[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Choro&Swing

You are right, or close to it. At the university where I taught for decades, applicants for teaching positions were all sent a card on which they could if they wished check their “race”. It wasn’t required. This was mailed to the Diversity Office, where it would be registered. If there were any applicants who met diversity requirements, this was communicated to the chair of the department search committee. In my department, any “diverse” applicants were interviewed as a matter of course unless they were clearly unsuitable for the job because of education or work history or publication history. We weren’t forced to hire a “diverse” candidate, but sometimes we were told that if we did, we would also get to hire someone else: two hires for the price of one.

Before we could post an advertisement for a job opening anywhere, we had to submit the ad to the Diversity Office, where it would be examined. It had to meet diversity requirements before it would be approved. It had to deliberately state that we really wanted to hire a “diverse” person of some sort. (This did not include people of Asian background, as we already have a lot of them teaching on campus.) Ideally, the teaching duties would be listed in such a way that the “diverse” applicant would be the best suited, or at least would fit one of the POSSIBLE needs.

HOWEVER, I should also note that any self-identified MILITARY VETERANS automatically went to the head of the line for any job search. They were ALWAYS interviewed if they were somewhat qualified. We were never forced to hire them, but if we didn’t, we had to provide a written explanation of why they weren’t the best candidate. (Consider that there might be a hundred applicants for one position, with seven interviewed in person, so a guaranteed interview offers a great opportunity to shine.)

We had to provide a written reason for not hiring for all diversity candidates, as well. This went a bit beyond the sentence or two we wrote for each applicant. (Such as “This job is for a Shakespeare specialist, but the candidate is a specialist in contemporary American literature.”)

I dislike anything that smacks of "pity" in any form. I don't know why I am like that, but I am. I don't like handouts and freebies for the poor. I would most likely almost starve before I took them. I am pretty sure we were poor but no one ever used that word. I think I have unwittingly tried all of my life not ever to be a poor pitiful pearl. Now there is a word for something like it; infantilize.... Making someone feel like a helpless baby out of perceived kindness.