Comparing demographics of signatories to public letters on diversity in the mathematical sciences

Abstract

In its December 2019 edition, the Notices of the American Mathematical Society published an essay critical of the use of diversity statements in academic hiring. The publication of this essay prompted many responses, including three public letters circulated within the mathematical sciences community. Each letter was signed by hundreds of people and was published online, also by the American Mathematical Society. We report on a study of the signatories' demographics, which we infer using a crowdsourcing approach. Letter A highlights diversity and social justice. The pool of signatories contains relatively more individuals inferred to be women and/or members of underrepresented ethnic groups. Moreover, this pool is diverse with respect to the levels of professional security and types of academic institutions represented. Letter B does not comment on diversity, but rather, asks for discussion and debate. This letter was signed by a strong majority of individuals inferred to be white men in professionally secure positions at highly research intensive universities. Letter C speaks out specifically against diversity statements, calling them "a mistake," and claiming that their usage during early stages of faculty hiring "diminishes mathematical achievement." Individuals who signed both Letters B and C, that is, signatories who both privilege debate and oppose diversity statements, are overwhelmingly inferred to be tenured white men at highly research intensive universities. Our empirical results are consistent with theories of power drawn from the social sciences.

Race- and gender-based under-representation of creative contributors: art, fashion, film, and music

“…After a worker completes a task, the requester can review the completed work and approve payment. The use of MTurk for studies of inferred demographic diversity has been established, for example, in (Topaz and Sen, 2016 ; Topaz et al, 2019 , 2020 ).…”

“…The ASA states that investigators should identify and mitigate any preferences “that might predetermine or influence the analyses/results.” With this directive in mind, we use survey questions developed in other peer-reviewed, published research (Topaz and Sen, 2016 ; Topaz et al, 2019 , 2020 ) (noting that some of us are co-authors on those papers). The majority of our data comes from anonymous crowd workers.…”

#DisruptJMM: Themes of online social justice advocacy and community building in STEM

“…Nationally, by 2019, the conversation on equity and inclusion in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and in particular the STEM professional society meeting experience was emerging across disciplines [13]. Mathematicians in particular engaged in spirited public debate (through op-eds in the AMS Notices) on the appropriateness of using diversity statements in the hiring process [23,26]. Early in 2020, the AMS created a Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.…”