Yes, that’s announce, not denounce.
Columbia University announced on Tuesday that it planned to spend $15-million to recruit more female and minority professors, adding 15 to 20 new positions to its Faculty of Arts and Sciences over the next three to five years.
In apparent attempt to protect itself from what would otherwise seem to be a slam-dunk legal challenge, Jean Howard, Columbia’s “vice provost for diversity initiatives,” announced that
[i]n addition to recruiting minority and female professors, especially in the sciences, the university could use the money to hire white men “who, through their scholarship and teaching and mentoring, in some way promote the diversity goals of the university.
If I’m reading this right, women and minority scholars (who’s a “minority”?) contribute to “the diversity goals of the university” simply by their presence. White men (what about Arab men? Swarthy Greek men?), however, must jump through extra, additional hoops to be considered. Perhaps it would be helpful if Ms. Howard would provide some examples of how white male physicists, chemists, mathematicians, etc., could demonstrate their ability to promote “diversity” through their scholarship and teaching.
Still sounds like a slam dunk to me.
Meanwhile, in Texas, the University of Texas in Austin has created a “First Bytes” summer camp in computer science, just for girls.
How can an institution get young women to enroll in its computer-science program? By reaching out to them long before they ever make it to college, perhaps.
That’s the theory behind the University of Texas at Austin’s First Bytes program, a week-long summer camp for girls in junior high and high school. By mixing math lectures and computer workshops with yoga classes and bowling trips, the camp’s directors hope to make computer science seem well-rounded, not wonky, and to “dispel the myth that computer science is only for guys,” according to Mary Esthel Middleton, the program’s coordinator.
It seems to me that in trying to “dispel the myth that computer science is only for guys,” UT is re-inforcing the myth that girls are shy, wimpy, and in need of special care and attention to bring out their interests, and further that they must be protected from exposure to boys with similar interests while those heretofore hidden interests are nurtured in an all-female hothouse.
Apparently there is no room even for boys who can demonstrate how their own computer science interests can promote “diversity” in computer science.
Another slam dunk.
UPDATE
And in the private sector, this just in from Drudge:
CBS News has chosen the first two participants for its journalists-of-color training program: James Black will report for WBNS-TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, and Alturo Rhymes will be a producer for CBS NEWSPATH in New York. The announcement was made by Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News and Linda Mason, Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects, CBS News.
This journalists-of-color program is designed to develop a pool of highly qualified producers and correspondents from which CBS affiliates and stations, as well as CBS News, will be able to draw talent. CBS News hires the journalists to work for two years at participating CBS affiliates or CBS NEWSPATH.
Maybe in response, the Comedy Channel could develop a Journalist-Off-Color program to develop funny journalists, or, rather (that’s not Rather), journalists who are funny on purpose.
Can somebody explain in a knowledgeable manner why it cost $15,000,000 to recruit at most 20 women and minorities? Seriously, how do you spend $750,000 per recruit, and who gets the money? Do lesser institutions need to spend even more money per recruit? How does this compare to the current rate for headhunters to fill ordinary corporate positions (I’m guessing about $5000)?
Now on the second topic, recruiting girls for computer sciences does not promote diversity in the field; it promotes women in the field (albeit yoga-loving women), which is fine by us programmers who have slaved for decades in a sea of men. How elitist, John, to believe that every occupation comes with a ready supply of 21 year old groupies like yours. Don’t steal our crumbs!
The CBS story highlights something you and your readers could be reminded of from time to time John: the widespread presence in the private economy, perhaps almost as much as in the public or quasi-public sector of the economy, of these offensive, illegal, and usually patently silly programs of “diversity”, “inclusiveness”, and the like. I am personally aware, having read the AA policies of two fortune 500 companies where I worked, of these often laughably incoherent policy statements. Any other readers out there with personal experience in the private sector who can verify the existance of this private sector racial discrimination?
You have to remember that a lot of these places put in AA policies as a defense mechanism. It keeps Jesse Jackson and the other diversity cops off their backs, and gives them cover when an incident that could maybe possibly be considered involving race occurs. Employees and outside observers either write it off as corporate clap trap or are too busy working to care (and, sometimes even working extra hard to make up for the short-comings of the “diversity” hire), and the corporate execs receive praise from the diversity cops. It’s all a big racket.
Read Shakedown by Kenneth Timmerman for more info.
But how in the world do you go through 15 million dollars? Wouldn’t 150 thousand dollars suffice?
John from OK —
Perhaps most of the 15 million will be used to pay the salaries of the people of color and sex that will be hired, at least for a few years. This way the administration can argue that the people are not being hired INSTEAD of white men, but in addition to them. This is of course a fraud, but when permission is later refused to replace a white male that has retired, no one will have the decency to mention that those “special” people in the department were supposed to be extras that don’t really figure into the size of the department.
John,
I
“…woman found out that CS wasn
“Apparently there is no room even for boys who can demonstrate how their own computer science interests can promote “diversity” in computer science.”
Please, people.. this is a ONE-WEEK summer camp for girls. Let them have it.
Erika,
what difference does it make how long the camp lasts?