C-Hub Spotlight, Issue 6, June 2023

Featured Topic: Allyship

In celebration of Pride Month and our LGBTQIA colleagues, this issue of the C-Hub newsletter throws the spotlight on allyship as a tool to support and respect all the members of our diverse society. The spirit of allyship reflects the core values of OIST. See a description of those values here on the OIST website.

Allies ­­­affirm the identities, contributions, and voices of those who are minoritized.  They advocate for and empower those who are subjected to microaggressions, biases, and inequities. They can directly or indirectly dismantle microaggressions, bias, and bullying. In so doing, there is also a potential opportunity to educate the microaggressor while affirming the identity(ies) of the affected individual. We each have the ability to learn how to practice allyship to foster an institutional culture in which every individual has a strong sense of belonging and is able to thrive as their authentic self.

What’s the evidence?

Allies can directly address systemic prejudices and unconscious biases and step up to act and provide an example for other bystanders (e.g., Coker et al., 2015; Midgett, Doumas, Trull, & Johnson, 2017). Confronting prejudicial attitudes (e.g., statements that exhibit racial or gender bias) directly is of primary importance (Smith et al., 2018). Moreover, addressing these injustices can be most effectively achieved without being aggressive (Hyers, 2010). Those who are confronted can become more reflective and therefore will be less prone to exhibiting the undesired behaviors or language in the future. At the same time, bystanders can become more responsive in the future when they witness microaggressions; they may develop a self-awareness of their own implicit biases (Blanchard, Lilly, & Vaughn, 1991; Monteith, Deneen, & Tooman, 1996). Allies contribute to building an inclusive and safe workplace environment for minoritized individuals to enable them to be fully participatory (e.g., Law, Martinez, Ruggs, Hebl, & Akers, 2011; Wessel, 2017). Allyship thus leads to increased levels of well-being and a strong sense of belonging in the organization (e.g., Lloren & Parini, 2017).

What can you do?

Here are seven suggested actions for you to take to become an ally:

  • become aware of and understand the mechanisms that cause discrimination, including your own potential biases, prejudices, and beliefs
  • learn how to talk about issues and experiences faced by minoritized groups and individuals
  • educate others and encourage them not to be bystanders or ignore prejudice by engaging in acts of affirmation
  • support anti-discrimination publicly, including confronting those who perpetuate prejudice in their words and behaviors
  • become part of a peer-mentoring circle to further increase our understanding of our diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives (more information on C-Hub’s Peer-Mentoring Program here)
  • take Harvard’s Implicit Association test (link to the test in English here; link to the test in Japanese here; more information about the test here)
  • participate in C-Hub’s upcoming workshop, “Microaggressions, Implicit Bias, and Allyship” this summer. Exact date to be determined, but please watch for future announcements.

Upcoming events:

  • Pride Month 2023: Bloom Together, continues with a series of fun and insightful events throughout the month of June. Presented by The OIST LBGTQ+ Allies. Everyone is invited to join in to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. All members of the OIST community that would like to learn, discuss, and engage in LGBTQ+ issues are welcome to join us. Please see their webpage with regular event postings here.
  • C-Hub will host a workshop as part of the Pride Month events listed above entitled, "Coming Out in Class: Why active learning is important in science courses for LGBTQIA students," on Friday, June 23, 2023, 12:00 to 13:00. The workshop is facilitated by C-Hub Director Kathy Takayama. Please register on the C-Hub event page here.
  • Registration for C-Hub’s Academic Job Market Workshop Series is now open to all OIST members. Here is the link. The first workshop on CV writing will be held Monday, June 19, from 16:15-17:15, in Room L4F01. For more details on the series, see here.
  • The 4th Study Session for OIST Administrative Staff “Research Areas of Science and Technology” will be held Thursday, July 6, 13:30-14:30, by Dr. Mizuki Shimanuki (Office of the Provost) and Ayumi Nagai (C-Hub). This series of sessions are for members in the administrative and management divisions to provide basic overall knowledge of OIST’s research activities, and to connect the understanding to a broader perspective of their role in the organization. The first 5 sessions are offered in Japanese, and English sessions will be held from September to December. Find more about the series here.
  • C-Hub’s Peer Mentoring Circles Program will be taking applications for the next iteration of the circles. See more information about the program here.

Announcements:

  • The most recent addition to the C-Hub online library is The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist (MIT Press). The C-Hub online library has an extensive and interesting collection of books on mentoring, teaching and learning, and other professional development topics that you can check out. See that list here. [*Note, this is only open to OIST members.]
  • C-Hub has recently published it’s twenty-six-page “Inaugural Report,” covering all C-Hub programming over the period from December 2021 to February 2023. Please read the report here.

C-Hub Services and Programs:

C-Hub provides individual consultations for all members of the OIST community on a broad range of topics including career consultations, pedagogy, course and syllabus design, CVs and resumés (for the academic and non-academic job market), teaching portfolios and statements, DEI (diversity, equity, & inclusion), CliftonStrengths Coaching, work-life balance, etc. For more information, visit our Consultations and Coaching page here. C-Hub offers regularly scheduled programs, such as the Teaching and Course Design Certificate Program, and Peer Mentoring Circles Program. Watch this space for future announcements.

References and Further Reading:

Blanchard, F. A., Lilly, T., & Vaughn, L. A. (1991). Reducing the expression of racial prejudice. Psychological Science, 2, 101105.

Coker, A. L., Fisher, B. S., Bush, H. M., Swan, S. C., Williams, C. M., Clear, E. R., & DeGue, S. (2015). Evaluation of the green dot bystander intervention to reduce interpersonal violence among college students across three campuses. Violence Against Women, 21, 15071527.

Hyers, L. L. (2010). Alternatives to silence in face-to-face encounters with everyday heterosexism: Activism on the interpersonal front. Journal of Homosexuality, 57, 539565.

Law, C. L., Martinez, L. R., Ruggs, E. N., Hebl, M. R., & Akers, E. (2011). Transparency
in the workplace: How the experiences of transsexual employees can be improved. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79, 710723.

Lloren, A., & Parini, L. (2017). How LGBT-supportive workplace policies shape the experience of lesbian, gay men, and bisexual employees. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14,
289299.

Midgett, A., Doumas, D. M., Trull, R., & Johnson, J. (2017). Training students who occasionally bully to be peer advocates: Is a bystander intervention effective in reducing bullying behavior? Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, 3, 113.

Monteith, M. J., Deneen, N. E., & Tooman, G. D. (1996). The effect of social norm activation on the expression of opinions concerning gay men and blacks. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 18, 267288.

Smith, N. A., Labadie, B. R., McCord, M. A., Martinez, L. R., Hamilton, K. M., Carsey, T. A., Zinno, S. E., & Sculley, J. R. (2018). Outspoken allies: Meta-analysis of prejudice confrontation research. In Workplace allies: Exploring the stages in becoming an effective and vocal ally. Symposium presented at the Annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, Chicago, IL.

Wessel, J. L. (2017). The importance of allies and allied organizations: Sexual orientation disclosure and concealment at work. Journal of Social Issues, 73, 240254.