We present the responses to a community-led questionnaire for candidates for AAS election on their views of issues relating to inclusion and equity in astronomy. The questionnaire (which was not endorsed or sponsored by AAS or its committees) was sent out to candidates on Dec 4, requesting a response by Dec 14. This short time scale was set by a desire to collect responses before the AAS election, voting for which has now opened. We recognize that this was also a time when many candidates (as well as the folks who helped put together this survey) faced many pressures and demands from the end of the semester and final exams. We are grateful to all of those candidates who in this busy time were able to make time to respond. Given the limited time frame, we accepted responses to part or all of the questionnaire, as well as free-form statements on candidate views of equity and inclusion. As the first effort of this type, we hope that feedback will improve similar efforts in the future. We would also love to see other interested folks in the community take the lead in expanding similar questionnaires (or in asking AAS to provide more direction for the statements written by candidates) in order to address not only equity and inclusion, but other issues that matter to us as astronomers, so that we can all vote in a more informed way.
Also included in this folder is a read-me document that shares the instructions given to the candidates for their participation. We invite you to read and consider all of these candidate responses, and to use them to engage the candidates and our elected AAS representatives in a continuing conversation about these important issues.
Finally, we are especially grateful to other AAS members, many junior, who wish to remain anonymous but assisted greatly with brainstorming and executing this survey.
Prof. Rebekah Dawson
Prof. Elisabeth Mills
Prof. Jorge Moreno
Dr. Nicole Cabrera Salazar
Prof. Sarah Tuttle
This effort is a community-led initiative. This should not be construed as and activity organized or endorsed by the AAS or its Standing Committees.
Good post.
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