University Career Services at the University of Virginia is about to hold its annual Diversity Career Day. Although the attending companies and government agencies are of course looking for new employees “with diverse backgrounds,” UCS has emphasized that
Diversity Career Day is open to all students at colleges and universities throughout Virginia and Washington DC…. All students are welcome!
In fact, the half-page add that UCS took out in today’s Cavalier Daily (the add is not online, but can be found on page B3 of the Oct. 30, 2006, edition) contains the most expansive, inclusive definition of “diversity” I believe I’ve ever seen coming out of any university office anywhere:
Think this event is not for you?
All students are welcome! There are many types of diversity — race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, international experience, language, culture, color, beliefs, interests, major, age, background, perspective — you name it!
It’s too bad the University does not put its money and effort where University Career Services’s mouth is. If it did, it would not define “diversity” to mean only race and ethnicity when it dispenses preferences in admitting students and hiring faculty and staff.
