The administration finally agreed to our demands for oversight and mandatory changes to the lab culture. Knowing that Lucile and Jordan are part of the reason this change is happening brings me a relief I cannot fully put into words. I will be watching closely to ensure these new policies …
February 19, 2020
Final supporters
Dear MSK and WCM leadership,
The student and postdoc communities are concerned about the alleged suicides of two of our students, Lucile Crozet and Jordan Aronowitz, in the last two years.
Studies show that graduate students struggle with anxiety and depression 3 to 6 times more than the general population. The uncertainty of success in experimental research makes academic science a career with many obstacles and poor work-life balance. In addition, social isolation and feelings of inadequacy, especially among underrepresented groups, contribute to create an environment challenging for mental health.
We are painfully aware that this is not always the complete story. We understand that in many cases there are undesirable working conditions that exacerbate the already stressful research life. The abusive behaviors of certain mentors towards students/postdocs are well known amongst members of the scientific community. These behaviors include but are not limited to: pressuring students to work overtime, creating a hostile work environment through public shaming and belittling, and often making inappropriate sexual, ethnic, religious and/or personal criticisms of subordinates.
Lucile and Jordan might have experienced these abusive conditions in their respective laboratories. While we can’t conclusively attribute their deaths to these factors alone, studies have shown that a toxic working culture can exacerbate mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Although we cannot change the past, your prompt attention and action can help to create a better work environment to prevent more tragedies in the future.
We are proud of being part of the MSK and WCM communities and their noble mission of expanding knowledge and improving the lives of people around the world. For these reasons, when our institutions fail to provide a safe working environment, it is our duty to speak up. We stand with our fellow students to defend our wellness and improve our working environments so that the stories of Lucile and Jordan are never repeated. In light of the above, we demand:
- the prompt internal investigation of the aforementioned cases with full transparency;
- measures to increase awareness and prevention of mental health disorders in our community;
- sensitivity and leadership training for all mentors on an annual basis that includes tutorials on how to detect the warning signs of mental illness in their students and outlines an institutionally approved protocol to address the situation appropriately;
- an increase in the availability and accessibility of resources for student mental health awareness and management
- a bi-annual survey that all students and postdocs are required to complete anonymously that assesses their relationship with their mentor and their lab environment, followed by an investigation when inappropriate behaviors are reported
- accountability when abusive behaviors are proven and justice for the victims.
We hope that your institution, a place that many of us consider our home, will listen to our demands and join us in our goal to create a better environment for everyone.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
January 8, 2020
January 7, 2020
Seeing the count hit one hundred signatures feels incredibly heavy. I keep thinking about Lucile and Jordan while reading your messages because this pain is felt by so many of us.
January 7, 2020
I have been hearing from so many of you about the toxic culture that stays hidden behind laboratory doors. The silence from leadership is frustrating but it only confirms that we have to keep pushing for accountability in honor of Lucile and Jordan.
Reached 100 supporters
January 7, 2020
70 Comments
The fact that there are two suicides is immensely alarming on its own that theoretically, it shouldn't require a petition for action to be taken immediately. Nevertheless, in the absence of this action to raise awareness, destigmatize mental health issues, and preventing another suicide from happening again, I fully support this petition.
Mental health is no joke but is often stigmatized and/or considered a weakness when it is really a disease like the cancer we study...
The institution knows who they are. This is why program chairs advise students to stay away from particular labs. Unfortunately these labs still exist, hire staff, recruit interns, and still often end up with students who couldn't match with a lab through rotations. If these faculty are found guilty of being abusive, the institution is fully responsible for harboring these cretins.
100% agree with the need for measures to address these issues. I believe that annual training and anonymous surveys for lab members is definitely a positive start to changing toxic work environments and to make those that are not in a position of power feel supported. In fact, it is surprising to me that institutes do not already employ these as basic practices.
Thank you. How about including research technicians as well? Such individuals are often new to science and or the workforce which can render them vulnerable to manipulation or exploitation of boundaries. Thanks!
Regardless of whether you think it's the school's responsibility or what you think the causes were, the fact is: these tragedies were preventable. The least that can be done is to critically examine the policies and culture of the Tri-I community and actually commit to changes, and at a minimum, the outcome will be better safeguards for students and postdocs who are in vulnerable positions in their careers and lives.
We all need to meet to discuss these ideas and define exactly what we want to ask the institutions. I don’t think you really understood that point of the petition. We understand that dealing with conflicts within the lab is also responsibility of the mentor. And it doesn’t matter how much training a mentor gets about mental health issues, they are not doctors to diagnose anyone. However, they can learn things like when they can put pressure in a student or not, to touch base with their students/postdocs in a regular basis not only to get scientific results, but also to know how motivated/demoralize they are, etc. These are things I do get from my mentor and, guess what, they help a lot.
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The administration finally agreed to our demands for oversight and mandatory changes to the lab culture. Knowing that Lucile and Jordan are part of the reason this change is happening brings me a relief I cannot fully put into words. I will be watching closely to ensure these new policies …
February 19, 2020
Final supporters
Dear MSK and WCM leadership,
The student and postdoc communities are concerned about the alleged suicides of two of our students, Lucile Crozet and Jordan Aronowitz, in the last two years.
Studies show that graduate students struggle with anxiety and depression 3 to 6 times more than the general population. The uncertainty of success in experimental research makes academic science a career with many obstacles and poor work-life balance. In addition, social isolation and feelings of inadequacy, especially among underrepresented groups, contribute to create an environment challenging for mental health.
We are painfully aware that this is not always the complete story. We understand that in many cases there are undesirable working conditions that exacerbate the already stressful research life. The abusive behaviors of certain mentors towards students/postdocs are well known amongst members of the scientific community. These behaviors include but are not limited to: pressuring students to work overtime, creating a hostile work environment through public shaming and belittling, and often making inappropriate sexual, ethnic, religious and/or personal criticisms of subordinates.
Lucile and Jordan might have experienced these abusive conditions in their respective laboratories. While we can’t conclusively attribute their deaths to these factors alone, studies have shown that a toxic working culture can exacerbate mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Although we cannot change the past, your prompt attention and action can help to create a better work environment to prevent more tragedies in the future.
We are proud of being part of the MSK and WCM communities and their noble mission of expanding knowledge and improving the lives of people around the world. For these reasons, when our institutions fail to provide a safe working environment, it is our duty to speak up. We stand with our fellow students to defend our wellness and improve our working environments so that the stories of Lucile and Jordan are never repeated. In light of the above, we demand:
- the prompt internal investigation of the aforementioned cases with full transparency;
- measures to increase awareness and prevention of mental health disorders in our community;
- sensitivity and leadership training for all mentors on an annual basis that includes tutorials on how to detect the warning signs of mental illness in their students and outlines an institutionally approved protocol to address the situation appropriately;
- an increase in the availability and accessibility of resources for student mental health awareness and management
- a bi-annual survey that all students and postdocs are required to complete anonymously that assesses their relationship with their mentor and their lab environment, followed by an investigation when inappropriate behaviors are reported
- accountability when abusive behaviors are proven and justice for the victims.
We hope that your institution, a place that many of us consider our home, will listen to our demands and join us in our goal to create a better environment for everyone.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
January 8, 2020
January 7, 2020
Seeing the count hit one hundred signatures feels incredibly heavy. I keep thinking about Lucile and Jordan while reading your messages because this pain is felt by so many of us.
January 7, 2020
I have been hearing from so many of you about the toxic culture that stays hidden behind laboratory doors. The silence from leadership is frustrating but it only confirms that we have to keep pushing for accountability in honor of Lucile and Jordan.
Reached 100 supporters
January 7, 2020
70 Comments
Wish the school put more focus on not just providing the medical resources but also train the PIs to become better mentors and create a healthy environment for students’ mental health.
The fact that there are two suicides is immensely alarming on its own that theoretically, it shouldn't require a petition for action to be taken immediately. Nevertheless, in the absence of this action to raise awareness, destigmatize mental health issues, and preventing another suicide from happening again, I fully support this petition.
Mental health is no joke but is often stigmatized and/or considered a weakness when it is really a disease like the cancer we study...
The institution knows who they are. This is why program chairs advise students to stay away from particular labs. Unfortunately these labs still exist, hire staff, recruit interns, and still often end up with students who couldn't match with a lab through rotations. If these faculty are found guilty of being abusive, the institution is fully responsible for harboring these cretins.
100% agree with the need for measures to address these issues. I believe that annual training and anonymous surveys for lab members is definitely a positive start to changing toxic work environments and to make those that are not in a position of power feel supported. In fact, it is surprising to me that institutes do not already employ these as basic practices.
Thank you. How about including research technicians as well? Such individuals are often new to science and or the workforce which can render them vulnerable to manipulation or exploitation of boundaries. Thanks!
Regardless of whether you think it's the school's responsibility or what you think the causes were, the fact is: these tragedies were preventable. The least that can be done is to critically examine the policies and culture of the Tri-I community and actually commit to changes, and at a minimum, the outcome will be better safeguards for students and postdocs who are in vulnerable positions in their careers and lives.
We all need to meet to discuss these ideas and define exactly what we want to ask the institutions. I don’t think you really understood that point of the petition. We understand that dealing with conflicts within the lab is also responsibility of the mentor. And it doesn’t matter how much training a mentor gets about mental health issues, they are not doctors to diagnose anyone. However, they can learn things like when they can put pressure in a student or not, to touch base with their students/postdocs in a regular basis not only to get scientific results, but also to know how motivated/demoralize they are, etc. These are things I do get from my mentor and, guess what, they help a lot.
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Wish the school put more focus on not just providing the medical resources but also train the PIs to become better mentors and create a healthy environment for students’ mental health.