(Sam Powers | Student Life)
After a year-long investigation, Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) Internal and external reporting carried out by catalystOn the “climate and culture” of consulting companies and institutions, December 14th.
One of the key findings reported in the survey was that men at WUSM felt more included, safe, and welcome than women at the student and faculty level.
More than 4,000 people responded to a workplace survey, and more than 350 participated in focus groups, listening sessions, or sent messages through an anonymous portal created for the report. Both internal and external reports described a “boy's club” culture and a “potentially hostile” environment for women.
WUSM leadership, including Dean David H. Perlmutter and Sherry Wilson, vice provost and associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, declined to be interviewed by Student Life about the report's findings.
All current and former members of the special committee responsible for preparing the internal report were not permitted by WUSM to speak to the media.
Only 29% of people say they “often” or “always” have a positive comprehensive experience with WUSM, an aggregate metric generated by Catalyst that compares WUSM to other organizations in the company. We've worked with companies that have averaged 7% lower than some “comparison scores.”
“I don’t know if we are creating the safe space that we say we are,” an anonymous female resident said in an internal report.
One teacher said how much effort schools need to make in terms of psychological safety, which is defined as “feeling able to approach leadership without fear of retaliation.” I emphasized that.
Almost half of respondents reported that they often feel psychologically safe in their work environment. Only 35 non-white female faculty and “learners” (graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents) say they feel their workplace is “often or always inclusive.” % and 39%.
“Interviews revealed an intense culture of extremely talented people, but also men and women. Women agree that the culture is unsupportive of women and potentially hostile to women. They,” read the WashU report.
Mackenzie Lemieux, a fourth-year medical student and co-leader of the Student Advocacy Group (SFET), which aimed to force WUSM to conduct an internal report on the workplace environment, said the report was “not what we expected. “It was,” he said. It will be. ”
Lemieux co-founded SFET with WUSM fourth-year student Jackson Burton, and the two helped create a petition to gather student input, create a task force, and release a final report. .
Lemieux said that in her experience, if female students did not choose to be “one of the boys,” they would not be able to receive funding, collaborate with mentors, or work on more interesting projects. Told.
“Even among the professors, there was a strong sense of the old white boys' club,” Lemieux says.
Gwendolyn Randolph, Emile Unanyu Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Immunology and past president of the Academic Women's Network (AWN), connected with SFET after giving a speech at AWN's annual holiday reception, and He highlighted the issues of reporting and sexual harassment that were brought to light. Student life articles Published in December 2022.
Randolph accepted the department head position in 2015, but often found herself the only woman in most meetings. She resigned after two years because she felt diminished by those around her.
“I felt like I was getting used to it in parts.” [show] There are women leaders in the outside world, so it's not a problem,” Randolph said. “We’re overcoming our boys’ club reputation, but inside it’s been a really challenging experience.”
When she was head of the department, she heard comments about female graduate students being treated as “second-class citizens” and became inspired to work more closely with them. In 2017, Randolph resigned and she began working as immunology program director, a position she held until 2023.
The experiences of these and other students point to a larger issue of procedural fairness, with an external report stating that “fair, timely and respectful decision-making processes, not individual outcomes, This was one of the lowest scoring indicators. For school.
Only 29% of respondents say their workplace is “often or always” permissive when it comes to procedural fairness. A large majority of white and minority female teachers, approximately 84% to 85%, said that procedures at their school were often or always “not fair.”
One female resident said medical students and residency-level students are recognized for their work, but beyond that, they are not given the same recognition as men.
“There is no transparency in promotion criteria,'' says a female teacher. “What do I need to get promoted? [I know] Some women took more than 10 years to become associate professors…If we don't better support people in their careers, we won't be able to sustain great care, research and clinical production because young people won't stay. . they leave. ”
by WUSM Guidelines for Faculty Appointment and Promotion; Transfers between tracks at the assistant professor level generally must occur before the end of the fifth year as an assistant professor.
Organizational distrust is especially deep in the human resources department, which multiple interviewees described as a “black box.”
“One of the most frustrating things is the constant talk about things that we know are problems, but the lack of action is deafening,” a male teacher said in the Catalyst report. , referred to past complaints that were not addressed. .
The lack of standardized procedures for dealing with faculty misconduct was another issue for Lemieux that was addressed by WashU's report. According to her, “You file an HR report. It's a black hole and most of the time nothing happens.”
Randolph and Lemieux agree that WUSM will streamline existing systems and implement a “one front door” policy so that filers are aware of their status after filing a complaint with human resources. I support the decision.
Lemieux said that in his experience as co-leader of SFET, he heard many stories from students who were worried that faculty would be able to see complaints submitted and treat students differently depending on the complaint. I started listening.
“Students are asking for more clarity. [reporting] In the process, they wonder who will see their reports, who will choose the punishment for the perpetrators, or whether any punishment will ever be meted out,” Lemieux said.
Randolph said the report, released just days before students went on winter break, has not been widely discussed within her department at WUSM. Although she is trying to remain optimistic, she worries that there are some parts of the facility that are unlikely to make meaningful change.
“[I’ve] Randolph said a number of his faculty colleagues have left over the years, and some of the reasons may have been related to gender discrimination, whether intentional or not.
WUSM culture and Randolph reportedly wonders, “Do we really want to change, or do we want to appear to change? And if we do, how do we go about it?”