More Diversity Mania At UVa

William Harvey, Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Virginia, is at it again. To his credit, he is quite forthright about the goal that “diversity” implicitly — and in his and thus UVa’s case, explicitly — demands: “What we want this institution to do is to mirror society.”

If you’d asked any equally high UVa officials (or any UVa officials, for that matter) in the pre-“diversty” days what they wanted The University to do, they would have all said something like “seek excellence.”

We should, however, do Mr. Harvey the courtesy (or whatever) of recognizing that he of course didn’t mean what he said. He doesn’t want The University to “mirror society” in all, or even most, of its political, economic, religious, intellectual “diversity.” His concern with “diversity,” like that of virtually all “diversity” apparatchiks, is literally only skin deep, and less (some hues count far less than others).

This was the problem Harvey addressed in his recent speech:

Harvey noted that Latinos and Hispanics currently comprise approximately three percent of the University undergraduate population, while Latinos and Hispanics make up approximately seven percent of the Commonwealth’s population.

….

The number of Latino/Hispanic faculty members at the University is also considered inadequate, Harvey noted.

And the solution, or part of it:

Harvey said as one-third of University students are not from the Commonwealth, the University should actively recruit students from states with large Latino/Hispanic communities.

….

“Our faculty recruitment is not nearly as strong as we would like,” Harvey said. “We need to be much more vigilant.”

So, because Hispanics are “underrepresented,” they should be rounded up and brought in from other states, and the faculty should be more “vigilant” in its recruiting. A friend of mine was involved in recruiting at UVa this year, and to require him to be more “vigilant” for minority hires would have meant insisting that he keep his eye out for them about 36 hours a day.

But does the number of Hispanics at UVa really represent a problem that needs to be solved? Consider:

Approximately 37 percent of Latinos and Hispanics who apply to the University are accepted, Harvey said. According to the Office of Admission Web site, 38 percent of students who applied for admission in the fall of 2004 were accepted.

Since The University turns away large numbers of qualified students, including many who could provide “diversity” on any number of grounds, is it really a good idea to spend scarce resources to persuade students who are not now applying to apply?

Mr. Harvey didn’t say, but it would also be good to know how much UVa lowers the admissions bar to attract minorities it values. Perhaps the admissions office could publish, say, the average SAT scores by quartile of the various groups admitted to UVA, so that one could compare the average SAT of the lowest quartile of admitted Hispanics to the lowest quartile of blacks, whites, Asians, etc.

Don’t hold your breath.

See here for an earlier discussion, with links, to test scores at UVa.