oSTEM hosts guest speakers in efforts to foster a more diverse queer community

Just before spring break, out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM) hosted the president of the oSTEM National Board, Eric Patridge, who discussed the need to build LGBT+ communities within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

“[Patridge's] statistics gave a lot of insight as to which communities in STEM feel most comfortable in queer inclusiveness,” Tufts oSTEM President Julia Fowler said of the event. “There was a breakdown of who was most likely to be out in STEM communities, and how comfortable they are likely to feel in coming out and the issues behind it.”

The event was held as part of oSTEM’s speaker series, which plays a major role in oSTEM's efforts to strengthen the queer STEM community and create diversity within that queer community, Fowler, a junior, said.

“It is uncomfortably true in all communities that you get very little diversity even within,” Fowler said. “For example, we still have the cis gay man as the face in the queer community, and so with the speaker series, we wanted to change that perspective. We brought in a trans speaker and a female speaker, and reached [out] to speakers of different orientations.”

According to Fowler, these guest speakers, who work in STEM industries, become role models for STEM students who identify as queer.

“I think these events are super important because while there is a huge queer community at Tufts, it’s super segregated from science communities," Fowler said. "It used to be that when you hang out in a queer community or the LGBT Center, no one did science and most were students of humanities or social studies. It makes sense as these fields relate to the public policy of the queer movement, and they are great and obviously super important. But seeing these amazing people who have clearly gone through [this] is really exciting, because it’s a face you don't see that often.”

oSTEM Treasurer Chase Crumbaugh, a junior majoring in computer science, said he feels that the STEM community at Tufts is not as diverse as it could be.

“I feel like many people see Tufts as a progressive school, and that we don’t have issues here,” Crumbaugh said. “But there are problems here as well, and the STEM climate is not perfect, even here. I think it could be difficult to feel accepted when you are an outlier and there aren’t other minorities to relate with. So I think it’s good to have safe places where queer STEM students can go and see that they have peers they can relate to and share experiences with.”

Fowler noted that while STEM communities at Tufts are slowly improving in providing more diverse spaces for queer members, more work needs to be done to ensure awareness of the experiences of LGBT+ students in STEM fields.

“I think we definitely have more reaching out to do still with the STEM communities," Fowler said. "It’s harder because we can only go as far as our connections go, generally. Many heads of departments don’t even know what this group is yet and aren’t all that interested. As we get more members, we can reach out to more professors of various departments, but we don’t know how rapid that process can be.”

Regardless of the speed of this progress, Fowler said she believes it’s important to continue fostering diversity within the STEM community for students.

“I see no reason why there shouldn’t be more diversity in the communities,” Fowler said. “There is no reason to limit spaces to certain people, and it’s natural that you want everyone to be involved in something if they want to be involved in it.”

oSTEM is currently planning to host a panel on April 6, featuring openly queer Tufts professors who will discuss the “scientist identity,” according to Fowler. With more events planned, Fowler said she hopes to see support for the club continue.

“I just want it to keep up. I feel that many groups go through slumps, and we’ve been going really strong with all these great events," Fowler said. "I just want it to continue to be a space where everyone feels comfortable and people are excited about what’s going on in the group.”