May 1, 2015

CLUSTER HIRING, BECAUSE DIVERSITY!:   When I read this report, paid for with over $3.4 million of your tax dollars, another word commonly paired with “cluster” came to mind.  The report, “Faculty Cluster Hiring for Diversity and Institutional Climate,” was produced by a coalition of urban universities and the Association of American Medical Colleges with an NIH grant.  The report is a cheerleading exercise for “cluster” hiring of minority faculty:

A successful institutional climate is inclusive, collaborative, and engaged, and enables faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds to thrive. Hiring a diverse faculty body is the first step toward attaining a desirable climate, but it is not the end goal. Universities must also adapt existing policies and programs to achieve the full benefits of diversity. . . .
Over the past 15 years, a number of institutions have piloted faculty cluster hiring programs and these efforts are now beginning to bear fruit. This study aims to identify how institutions have implemented faculty cluster hiring programs, factors for success, unintended consequences, and the programs’ impact on diversity and climate outcomes. The findings demonstrate the potential of this practice to improve faculty diversity and institutional climate . . . .

Yeah, right–they really want to foster an “inclusive” and “desirable” climate in universities, unless the faculty is conservative, in which case they will never be hired in the first place, much less “thrive.”  Just ask Teresa Wagner.

But of course the goal of “diversity” isn’t really diversity of thought and views (which one might foolishly think is important in higher education), but the antithesis of that–namely, hiring a “critical mass” of racial minorities, which liberals/progressives, in their infinite wisdom, believe will spout liberal/progressive views in the classroom.  It’s a horrible stereotype of racial minorities, of course, but liberals/progressives believe it with all their hearts, and it’s enforced mercilessly by attacking minorities who refuse to abide by it.  Just ask Clarence Thomas, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Dr. Ben Carson, Allen West, or Condoleezza Rice, or U.S. Rep. Nia Love (R-UT).   Because #diversity!

Posted at 1:32 pm by Elizabeth Price Foley