Sepulkas
National Science Foundation’s INCLUDES program does not plan to either explain the demographic disparities in STEM or propose ways to reduce them... and we know why
Sepulkas (scrupts, in the English translation) appear throughout Stanisław Lem’s fictional universe. The defining property of sepulkas is that everybody knows about them, but it is socially unacceptable to ask what they are. The Encyclopaedia Cosmica defines sepulkas and entities adjacent to it as follows:
Sepulka – pl.: sepulkas, a prominent element of the civilization of Ardrites from the planet of Enteropia; see “Sepulkaria”.
Sepulkaria – sing: sepulkarium, establishments used for sepuling; see “Sepuling”.
Sepuling – an activity of Ardrites from the planet of Enteropia; see “Sepulka”.
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The recently launched, DEI-flavored National Science Foundation program, INCLUDES (or (I)nclusion across the (N)ation of (C)ommunities of (L)earners of (U)nderrepresented (D)iscoverers in (E)ngineering and (S)cience), aspires to
catalyze the STEM enterprise to work collaboratively for inclusive change, resulting in a STEM workforce that reflects the diversity of the Nation's population.
Among other things, the funded projects will
contribute rigorous research to the knowledge base about broadening participation in STEM
and
broaden participation in STEM, especially in STEM fields that lack diversity.
The INCLUDES proposal call is filled with diagrams, bulleted lists, etc, but it never gets past vague declarations, like this one:
The NSF INCLUDES vision is to catalyze the STEM enterprise to work collaboratively for inclusive change, resulting in a STEM workforce that reflects the diversity of the Nation's population.
One would think that such text would, at least, no matter how briefly, …
…indicate the reasons for the lack of diversity in STEM, and
outline ways of eliminating it.
For (1.), either discrimination or the abysmal state of the K-12 education would suffice, you can choose your poison. For (2.), the choice of poisons is between lowering the STEM field entrance requirements or improving the K-12 mathematical preparation. There is none of that in the call for proposals (well, almost, “preparation” is mentioned once).
Did the DEI warriors get tired of intimidating scientists into abolishing the scientific method and objectivity? Shouldn’t they still be fighting the demons of GREs and the devil of merit?
The answer is, they no longer need to. But how come?
Previous year INCLUDES program was planned to cost $1-2M of taxpayers’ money, per year, per “Alliance”, three Alliances in total. And those are salaries, not dilution refrigerators.
Meanwhile, globally, the DEI market is projected to reach $15.4B by 2026.
Aha, this is the answer! The proud holders of a recent BA degree in One-Thing-or-Another Studies finally got cushy salaries. They don’t need to spend their energy on harassing their professors anymore, on campus or outside it. Their parents can sleep better now. And the working class just got yet another flock of the laptop class to feed… with brioches or otherwise.