Diversity statements and other woke matters

I talked a little about some push back against “required diversity statements” for those applying for faculty jobs here.

So, on a related note, the Florida Governor is requiring students, faculty and staff to complete viewpoint surveys. Now I do NOT know whether these will be anonymous or not and if they are, that makes them a different animal than the required “diversity statement.” And these appear to be “after the fact”; not “to see if we will admit you or hire you” sort of thing.

I will be following this to see what develops.

Clothing:

This was part of a Twitter dust up about women in academia and clothing:

And I’ve struggled with clothing as a scientist. I always want to look my best around colleagues. This is to respect them & me. But as a woman, I also want to feel sexy & seen. It’s just that the workplace frankly isn’t the place for it. Modesty is best.

— 🦤Charleen Danielle Adams (@_cdadams_) June 22, 2021

I think this started it all:

Now some of the conversation is that “sexy attire and intellectual accomplishment are independent” and I’d agree with that.

But for me, the issue is: is there event appropriate, situationally appropriate attire?

I’d say “yes”; one can make a statement with attire and how one is dressed can affect how one is perceived (“serious?” “professional?” )

I’d venture to say that some attacking this lady for saying what she did would attack this scientist:

(context: here)

But..in “woke friendly” communities, there ARE double standards based on “privilege”: some think that males should NEVER comment on what a woman wears (unless it is something with, say KKK or a swastika) and, due to “privilege”, women have license to do that to men.

BTW, I did think this shirt was a bad shirt for the occasion …but thought the pile on was unwarranted …(maybe some gentle correction would have been better: psst: dude: bad shirt; wear something else next time)

And..this is one reason I think that academics get is so completely wrong when it comes to politics or to getting the public to go along.

Critical Race Theory interesting discussion here:

This won’t change anyone’s mind but it might help the skeptic see what the other side thinks.