her story to Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) in an article titled “Confronting sexual harassment in chemistry.”
In November 2018, the New York Times published an article titled "Enough is Enough: Science, Too, Has a Problem with Harassment."
Amendment to NAS Bylaws to Permit Rescinding Membership Now Moving to Vote by Full Membership Today at the business session of the 156th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), members in attendance voted in favor of an amendment to the
Reports
The Royal Society of Chemistry and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine published reports on sexual harassment and inequality in late 2018. The Association of American Universities (AAU) released the results of its 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct in late 2019.
The "Breaking the Barriers" report published by the Royal Society of Chemistry calls for zero-tolerance over academia's inequality problem.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine published a report titled "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine."
Join the Community Meeting on October 16, 2019 from 4-5:15pm in Building 420-040 on the Main Quad to hear the results of the AAU 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct.
Stanford's Steps Forward
Annual Report
In early 2018, Provost Persis Drell issued Stanford’s first Annual Title IX/Sexual Harassment Report, which provides the campus community with cases of prohibited sexual conduct that have been brought to the university over the past academic year and the outcomes of those cases.
Stanford's 2021-2022 Annual Title IX/Sexual Harassment Report was released in December of 2022.
Letter from the Provost
A letter written by Provost Drell accompanied the report, reaffirming Stanford’s commitment to preventing sexual violence, supporting victims and providing fair and effective adjudication processes. The letter outlines a series of new initiatives in the areas of education and prevention and asks the campus community to tackle this issue together and put an end to sexual violence.
Title IX compliance at the university
In April, Provost Drell also shared the news that Stanford and the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education reached a resolution agreement regarding Title IX compliance at the university.
Resources
Stanford offers a variety of resources, services and reporting options to students, staff and faculty who are concerned about sexual harassment and other forms of misconduct.
How we can work together
The Department of Chemistry and Stanford University do not tolerate sexual harassment and are committed to creating a workplace environment of mutual respect, honesty and integrity. Moving forward, we will continue our efforts to cultivate a respectful and inclusive culture, and we encourage dialogue about how we can work together as a community to address these issues and find appropriate solutions. We will provide updates to the campus community about future events and initiatives we are undertaking through our website, social media outlets and quarterly newsletter.
The Department of Chemistry welcomes and encourages feedback about how we can work together as a community to create an inclusive, respectful and fair work environment. Share your feedback with us through this anonymous webform.