Request for topics for next C&D Town Hall

[Johnston-Halperin, Ezekiel]

Dear Physics Community,

First, let me echo Brian’s comments by expressing my admiration for how effectively we, as a community, took advantage of the opportunity presented by last week’s Town Hall. Despite the intrinsically emotional nature of the topics discussed, I saw everyone who participated working hard to be respectful and professional in their comments and questions, and displaying an admirable willingness to honestly engage with different viewpoints. This is, to my knowledge, the first time that we have had a substantive policy discussion with representatives from all the populations within our community in the same room, and we sure didn’t pick an easy topic for our first attempt! My hope is that we can make this level of honest and transparent dialogue the new normal for our department, as I think this is absolutely required if we want to realize the level of excellence, on all axes, that I believe we all aspire to.

To that end, I would like to follow up on my final question for the Town Hall: whether we should have another. There was some immediate interest in the room, and I have received substantial interest since then, so I am writing now to lay the groundwork for another productive and effective discussion. In conversations with Brian, we have tentatively identified the week of April 15th as the scheduling target and I would like to ask for your input as to the focus. I have attached below a link to an anonymous one-question Qualtrics poll aimed at collecting your thoughts as to what you would like to see discussed. Climate and Diversity will review the suggestions and try to put together a reasonable agenda with 2-4 topics. If we get more than we can handle in one meeting, we will use them as the basis for the Town Hall after that or find some other appropriate venue (such as a smaller group discussion), as appropriate.

Once again, my thanks to all of you for helping our department to move forward, I look forward to speaking with you again in April.

Qulatrics Link:
https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6zHItHjqo0jYXPL

Best wishes,
Zeke Johnston-Halperin
Chair, Climate and Diversity Committee
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