Remember when I was saying that junior scientists of color are more likely to get ignored when they send their CVs to PIs they want to work with? A couple weeks ago, a paper came out with some substantial data validating concerns about this problem. Not that a new paper was necessary — this has been documented for quite a while.

A while back, I wrote thread on twitter that made the rounds about how we should use proper hiring methods for junior scientists:

https://twitter.com/hormiga/status/1066358440241455105

But I wasn’t satisfied with letting it lie there, and I thought the argument needed a bit more meat inside its exoskeleton, so I wrote an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education about the problem. Here it is! PIs who care about this problem might be doing it the right way, but for those who aren’t, I hope y’all change your practices along with your mind. And the PIs who don’t care will need to be held accountable by their institutions, at the departmental, college, or university level. Ultimately, equitable hiring is an institution-wide issue, so I hope this piece makes it into the hands of the people on campus who are empowered to make sure that PIs and departments aren’t skirting best practices when it comes to recruitment of students and postdocs. Who are employed by the university, after all. If you agree that this is a solid argument for having better recruitment practices in your institution, please feel free to send this up the line?