June 2, 2005

Diversity or Conformity

If you want a diverse faculty, you need to pay more attention to search committees, according to speakers at a panel Wednesday at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.

Looking for a job?

See all 169 new postings

Browse all job listings:

Faculty: 3,565
Administrative: 1,669
Executive: 166
FEATURED EMPLOYERS

Many of the faculty members — asking that their names and institutions not be identified — shared experiences from search committees where they said minority candidates were assessed for their ability to “fit in” to the department. The phrase itself brought groans from an obviously familiar crowd. “They question if someone will fit in,” said one professor. “But if you get comments in recommendations like ‘they play well with others,’ it’s assumed it’s because they haven’t done enough good work.”

To some at the session, not “fitting in” is precisely the point. “I don’t think some discomfort would be a bad thing,” said Omega Barton, an undergraduate student at Grand Valley State University, in Michigan. “It stretches people.”

Many faculty members present said that the educational value of diversity must be built in to the search process. “If the policy is that we need diversity as an educational benefit to our students,” said Robert Crosman, associate professor of English at the University of Alaska at Anchorage, “then that criteria has to be built in, or it can’t be considered.”

An affirmative action officer who asked not to be identified said that some information that is supposed to be excluded unfortunately occasionally enters into the search process. The officer said that when “fitting in” talk begins about minority candidates, faculty members often start discussing gossip about the candidates’ personalities. The officer expressed the desire to stop a particular search in which that had happened, but “I do serve at the pleasure of the president,” the officer said. “And if the faculty hate me too much, I don’t have a job.”

Another faculty member gave an example of what speakers called “raising the bar.” The faculty member said that, in at least one case, men and women were evaluated differently in a search at her institution. She recalled a search committee that delighted at comments about a male candidate’s teaching, but saw it as a red flag for a female candidate, perhaps “code language” for lack of research.

The buzz-term “cultural competence,” which recently lit a controversy at the University of Oregon as part of a five-year diversity plan, came up several times. At Oregon, many professors were upset with what they saw as a vague term that might be used to evaluate faculty members and that would place diversity issues above others.

“’Cultural competence’ is understanding your own social station and the personalities and profits of your group membership and talking about that with new hires,” said JoAnn Moody, a diversity consultant and one of the session moderators. Carla Gary, assistant vice provost at Oregon, was among the attendees, and expressed her dismay that faculty members at Oregon reacted so defensively to the term “cultural competence” in the diversity plan. “This is not a new idea,” she said. “We’re not saying add an African American, a gay person and a woman and stir. We’re talking about the endless possibilities we can realize if we engage different people, and see through different eyes.”

Moody added that having faculty members from many different nations is not always a safe road to more diversity. “Immigrant professors ... often figure, ‘I came here without even the language,’ ” Moody said, explaining why some faculty members on search committees play down the educational benefits of diversity.

Judy Jackson, dean of the college at Vassar College, and the other session moderator, said that diversity is attainable for all institutions if their goals are concrete. “They need a definition of diversity,” she said. “If an institution knows why it wants diversity, and is serious about getting it, then they can get it,” Jackson said.

But for some diversity issues, few pragmatic solutions were proffered. Crosman, the professor from Alaska, said that there are few minority candidates with Ph.D.s in his state, and that it is very difficult to coax qualified professors to Anchorage. “How do you tell them about the winter?” asked one of the moderators. “We interview them in the summer,” Crosman said.

— David Epstein

Want it on paper? Print this page.
Know someone who’d be interested? Forward this story.
Want to stay informed? Sign up for free daily news e-mail.

Comments

Diversity versus discrimination

No candidate for faculty employment should be discriminated against because of race, ethnicity, or sex, and schools should cast their nets far and wide to ensure that the best candidates apply.

But for this very reason it is wrong—and illegal—to give any candidate a preference in the name of “diversity.” The recent University of Michigan decisions did not apply to employment, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act contains no exception for politically correct discrimination.

Yet this sort of discrimination is, as any faculty member knows, widespread, and it is rather odd that this fact is ignored in this article.

If any faculty member or applicant—of any color, national origin, or gender—believes that he or she has been the victim of discrimination because of race, ethnicity, or sex, we’d like to hear from her or him.

Roger Clegg, General counsel at Center for Equal Opportunity, at 10:16 am EDT on June 2, 2005

Locus of cultural competence

In my earlier remarks under the Oregon article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/05/31/oregon it may not have been clear enough that I saw the locus of cultural literacy and intercultural sensitivity as within individuals irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. I would rather see mainstream faculty with a wider awareness of their privileges and limitations than to bring in different but narrow viewpoints — one-issue candidates, as it were. Roger (above) would say that reverse discrimination is illegal as well as counterproductive in terms of excellence. And yet, what is the “best” is not absolute but includes dimensions such as representation of the community at large. A minority candidate might be best to reach and therefore educate some students as per the mission of the institution. While affirmative action served as a temporary compensation for previous inequalities of opportunity, lest minorities be forever tainted by the suspicion of favoritism or tokenism, the debate should shift to the overall contribution a candidate can make.

Japanned, Professor at Osaka Jogakuin College, Japan, at 3:55 am EDT on June 3, 2005

Nothing New Under the Sun ?

“Fitting” into a Department has always been used as a criteria for hiring. This is nothing new.Minorities may feel “self-conscious” about this and have good reason to to do given the “discriminatory history of hiring in higher education.Fitting has referred to either “ideological” fitting; in;sharing the “weltanshung of a deparment;or in terms of what my be described as “congeniality” and all that implies. As for the latter criteria, many years ago one of the criteria for my selection as a candidate for a position at a major state university was my interest in “football"! As ridiculous as this sounds remembering this event has caused me to ponder the questions below:

Should “congeniality” or “ideological compatability never be used as a criteria for hiring? Or, if it is, how much weight should be placed upon it? Is a Department just a collection of people teaching or researching in a common discipline? What other functions does a Department have? (committee’s; constructing a curricula,etc.) How does employing the criteria of “ideological compatability,and or ” “congeniality” affect the functions of a Department and the education of the students?

Kenneth D. Feigenbaum,Adjunct Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland-University College

kenneth feigenbaum, at 9:43 am EDT on June 3, 2005

Diversity Discrimination

For over thirty years, as a faculty member at a California State University campus, I have never witnessed anything other than solicitous, double standards behavior on the part of colleagues on personnel committees when it came time to evaluate female or ethnic minority candidates.

If any faculty member ever had doubts about those facts or had ever encountered discriminatory behavior or subtle assumptions of any sort that harmed the chances of a female or ethnic minority candidate they never once mentioned it.

As for the ludicrous and illiberal notion of “cultural competence” currently being debated at the U. of Oregon, one wonders if black students will be evaluated on their own understanding of “cultural competence” by being able to identify at least four cultural tendencies found among black Americans that harm, impede, restrict or otherwise obstruct their learning skills?

Those unable to carefully identify such black cultural tendencies would be obliged to read the scholarship of Elijah Anderson, John Ogbu, Shelby Steele, Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, and Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom to thereby enhance and improve their own “cultural competence.”

Chuck, at 11:10 am EDT on June 3, 2005

Diversity/Conformity

Good grief! When will America get over itself and start to make ethical choices? Look around you... Does your workplace truly reflect the population stats? If it doesn’t, make it your mission to bring it to the attention of those who are empowered to do something about it. If population stats say 3% Afro-Am or Hispanic, guess what?.. There are truly enough QUALIFIED GOOD FITS of the necessary ilk if you really want to find them... but you gotta go outside of your comfort level. You have got to make a serious effort. You may have to implement more targeted recruiting of minorities...You may have to weed out those biased hypocrites or ignorant(i mean that in a nice way)tradtionalists who still make decisions based upon maintaining the homogenous status quo. Boring!

Come on, higher education institutions!I thought you were the best and the brightest! Stats show that you are still doing the same old-same old. Our record is probably worse than Corporate World and that’s really a shame..Let’s get over ourselves and JUST DO IT!

Use that superior intellect and try walking a mile in the ragged shoes of a minority trying to break into the inside circle of academia. Now,figuratively,look inside your ample closets and pull out a pair of Manolo’s/Prada’s and give them to some deserving minority/female applicant.Sharing is a good thing.

MME X, at 12:33 pm EDT on June 3, 2005

The Orthodox Conformity of MMX

Before you offer any more of your ludicrous, unconstitutional and anti-intellectual exhortations that universities hire people according to their group membership, you should read the latest survey of “Doctorate Recipients form United States Universities, 2003″ and see why blacks and Hispanics remain so poorly representated there.

You may still imagine that racism is behind it, facts and evidence notwithstanding.

Thoughtful observers of the graduate school scene have suggested many more plausible reasons.

You should consider them sometimes in the name of genuine intellectaul diversity as opposed to the faux surname or skin color type you cling to.

Chuck, at 1:20 pm EDT on June 3, 2005

“Faculty” is not a unitary block

As a white University of Oregon faculty member working hard to increase my own cultural competence, I am concerned that “the faculty” are being represented as having one negative opinion on the proposed 5-year diversity plan. About 70 College of Education faculty members just published an ad in the UO newspaper expressing our support for diversity initiatives and taking responsibility for the outcomes. For every person screaming “Orwellian” or “vague” there is another person asking how we can operationalize definitions and measures of diversity competence that reflect current best practices in our fields.

Shoshana Kerewsky, at 10:48 pm EDT on June 3, 2005

What bull. This is not a discussion of “diversity.” No one at the conference is seeking to hire a David Horowitz or another conservative who might not fit in, or who might make the liberals feel uncomfortable. They are talking about quotas based or race, some ethnicities, and gender. The entire debate is to attempts to use euphemisms for “quotas": goals and timetables, diversity, giving preferences to the under represented, etc. Their objective is a quota policy; but never one which extends to conservative political views, or even preferences for under represented Evangelicals.—————Hugh Murray

Hugh, at 6:19 am EDT on June 4, 2005

Diversity Is A Damn Joke !

As I was reading this article, it came to my attention that “diversity” unfortunately is more a joke and than a serious issue worthy of being addressed by senior level adminstrators or faculty members. Its not on their agenda, and its not the goal nor the mission of the institution to seriously undertake this objective. Its more about window dressing.

To add injury to insult and insult to injury, we play too many games with “diversity” lingo. Racism,discrimination, labels, stereotyping, cultural ignorance, cliques for whites only are alive and well....just ask me about it. When you work day in and day out with colleagues who allegely claim they see you as equal yet their conversations, attitudes, behaviors and decorums on a daily basis indicate just the opposite.....its a real m—————-r to deal with. I know a few colleagues who neither respect or nor value people of color. For them as long as you stay in your place, laugh at their jokes, pretend that race/color are not issues, dont speak up and you are seen but not heard.....everything is just fine.

As one of my superficial colleagues once remarked to other colleagues, ” we need to pull him in. ” My response was....no, you need to stop pushing me out ! Asshole !You see the irony of it all is that we actually have colleagues who want to be friends with the racist and the minority and dont see them as mutually exclusive.

Subsequently, the argument is then conveyed “Whatever happened to just being who you are (black or white or other)” ..whatever that means?

I’m more than just tired of the diversity game, its a damn joke ! Lets get the laugh over with and move on ! I did !

Dr. Eric Rogers, Professor at St. Charles Community College, at 6:36 pm EDT on August 25, 2005

discrimination and “diversity”

No one is talking about hiring “less qualified” candidates. They are talking about giving minorities a level playing field. Racist and sexist comments and actions during searches indicate that the field is not even close to level yet. Where I work the administrators don’t even know what they mean by diversity, and have instigated a “strategic planning” process wherein 200 white people sit in a room and brainstorm about how to “improve diversity” on our racist campus in our racist community. The dean of students (who beleives that white privilege is a “dangerous concept” and that the majority of rapes are “accidental") suggested eliminating our women’s center and instead having a men’s center so “men can get support too". No wonder faculty and staff who have other options are fleeing en masse.

not quite correct, at 4:45 pm EST on November 18, 2005

Jobs Related to Diversity or Conformity

or search for jobs directly.

Internal & External Education and Training Coordinator
SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Nestled in a beautiful valley in the western Southern Tier of New York State, Alfred State College has a long tradition of ... see job

Vice President for Faculty and Staff Resources
Rutgers University

Founded in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is located between New York City and Philadelphia and has three ... see job

Training Design Analyst
University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA Advancement Services is seeking a Training Design Analyst. see job

Compensation Manager
University of California, Los Angeles

External Affairs’ Human Resources seeks a Compensation Manager. see job

Assistant Dean for Human Resources
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Assume substantial independent senior administrative authority in the Dean’s Office, School of Medicine; for leadership and ... see job

Manager, Recruitment and Compensation
Penn State University

Penn State, the nation’s leading University in the integration of teaching, research, and service, seeks an organized, ... see job

Assistant Professor
Suffolk University

Position Summary: HUMAN RESOURCES, LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE GRADUATE PROGRAMS Full-time, tenure-track ... see job

Manager, EA Human Resources (12804)
University of California, Los Angeles

The Manager, EA Human Resources, reports to the Executive Director, External Affairs Administration, with primary ... see job

Patent Counsel
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

The University of Minnesota is a premier employer and a talent magnet attracting leading faculty and staff from around the ... see job

Compensation Specialist
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is being built in Saudi Arabia as an international, ... see job

Diversity or Conformity

Related stories

Comments

Diversity versus discrimination

Locus of cultural competence

Nothing New Under the Sun ?

Diversity Discrimination

Diversity/Conformity

The Orthodox Conformity of MMX

“Faculty” is not a unitary block

Diversity Is A Damn Joke !

discrimination and “diversity”

Jobs Related to Diversity or Conformity

Internal & External Education and Training Coordinator SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Vice President for Faculty and Staff Resources Rutgers University

Training Design Analyst University of California, Los Angeles

Compensation Manager University of California, Los Angeles

Assistant Dean for Human Resources University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Manager, Recruitment and Compensation Penn State University

Assistant Professor Suffolk University

Manager, EA Human Resources (12804) University of California, Los Angeles

Patent Counsel University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Compensation Specialist King Abdullah University of Science and Technology