Dear QUBES Community Members,

We are confronting the reality and consequences of systemic racism in our society which result in violence against Black colleagues, students, and communities. This is exemplified by police murder and disproportionate COVID-19 deaths. In the midst of our national crisis, we acknowledge the critical anti-racist work our own educational community needs to do, as we operate within structures deeply infused with institutional racism. We know that biology and mathematics are, as disciplines, historically part of the science and power used to reinforce racist systems, and we need to be explicitly anti-racist in our actions. QUBES stands alongside STEM organizations committing to the anti-racist work ahead and endeavors to support this work.

QUBES pledges to participate in the #Strike4BlackLives to #ShutdownAcademia and #ShutdownSTEM, Wednesday June 10, 2020, initiated by our colleagues in physics and astronomy. Business as usual means that we continue to harm our Black communities. The Strike4BlackLives movement encourages us to forego “business as usual,” and instead commit ourselves to a day of action to fight for justice and equity for our Black community. We will be using this day to create specific action plans for QUBES. We at QUBES commit to our own professional development of leadership and staff to be more prepared to do and to support the change work that is necessary. We invite you to use Wednesday to reflect with us and enact support of our Black colleagues, friends, family, and community.

ShutdownSTEM has a pledge and a starter list of ways to get involved. We will be using the QUBES social media and platform to promote resources and partners, both tomorrow and in the future. We also invite the community to discuss the challenges ahead in our Open Communities, such as BUILDS and Teaching Quantitative Biology Online. To create meaningful change moving forward, we need to work together, and we are here to help, and here to learn from others.

Signed by the members of the QUBES Leadership Team,

Carrie Diaz Eaton, Director of Partnerships

Sam Donovan, Director of Open Educational Resources

M.Drew LaMar, Director of Cyberinfrastructure

Kristin Jenkins, Director of BioQUEST

Jeremy Wojdak, Director of Professional Development

Thank you to Dr. Bryan Dewsbury, who serves on the QUBES and SCORE Advisory Boards, for reviewing this statement.

1. racism
2. shutdownstem