Wikipedia Commons

SAFE Actions

Proposed actions from Scientists Against a Fascist Establishment

Note: this is a living document. Contact us at SAFEscientists@gmail.com with suggested actions!

SAFE Statement in The Establishment. We believe in the power of non-violent resistance.

1. Tenured faculty collectively work on work stoppages and slow downs. No more business as usual.
2. Organize support for and fundraise for people who are punished because they speak out against the fascist establishment. (via Karen James on Twitter)
3. Faculty and administrators work together to support undocumented students and students on precarious visas who may become targeted by both old as well as newly enacted Federal policies. This includes both statements to the public, to students, and offering material resources, such as legal clinics.
4. Developing department-level strategies for helping students to remain academically successful despite additional duress.
5. Work with institutions to increase access to mental health care.
6. Pressure faculty governance bodies to pro-actively support diverse hiring, in a manner that pro-actively promotes the success of women and gender minorities of color especially.
7. Ensure that disabled people (of color) are recognized as being especially vulnerable. Ensure access to all needed services and spaces.
8. Take vocal stands against colonial acts of aggression such as the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Pressure universities to divest.
9. Scientists as private institutions should work with colleagues at public institutions to defend funding for entire university (including arts and humanities). (via Twitter)
10. Trainees: Commit to building community among students within and between institutions. This applies beyond STEM fields — social sciences, arts, and humanities are also at stake under an increasingly fascist establishment, but have not received nearly as much attention as the hard sciences. (from Jedidiah Carlson)
11. Trainees: Get to know some journalists — given Trump’s disdain for critical press (and likely attempts at suppression), solidarity between scientists and affected journalists is mutually beneficial. I’ve found that many students shy away from interacting with the press to avoid “speaking out of turn,” but journalists are often eager to get perspectives of early-career academics, since they represent the future of science (this has the added perk of establishing rapport for future #scicomm outreach). (from Jedidiah Carlson)
12. Trainees: Organize and show up to protests — trainees obviously comprise the vast majority of people in academia, so these numbers should be reflected in public displays of resistance. (from Jedidiah Carlson)
13. Trainees: Take advantage of the fact that trainees are not beholden to the internal institutional politics that might discourage faculty from taking a stand. In the long-term, trainees have the most to lose by authoritarian interference with science, so we have the obligation to become leaders of this movement and take ownership of our future. (from Jedidiah Carlson)
14. Trainees: Volunteer your talents to emerging grassroots activist organizations. Many could benefit from web design, data analysis, writing review, and other skills possessed by STEM grad students and postdocs. (from Jedidiah Carlson)
15. Trainees: Read up on the history of the scientific community’s resistance to political suppression/misappropriation. Become a vocal expert in how your specific field has been affected in the past and may be in the near future. (from Jedidiah Carlson)
16. Work to make a sanctuary campus by defunding local city and campus police and redirect those funds toward students who most need it and are most directly under attack by racial capitalism. (from Facón Grande)