A study examining the doctoral degree experiences of 100 women and/or individuals who identify as LGTBQ found that an overwhelming majority had overall negative experiences. According to the research, the negative experiences were related to feelings of exclusion or marginalization because of their minoritized identities.
“So much of how people learn and experience the world is inseparable from who they are as people,” said Assistant Professor Justin Gutzwa, lead author of the study. “Yet physics programs [one of the academic foci of the paper] remind people, or tell people falsely, that who they are as people doesn’t matter.”
Challenges experienced
The qualitative research, published in Physical Review Physics Education Research (September 2024), uncovered “systemic-level issues” across physics and astronomy degree-granting programs at U.S. higher education institutions.
Most study participants felt their programs perpetuated a culture where “identity was seen as unnecessary and superfluous to graduate physics education.” This was reaffirmed in various ways, including the fact that race, gender and sexual orientation were rarely, if ever, discussed in and out of classes. This led to feelings of isolation and drew respondents to find communities in other areas of campus or outside of campus altogether.
Several respondents used “toxic” or other related words to “describe their relationships with” other academic community members. In one case, a respondent witnessed the ostracization of a female colleague who came forward with sexual harassment allegations. In another case, an individual reported a “hostile, exclusionary” environment toward pregnant individuals.
The strained experiences sometimes were felt between advisors and students. One person described how they wanted to leave their program but were made to feel like leaving would result in negative financial connotations for the program; they felt guilted into staying. Another individual experienced faculty talking negatively about students by name during inter-departmental conversations.
Opportunities found
Yet, amid these negative experiences, respondents found areas of support by forging paths themselves.
They described leaning on their friends, roommates and student groups for support. They also sought out faculty mentors who “showed them who they want[ed] to become [as professionals].”
Therein lies part of the issue, said Gutzwa, who is part of the MSU Department of Educational Administration.
While it is uplifting to see how people found support on their own, Gutzwa argues that this shouldn’t have to be the norm.
“There is brilliance to be found in creating spaces that affirm students’ identities,” they said. “That work is often put onto the shoulders of students. But it is everyone’s responsibility.”
What can change
Gutzwa offers some suggestions to change the course.
Higher education institutions need more inclusive faculty hiring processes to have more representation. While data show a rise in bachelor’s degrees in physics overall, physics is stagnant in its sustained low attainment and faculty representation of Black, Latinx and women communities.
Faculty often do what Gutzwa calls the “invisible labor of mentoring and supporting other minoritized students.” Typically, they added, this work falls on the shoulders of women (and particularly women of color), LGBTQ scholars and other minoritized faculty. However, such efforts are rarely part of tenure and promotion policies – and, because of this, some faculty may not regularly seek or accept mentoring opportunities with minoritized students, or at all. Gutzwa suggests that institutions encourage and reward faculty for mentoring by:
- Increasing the intentional integration of labor that supports minoritized students into tenure and promotion processes.
- Incentivizing all faculty to take advantage of professional development related to mentoring, especially for minoritized students.
These are samples of ways to “celebrate and generate beautiful thought,” Gutzwa said. These suggestions not only honor the students, but they also increase inclusivity and camaraderie.
While some degree-granting programs may attempt to be “identity neutral” by avoiding or rejecting identity-based supports and discussions, “neutrality is never really neutral,” Gutzwa explained.
“Sadly, universal truths are racism, sexism and transphobia,” Gutzwa said. “Until we work toward making these actual relics in our classrooms, departments and workspaces, the work we do will remain deeply rooted in these systems, which should be archaic.”