The McMahon Lab at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography stands in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+, disabled, and other historically and currently marginalized community members. Our lab strives to be an open, inclusive, welcoming environment where scientists of any race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, neurodiversity, or physical ability can learn, grow, and thrive. We view Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion activities to be equally as important as our research because racism, prejudice, and implicit bias adversely affect who does science, how we do science, and who benefits from this science.

Justice:

Deconstruct systems and structures that perpetuate inequality, and replace them with systems that promote fairness, and opportunities for a diverse cultural campus climate thereby creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace for all, strengthening community and accountability. The removal of barriers to entry, retention, success, and advancement within the Bay Campus leading to inclusion for all and the promotion of community and accountability.

Equity:

Equitable access to resource allocation specific to the needs, aspirations, strengths and challenges for all while providing access to tailored tools and resources each individual needs to succeed and achieve their goals.

Diversity:

Embracing our uniqueness across race, ethnicity, cultures, beliefs, identities, diverse abilities, socioeconomic status and age with the knowledge that each uniqueness contributes to the growth and enrichment of our community. Fostering a welcoming environment that will attract and retain students, staff and faculty from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

Inclusion:

Ensure a systemic approach that embodies inclusivity in the creation and implementation of our projects, policies, procedures and programs, with the challenges and needs of all, while affirming their values and talents and contribution to these endeavors. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that every voice is represented and valued within a community that is safe and welcoming to all, where everyone feels respected, has a sense of belonging, and access to the resources needed to be successful.

Science has long marginalized the voices and talents of diverse people to promote a predominantly white, cis-gender, male perspective. Science was built on a history of racism, colonialism, and exploitation that has shaped who participates in and benefits from science. Western science and scientists have long benefited from parachute/parasitic science that often does not directly address local research, societal, cultural, and environmental needs, often does not adequately include host knowledge, experience, expertise, or voices, and actively benefits from the exploitation of others. Our own lab, our university, and much of our research takes place on land that was forcibly taken from the Pequots, the Nipmucs, the Niantics, the Narragansetts, and the Wampanoags. To overcome this systematic injustice, we must speak up and take action to fundamentally change the systems that continue to stoke these divides and oppress members of our community. We must acknowledge and understand that every one of us brings different lived experiences, worldviews, implicit and explicit biases. We all have to speak up and act to remove racial and prejudicial inequities that affect us, our colleagues, and our communities. We must recognize that our work is without meaning if it is not open to and inclusive of all.

We can no longer let a corrupt system of systemic racism harm our society and our planet. In order to do science that matters, we need to include the people that matter by building our new foundation on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion together. In the McMahon Lab at URI-GSO, we commit to take action in breaking down the foundation of racism, prejudice, and exclusion in science and our society. To ensure these actions remain active components of how we operate as scientists, educators, and members of society, we have coded them into our Lab’s Code of Conduct:

1) We will actively build a community in our lab that reflects the diverse community we need in Oceanography. We will actively recruit community members from marginalized groups and we will create a welcoming, inclusive, and educated environment to retain those community members and allow them to prosper.

2) Through coursework, lab discussions, and invited talks, we will a) improve our education on the history and ongoing struggle of marginalized people in our community and b) listen to, learn from, and celebrate the research and teachings of minoritized researchers and educators.

3) In our lab, we will make space to discuss and reflect upon what we have learned and how to continue improving ourselves through education and training, oversight, transparency, and accountability for the betterment of all.

4) In our research collaborations, we actively engage in the coproduction of knowledge with the communities in which we conduct collaborative research. We listen in multiple ways to understand their needs and goals and their ways of knowing and doing. We actively reject parachute/parasitic research.

5) Within our department, university, scientific community, and society, we will advocate for and support anti-racist initiatives. We will participate in formal training to provide us with the knowledge and tools to be openly inclusive and actively anti-racist and anti-prejudice.

6) Through social media, at university, national, and international meetings, and in our daily lives, we will use our voices to bolster minoritized voices, to defend against acts of racism and discrimination, and to demand substantive changes to policies and frameworks in order to promote recruitment and retention, equity, access, and inclusion for people from marginalized communities.

We pledge to engage in the work necessary to intentionally dismantle systemic racism. We promise to learn from mistakes, openly communicate, and hold each other and ourselves accountable.

We actively work with and learn from the URI-GSO JEDI Committee, spearheaded by our Assistant Dean of JEDI Princess Metuge. The URI-GSO DEI website has collated a number of valuable resources and links> to educate, train, and inspire our action in JEDI-related initiatives. Our lab has actively engaged in a number of URI-focused JEDI programs, including the URI Diversity and Inclusion Badge Program, the URI Social Justice and Inclusion Microcredential Program, the URI Safe Zone Project, and the URI Disability Advocacy Group.