Adventures in Diversity

Some of my best friends are…. sorry, different article. I am a big fan of affirmative action and sensible diversity regulations, especially in public sector jobs, being a native Appalachian I can certainly understand how generations of cultural and economic disadvantage become a self-repeating cycle that only direct intervention of some form can remedy. Specifically, if appropriate precautions have been taken to make sure all communities are notified of an opportunity, and all applicants are equal in ability, then I see no harm in selecting an economically disadvantaged person over someone else that has had and will have other opportunities.

As a practical progressive, I appreciate the idea that in modern America it would make more sense to base affirmative action plans on socio-economic class rather than gender or ethnicity. It could reasonably be argued that poor whites from Mingo County are in as much need of assistance as poor blacks in Mississippi.

I recently sat on a search committee to hire a member of upper management for a large public university. The search committee itself was 50% women and included 2 of the highest ranking African – American administrators the university employed. Notices of the position were advertised in professional minority publications and a well – known search consultant firm was hired to make it a true, broad national search.

But after sifting through many “race-blind” resumes, conducting phone interviews with the semi-finalists, and spending large numbers of university work-hours on the process, the search was suspended indefinitely for only one sited reason: the emerging candidate pool was not diverse enough. That is, the top 2 to 4 candidates were all white men.

The real problem was that in my opinion there were at least two exceptional candidates who would have been a great asset to our institution – passed over because their skin or gender were not correct.

In my view, non-discrimination means making sure that everyone has a fair shot. It should not mean reserving spaces at the table for specific physical attributes based on non-professional criteria.