Today's award goes to the persons responsible for the faculty training guide just released by the University of California.
Phrases such as “America is the land of opportunity” and “America is a melting pot" are "micro-aggressions" that could leave some students feeling discriminated against, according to a new faculty training guide put out by the University of California that one former professor in the system says shows "how crazy it's become."
. . .
The guide ... uses the same argument to condemn a number of seemingly innocuous statements, such as:
- “I believe the most qualified person should get the job.”
- “Affirmative action is racist.”
- “Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough.”
- “When I look at you, I don’t see color.”
- “I don’t believe in race.”
- “Gender plays no part in who we hire.”
Many find the training guide absurd.
“I don’t think University of California realizes how crazy it’s become," Tim Groseclose, an economics professor at George Mason University, told FoxNews.com. Groseclose was a professor at UCLA until last year, when he resigned after he brought to light evidence that the university illegally admitted students on the basis of race. "According to that document, Martin Luther King, Jr. would be guilty of micro-aggressions.”
There's more at the link.
Sounds like the authors of that training guide should submit it to Tor as a science fiction or fantasy manuscript. I bet they'd accept it right away!
Peter
11 comments:
It is truly a case of PCism run amock! This is the kind of crap that is destroying this country and USC And others are gleefully in the lead and driving the wagon!!!
The language of cowardice certainly has its own reward.
I believe that Janet "Big Sis" Reno is ramrodding that bunch. regards, Alemaster
I know that neither Sapir nor Whorf is directly responsible for the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but sometimes I'd like to go back in time and persuade either or both of those two to go into anything but linguistics.
What I find most interesting is the inclusion of "I don't believe in race". Isn't it a commonly-held progressive position that race does not exist, or that it's just a social construct?
I'm sitting here looking at Columbia University's Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Search and Hiring from their Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Planning. Page 7 is the checklist (essentially an executive summary by action item) which like Gaul, is into three parts divided: Before the Search, During the Search, After the Search.
Before has six tickboxes:
#b1: "Create a diverse search committee, including where possible, women, underrepresented* racial and ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups."
#b2: "Appoint ... a diversity advocate ..."
#b3 tasks the dean and vice dean or other leadership to "reinforce importance of diversity ..."
#b4: break down hires of last five years by gender and race [because we are trying to build a color-blind society, and the best way to do that is to put race front and center every time /M_C]
#b5 is essentially "have a search plan"
#b6: "Add language to job ad a signaling special interest in candidates who contribute to the department's diversity priorities."
Six action items, five of which are about "diversity" and only one is "have a fucking plan."
The During list is also six items, of which four are about "diversity". In particular #d3 is "ensure each candidate is asked about their demonstrated commitment** to diversity." Only one point (#d5) has to do with the actual job, as in "Ensure each candidate is evaluated on all criteria listed in job ad and identified as meaningful in the search. Note the italicized part (my emphasis) those are the weasel words to allow the committee to hire a less qualified but diverse and vibrant candidate over some more qualified but insufficiently diverse candidate.
Of course, as someone in academics, the bastion of free thought and independent inquiry, I [am mandated to] think all this is great, peachy keen, and does not go far enough.
* underrepresented minority: about 6.8M Jews in the US, making up 2.1% of the population; Asians (of all sorts) make up about 5.3%; clearly both are way in the minority of the US population, but neither are "minorities."
** demonstrated commitment to diversity: loyalty oath, anyone?
"If You Were a California Dean, My Love..."
"I believe that Janet "Big Sis" Reno is ramrodding that bunch. regards, Alemaster"
Not Reno but the frightbat from DHS.
Napolitano, that's her.
But, don't they say that the illegals are here for the "land of opportunity" and to live a better life. (Sarcasm)
Old NFO - Dude, man. Okay, here we go again.
For the benefit of people who don't know anything about California, please note the following:
1) The University of California universities are the top-tier of California's three tier higher-education system, with the California State University system the second tier and the community college system the third tier.
2) All UC schools are governed by the same Regents, whose head is for some damn reason a damn Arizonan,that terrible Napolla-whatever woman.
3) All UC schools are known as UC-(Location), EXCEPT for the first UC school, which is simply called California or Cal. Thus, UCLA is the University of California, Los Angeles; UCSD is the Univ of California, San Diego. Cal is not to be referred to as "UC Berkeley". Ever.
4) USC is the University of Southern California. It is a PRIVATE university, it it NOT part of the UC system or in any way public.
Okay, my duty as a Californian having been done, to the business at hand:
I'm fairly certain the silence you're hearing is the sound of triumphant leftism. I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong. But I don't think so.
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