Quest for Justice, Inclusion, diversity, Equity, Access
Scholarly efforts are the most rewarding when we push ourselves outside of our thought boxes. Assumptions are made all the time in science and every scientist acknowledges the great strides that can be made when we can go beyond those limitations. As a community, our contributions to knowledge is so much greater when we have the strength that comes from inclusion. My lab acknowledges that the geosciences are not immune to systemic discrimination and we strive to educate ourselves and advocate for the IDEA of all folks, one step at a time.
The University of Idaho is on the deer hunting grounds of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people. This land was part of the "Stolen Treaty" of 1863 and despite not being recognized by the tribe (still true today), the land was used to establish the University in 1889. Learn more about the University of Idaho's land grant history here https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-the-land-grant-universities-still-profiting-off-indigenous-homelands
The University of Idaho is on the deer hunting grounds of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people. This land was part of the "Stolen Treaty" of 1863 and despite not being recognized by the tribe (still true today), the land was used to establish the University in 1889. Learn more about the University of Idaho's land grant history here https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-the-land-grant-universities-still-profiting-off-indigenous-homelands
I am leading the URGE pod at the University of Idaho where we are working with 100s of other pods to initiate policy change at the institutional level. Check out our progress here.
This effort has led to my inclusion on the College of Science Diversity Committee and the appointment to the American Geophysical Union Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology's DEI committee. |
Lab Code of Conduct *BEING CO-CREATED RIGHT NOW*
Overview
We value the participation of every member of our community and want to ensure everyone has an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, both professionally and personally. Accordingly, all members of the research team (both internal and external collaborators) are expected to show respect and courtesy to others at all times. We create our culture and our culture is inclusive.
Please note that this code of conduct is not a legal document, supplementing, but not overruling, Department- and/or College-level policies for your level of employment or study.
Inclusivity
Sustainable, high-quality research can only be conducted when you feel safe, secure, and supported. All group members are thus dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, and/or religion. Even preferences like “field hockey is better than ice hockey” should not result in meaningful exclusion. We do not tolerate harassment by and/or of members of our group in any form, and we ask all members of the community to conform to the following Code of Conduct:
Behavioral Guide:
In addition to making group members feel safe and secure, diversity and inclusivity has numerous benefits to us all. Put simply, the greater the mix of people in our group, the greater the mix of skills, experiences, perspectives, and ideas we can collectively draw on. But the benefits of diversity and equality cannot be fully achieved without creating an inclusive environment.
Justice
Regardless of the cause, if a person in the lab does not want to interact with another person in the lab, they have the right to request to be separated from that person (office space, joint meetings, etc.). This right does not guarantee total exclusion of someone from the lab, however, can only occur after involving legal processes inside or outside the University.
Code of Conduct Violations: Erika will discuss the Code of Conduct with lab members who violate these rules. If inappropriate behavior persists after this initial discussion, formal processes, in line with the University of Idaho’s work practice policies (see UI student code of conduct and faculty/staff handbook), will commence. Process or task-related conflict issues between lab members (arguments that arise out of differing opinions on methods, presentation style, data interpretation etc.) should be discussed with the parties involved and should remain respectful and non-personal. Science involves a lot of these types of discussions so you will get practice with this during your training! It's not a bad thing! Many bad behaviors (such as bullying, acting condescending to others, and exclusion from the group) can develop from work-related conflict so all lab members will be notified if this type of behavior is noticed. Continued violations of the code of conduct will lead to official reporting and documentation on performance evaluation, which may result in corrective action up to dismissal from the program.
To report an issue, please contact Erika Rader; all communication will be treated as confidential within the lab group however she is a mandatory reporter and thus is required to alert the University system (non-mandatory reporting options are included in the links below). If you do not feel comfortable contacting Erika directly, please feel free to contact another member of the department, Renee Jensen-Hasfurther (dept manager), or reach out to the Civil Rights and Investigation office at the University. The Ombuds office is also a fantastic resource that can help with addressing conflict.
https://www.uidaho.edu/governance/faculty-staff/ombuds
https://www.uidaho.edu/ocri/report-discrimination
https://www.uidaho.edu/general-counsel/compliance/concern-reporting-guide
https://www.uidaho.edu/student-affairs/dean-of-students/violence-prevention/resources
Resolution: The purpose of this code of conduct is to teach and guide infallible humans how to become better scientists and deal with the stresses of relationships and work issues. It is a recommendation of best practices and it is meant to generate discussion as well as signal that these issues are important. Thus, this is not a legal document meant to penalize/punish/bully/shame anyone. The end goal is to correct problematic behavior, educate lab members about inclusive reactions and language, and restore trust between parties. We acknowledge that some issues go beyond what the lab can and should handle. Resolution in these matters are outside the scope of these next sentences. After a violation has been addressed, mitigation actions have occurred, and the parties involved have made a good-faith effort to learn and change, those parties have the right to forgiveness. If a complaint is found to be made in bad faith, this is a violation of the code of conduct itself.
Data stewardship: The policy of the lab is to designate a principal steward of a subset of the data, data which may be generated with numerous individuals either through field campaigns or collective laboratory procedures. For example, subsets of data may be designated by location, methodology, or scientific question and is at the discretion of Dr. Rader or the PI of the proposal which funded the work. Individuals who contributed to the collection, processing, analysis, thoughtful discussion, synthesis, and writing/drafting figures should be acknowledged or included as a co-author. The difference in these roles should be discussed in the group. These resources can be helpful for establishing contributions.
https://www.apa.org/science/leadership/students/authorship-determination-scorecard.pdf
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
We value the participation of every member of our community and want to ensure everyone has an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, both professionally and personally. Accordingly, all members of the research team (both internal and external collaborators) are expected to show respect and courtesy to others at all times. We create our culture and our culture is inclusive.
Please note that this code of conduct is not a legal document, supplementing, but not overruling, Department- and/or College-level policies for your level of employment or study.
Inclusivity
Sustainable, high-quality research can only be conducted when you feel safe, secure, and supported. All group members are thus dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, and/or religion. Even preferences like “field hockey is better than ice hockey” should not result in meaningful exclusion. We do not tolerate harassment by and/or of members of our group in any form, and we ask all members of the community to conform to the following Code of Conduct:
Behavioral Guide:
- All communication, be it online or in person, should be appropriate for a group of coworkers, and be considerate of people from different cultural backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate at any time.
- Be kind to others and do not insult or put down other group members.
- Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate. If the punchline of a joke is relying on a stereotype that has been used to oppress someone in the past (or currently!) then don’t say it.
- Harassment includes offensive comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of discussions, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
- Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately and graciously. Retaliation qualifies as harassment as well.
- Contribute to discussions in meetings with a constructive, positive approach.
- Be mindful of talking over others when discussing in groups, and be willing to hear out the ideas of others.
- Data: make sure to clearly communicate what data you are using and include others who helped collect or analyze that data if it has not been published previously. Cite previously published data if you are doing additional studies on the same data set. Authorship guidelines can be found at FIND CITATION. Data ownership and transparency about using data.
- Outside-the-office-specific things
In addition to making group members feel safe and secure, diversity and inclusivity has numerous benefits to us all. Put simply, the greater the mix of people in our group, the greater the mix of skills, experiences, perspectives, and ideas we can collectively draw on. But the benefits of diversity and equality cannot be fully achieved without creating an inclusive environment.
Justice
Regardless of the cause, if a person in the lab does not want to interact with another person in the lab, they have the right to request to be separated from that person (office space, joint meetings, etc.). This right does not guarantee total exclusion of someone from the lab, however, can only occur after involving legal processes inside or outside the University.
Code of Conduct Violations: Erika will discuss the Code of Conduct with lab members who violate these rules. If inappropriate behavior persists after this initial discussion, formal processes, in line with the University of Idaho’s work practice policies (see UI student code of conduct and faculty/staff handbook), will commence. Process or task-related conflict issues between lab members (arguments that arise out of differing opinions on methods, presentation style, data interpretation etc.) should be discussed with the parties involved and should remain respectful and non-personal. Science involves a lot of these types of discussions so you will get practice with this during your training! It's not a bad thing! Many bad behaviors (such as bullying, acting condescending to others, and exclusion from the group) can develop from work-related conflict so all lab members will be notified if this type of behavior is noticed. Continued violations of the code of conduct will lead to official reporting and documentation on performance evaluation, which may result in corrective action up to dismissal from the program.
To report an issue, please contact Erika Rader; all communication will be treated as confidential within the lab group however she is a mandatory reporter and thus is required to alert the University system (non-mandatory reporting options are included in the links below). If you do not feel comfortable contacting Erika directly, please feel free to contact another member of the department, Renee Jensen-Hasfurther (dept manager), or reach out to the Civil Rights and Investigation office at the University. The Ombuds office is also a fantastic resource that can help with addressing conflict.
https://www.uidaho.edu/governance/faculty-staff/ombuds
https://www.uidaho.edu/ocri/report-discrimination
https://www.uidaho.edu/general-counsel/compliance/concern-reporting-guide
https://www.uidaho.edu/student-affairs/dean-of-students/violence-prevention/resources
Resolution: The purpose of this code of conduct is to teach and guide infallible humans how to become better scientists and deal with the stresses of relationships and work issues. It is a recommendation of best practices and it is meant to generate discussion as well as signal that these issues are important. Thus, this is not a legal document meant to penalize/punish/bully/shame anyone. The end goal is to correct problematic behavior, educate lab members about inclusive reactions and language, and restore trust between parties. We acknowledge that some issues go beyond what the lab can and should handle. Resolution in these matters are outside the scope of these next sentences. After a violation has been addressed, mitigation actions have occurred, and the parties involved have made a good-faith effort to learn and change, those parties have the right to forgiveness. If a complaint is found to be made in bad faith, this is a violation of the code of conduct itself.
Data stewardship: The policy of the lab is to designate a principal steward of a subset of the data, data which may be generated with numerous individuals either through field campaigns or collective laboratory procedures. For example, subsets of data may be designated by location, methodology, or scientific question and is at the discretion of Dr. Rader or the PI of the proposal which funded the work. Individuals who contributed to the collection, processing, analysis, thoughtful discussion, synthesis, and writing/drafting figures should be acknowledged or included as a co-author. The difference in these roles should be discussed in the group. These resources can be helpful for establishing contributions.
https://www.apa.org/science/leadership/students/authorship-determination-scorecard.pdf
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html