Grad Students Off Limits- Even if they are wrong
The boring saga of the Berkeley 45 continues , as several more have now emerged to ensure that their denial of fundamental science and deep scientific consensus is codified in the archives of time. At the same time, those on the science side of the discussion make a critical mistake-- piling on to a grad student, presumably the one that led the charge. Grad students make mistakes, we all do. Our job as leaders should be to reach out, help them correct, and at worst, simply inspire their elevated thinking by doing the right thing. Unfortunately lots of folks have fallen into the trap of an eye for an eye. She stuck her neck out in a poorly-advised way and now is being singled out and pummeled on blogs and in the Twittersphere in a way that could ultimately affect her long-term career options. Some think that this is appropriate, that if she is going to make claims that run counter to science and besmirches the credibility of scientists she disagrees with, then she des