Advertisement
Boston's Morning Newsletter
Harvard's largest faculty group has stopped requiring diversity statements
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
The college students may have left for the summer, but the colleges themselves are still making news.
On campus: Less than a month after MIT stopped requiring so-called diversity statements from job applicants, its Cambridge neighbor is making a similar move. Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences — which includes Harvard’s entire undergraduate college and some graduate programs — announced Monday it will no longer require diversity statements from applicants for tenure-track positions.
- Remind me, what’s a diversity statement? As part of the job application process, individuals were instructed to write a page or two generally explaining their track record and plans for promoting diversity, inclusion and belonging in their work. Harvard first implemented the requirement in 2019.
- Why was it controversial? Advocates say the statements align with Harvard’s efforts to make the predominantly white, wealthy campus more welcoming to those of all backgrounds. However, critics, including some on Harvard’s campus, say they amount to “ideological litmus tests.” Last fall, Harvard’s student newspaper The Crimson argued for making the statements optional.
- The big picture: The Boston Globe, which first reported Harvard’s move, writes it “comes at a time when diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are under attack by conservative politicians, and amid soul searching within the academy about how certain DEI policies may conflict with other integral university values, including free speech and academic freedom.”
- So, now what? Harvard’s FAS will instead ask for new statements from job finalists (rather than all applicants) about their general approach to teaching and the larger academic community, according to The Crimson. A Harvard spokesperson told WBUR in a statement the “expanded” approach “acknowledges the many ways faculty contribute to strengthening their academic communities, including efforts to increase diversity, inclusion and belonging.”
Something in the water: Hyannis residents seem to have higher levels of two toxic “forever chemicals” in their blood compared to the general U.S. population. That’s according to initial results from a study that tested more than 400 current and former residents for PFAS chemicals. WBUR’s Barbara Moran reports all 400 participants had detectable PFAS levels in their blood, and 38% had levels that fell into the highest level of concern.
- Catch up: As Barb reported in 2021, the study launched after evidence showed the drinking water in Hyannis was contaminated by PFAS from firefighting foam from nearby training sites. Before 2016, levels of PFAS in the Hyannis public water supply were the highest in the state. (The town has since installed a water filtration system.)
- What’s next: Laurel Schaider, a scientist leading the study, told Barb “the work that will take more time” is determining whether higher PFAS exposure is linked to different health effects among the people in the study.
- Psst: PFAS aren’t just a Hyannis problem; companies have used the chemicals in many common items, from paper food packaging to dental floss. Check out these tips to limit your exposure.
Massachusetts’ Office of Elder Affairs not only needs a new name (at least according to Gov. Maura Healey), it also needs a new permanent leader. The most recent Secretary of Elder Affairs, Elizabeth Chen, abruptly resigned this past Friday after about five years on the job.
- It’s not exactly clear why Chen left — or if it was her decision. “I would have liked more time to make the usual ‘round of goodbyes’ and personally thank each of you,” Chen wrote in a farewell message to colleagues Friday, according to the Globe
- What’s next: State officials say Deputy Secretary Robin Lipson will serve as acting leader for the time being.
Last call: The longtime downtown Boston dive bar Silvertone poured its final drinks this past Friday. Owner David Savoie said the closure was due to the COVID pandemic’s impacts on the downtown office crowd. The Bromfield Street bar first opened in 1997.
- Meanwhile: Celebrity chef Tiffany Faison has closed the Fenway location of her pizza restaurant Tenderoni’s. The space on Boylston Street opened in 2022 as a roomier alternative to the original (still-open) location at High Street Place Food Hall.
P.S.— It’s perfect ice cream weather today, right in time for Boston’s long-running, annual all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, the “Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl.” Tickets to the three-day Dana-Farber Cancer Institute charity event at City Hall Plaza start at $20. (There’s also a boozy, 21+ “Scoop at Night” event on Thursday for $35.)
