If Michigan were in the Midlands instead of the midwest, there would be no need for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative … but the University of Michigan would probably be paying a large settlement to Jennifer Gratz, Barbara Grutter, and other victims of its “postitive discrimination.”
At least two police forces so far have had to pay out compensation for discriminating against white male candidates, as a result of positive discrimination [also discussed here]. Police forces in England and Wales have been set challenging, if not impossible, diversity targets for representation of ethnic minorities and women amongst staff, and many are struggling to get anywhere near those targets.
For the larger, metropolitan forces in areas with a high proportion of ethnic minority population, the rate of recruitment over the 10-year target period is simply not enough to achieve the levels of ethnic minority officers required by the Home Office targets. Even if all recruits in the period were women, many forces would still not meet the targets set for female representation.
Consequently, there have been calls for changes to the law to allow “affirmative action” — so that forces can choose candidates from under-represented groups in preference to white, male candidates from a pool of successful applicants. This is positive discrimination, and unlawful under the current legislation.
Too bad we don’t have that legislation here. Oh, wait….
