Qualifications

In his recent Tablet Magazine article “The ‘Diversity’ Trap,” Zaid Jilani cites a PEW poll showing that like him, 74% of all Americans, including a majority of all racial groups, believe that hiring decisions should only be based only on qualifications, “even if it results in less diversity.” I believe it will.

Over my 40 years in higher education, as an academic leader, an Affirmative Action officer, and as a college president, I had the chance to work with numerous search committees. While not intentionally used to prevent racially diverse hiring, “qualifications” often meant “people like us.”

I remember many years ago a friend’s daughter being told at a job interview that she was extremely qualified, but they did not hire from anywhere except the Ivies. Limiting themselves to the Ivies in the name of “the quality of preparation” almost guaranteed that the pool of candidates would be white males with a similar upbringing and way of thinking.  Big Wall Street firms had the same strategy. In the early days of Affirmative Action, Rosabeth Moss Kanter called this “homosocial reproduction.”

Hiring is more open now, but other “qualifications,” which well-meaning colleagues honestly believe lead to hiring the “best,” can have the same effect of narrowing the pool. For example, at community colleges, institutions dedicated to teaching, why is a Ph.D. so often a deciding factor, even though most Doctoral programs offer no preparation for teaching? In part, the way accreditation looks at credentials drives this requirement, an excellent example of the need for structural change.

Another “qualification’ that can eliminate otherwise superior candidates is years of professional experience. How many years should be required? Should it be full-time? The numbers are often arbitrary, with no definitive answer to what they contribute to the candidate’s ability to do the job.

There was one instance when I agonized over how to hire for diversity. I had a qualified candidate whose race and lived experiences would have made her a visible role model for students. However, her response to every question about how she would handle a situation was “I would ask the department chair and do what the department chair told me.” Since I viewed the department chair as an obstacle to change in a department badly in need of it, I chose another finalist.  On the one hand I felt like I was betraying my own values, but on the other I was doing what was right at that time in the life of the institution.

The fact that I am still haunted by this decision demonstrates the complexity of the issue for leaders seeking to diversify their organizations.