“UW-La Crosse looks to diversity faculty,” reports the La Crosse Tribune.
Why? Well, because “[s]tudents have told Professor Jearold Holland he is the first black teacher they’ve had in high school or college,” and Prof. Holland is “not surprised.”
UW-L has launched two initiatives this year to recruit more diverse faculty and staff, said Carmen Wilson, special assistant to the chancellor and affirmative action officer….
The university is searching for 48 new faculty and staff to start next school year, Wilson said. Of the new faculty hired for this school year, about 67 percent were white, 24 percent Asian, 2.4 percent black and 2.4 percent Hispanic.
Again, why?
Wilson thinks a more diverse faculty will make the campus more supportive of students of color. That’s critical at UW-L, where research shows greater percentages of white students completing degrees than students of color.
About 39 percent of the African-American students who started between 1997 and 1999 graduated within six years, compared with 61 percent of the Caucasian students, according to the Equity Scorecard Project, done to assess UW-L’s diversity goals.
Oh, now I get it. More “diversity” means, well, more “diversity.” “Diverse” students need “diverse” faculty in order to make the whole institution more “diverse.”
Is that all? Well, not exactly.
Diverse staff also means a diverse pedagogy and research interest, Wilson said.
“Our students are expected to go out and operate efficiently in a global society, and because of that, they need diverse backgrounds,” said Holland, who is president of the Multicultural Faculty & Staff Organization.
Is there any evidence that more “diverse” engineers, mathematicians, chemists, or even economists would bring more “diverse” research interests to La Crosse? Are “diverse” research interests, whatever they are, necessarily better for students and society than the un-diverse interests of un-diverse faculty? And what exactly is the “diverse pedagogy” that “diverse” historians, literary critics, philosophers, etc., supposedly employ?
If helping students develop the ability to “operat[e] efficiently in a global society” is to be the new criterion for faculty hiring, why would hiring a few more blacks or Hispanics be more productive than adding more scholars from India, China, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, etc., etc.?
Shouldn’t university officials, of all people, finally be forced to support their vaporous, politically correct assertions with, you know, actual evidence? Especially when what they propose to do is discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.
ADDENDUM
A reader points me to the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse Campus Connection for the week of Nov. 9 – 15, noting that “it has transgender stuff and changing Thanksgiving but nothing on the fall of the Berlin Wall or Veterans Day. It is diversity of a very limited sort.”
Indeed. Here are some examples from what may or may not be a typical week at UW-L:
Final Hispanic Heritage Month program moved to Nov. 11
The public lecture “Doing Movies with a Conscience: The New Mexican Social Documentary” by documentary film director Salvador E. Valdez has been moved to 5-6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 11, in Valhalla B, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition. Valdez will discuss his work bringing attention to plight of blind, poor, aged and maquiladora workers. The lecture includes the U.S. premier of his short film “Un Día Más” (subtitled). A reception will follow.
Trans shame and pride focus of Nov. 19 presentation
Author and public speaker Eli Clare will present “Trans Shame, Trans Pride: Lessons from the Diversity Rights Movement” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Ward Room, Cartwright Center. Clare, who’s described on his Web site (http://eliclare.com/) as “white, disabled and genderqueer,” has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies, a master’s in creative writing and “a penchant for rabble-rousing.” Those who plan to attend who need accommodations, and for more information, contact the Pride Center at email hidden; JavaScript is required. The presentation is sponsored by the Pride Center; the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Students Advocating Potential Ability.
Disability as a social justice issue topic of Nov. 20 talk
Often the major disability issues faced by individuals with disabilities are not about health but about disability-based marginalization and discrimination, which in turn impact access to education, employment, housing and social services. This concept is one theme of “Moving Beyond Inspiration and Pity: Disability as a Social Justice Issue,” Eli Clare’s presentation set for 9-11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in Port O’ Call, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.
Clare addresses disability as an issue of cultural competency and social justice. The discussion provides tools to create more disability access in work places and communities.
The free event is sponsored by the Pride Center; the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Students Advocating Potential Ability.
Actually, a look at this week’s Campus Connection suggests that a small dose of old-fashioned, boring, conventional midwestern main street culture might bring more “diversity” to UW-L than importing a few more minority faculty members.
I’m confused. Japan, South Korea, and China seem to be doing pretty well in the global economy and they are notably undiverse societies. any empirical evidence on the proposition that diversity helps us compete in the global economy?