The STEM department’s lack of involvement in the protest reflects the department’s general silence on issues of race and diversity on campus, students said. “Departments like Latina/o Studies, Africana Studies, American Indian and Indigenous Studies, and Asian American Studies should not be the only departments engaging with these issues,” Stephen Kim, grad, said. “They should either provide compensation for grad students, or find professionals who have been trained extensively themselves and feel committed to offering this training to people across departments,” Kim said. Graduate students who do spend time working on diversity within their fields are often discouraged from doing so by department faculty, despite these department’s simultaneous advertising to recruit diversity, students said. Many white students we know might find these spaces significant.”The decentralized nature of Cornell creates barriers to collaboration across groups on issues of diversity and inclusion, Law said.

Source: Daily Sun October 05, 2017 04:52 UTC