The Scientist - USA (2019-12)

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n January of this year, Megan Neely,

the director of Duke University’s bio-

statistics master’s program, made

international headlines after urging

students not to speak Chinese to one

another while in the building where the

program is housed. Tw o other faculty

members had complained to her about

hearing students speaking Chinese “very

loudly,” she wrote in an email to students

in the program, and had asked to see

photos of the program’s students so they

could remember them in future intern-

ship interviews or if they asked to work

with them on master’s projects. Neely

warned the group to “keep these unin-

tended consequences in mind when you

choose to speak in Chinese in the build-

ing.” Once public, the email drew wide-

spread condemnation, including from

China’s foreign minister. Neely soon

apologized and stepped down as pro-

gram director, although she remains on

Duke’s faculty.

The incident put a fleeting spot-

light on language-related questions that,

while common in the wider academic

community, are seldom topics of pub-

lic discussion or guidance. As of 2017,

nearly 233,000 graduate students and

35,000 postdocs from other countries

were studying in science, engineering,

and health fields on temporary visas in

the US, according to a National Science

Foundation survey. While that survey

did not touch on country of origin, the

Institute of International Education has

put out statistics showing that Chinese

nationals make up the largest share of all

international students in the US (under-

graduate and graduate), followed by Indi-

ans, South Koreans, Saudi Arabians, and

Canadians.

So the questions of when it is appro-

priate to speak a language other than

English in an academic setting, and the

extent to which faculty can or should

regulate that balance, are highly rele-

vant to those working in the sciences. Ye t

there are no agreed-upon answers, and

few universities issue advice on the mat-

ter, leaving staff and students on their

own to navigate a minefield of sensitivi-

ties about identity, inclusivity, and power

dynamics that surround communication

in the lab.

“It’s a very complicated issue, the lan-

guage thing,” says K.C. Liu, a biostatisti-

cian from China who has been a member

of labs in Canada and the US with differ-

ent approaches to the matter. “It’s a very

difficult thing to go about solving.”

A nuanced issue

In her January email, Neely wrote that

the faculty who complained to her were

“disappointed that these students were

not taking the opportunity to improve

their English and were being so impo-

lite as to have a conversation that not

everyone on the floor could understand.”

The Duke faculty members weren’t

alone in their thinking. A chemistry

professor at a university in the north-

population

ecology

Do English-only policies promote or undermine inclusivity in the lab?

BY SHAWNA WILLIAMS

The Language Question