Collegiate Times

I am offended that you compare the noble spirit of patriotism to the insidious scheme of diversity

Patriot, I'm afraid you missed Mr Kissel's point; he was not "comparing" patriotism and diversity, he was substituting the generally positively seen ideology of patriotism for the inappropriately levied ideology of diversity to demonstrate that NO ideology or matter of conscience such as Christianity, which he also mentions, should be forcibly imposed on faculty or students for ANY purpose.

The author (and most people) have a narrow minded definition of what diversity means. Diversity means more than just race and sex. A room full of straight white men can still be very diverse based on political, religious, philosophic, socio-economic, cultural, linguistic, professional, and age differences. Just looking at 'percentage black people' is not a good measurement of diversity. Universities become enriched by having more diversity, so I would support Virginia Tech to actively try to create a more diverse environment.

Eric, your premise sounds good, but in practice it doesn't hold water. "Diversity" is often described as you say, but in practice the measures tend to fall back to the "narrow minded" definition. "Diversity" is all about appearances, whether one wants to admit it or not. Your "room full of straight white men" will never be held up as proof of diversity.

Eric and Texas Mike, you are ALSO missing the point. We can argue the merits of diversity all day long and get nowhere but the issue here is that VaTech is FORCING its faculty to report on their "diversity activities" in their annual activities reports. I say "forcing" because their very tenure and promotion depends on whether or not they actively support "diversity activities" which is an infringement upon their freedom of thought, their academic freedom and their freedom of conscience! It is an issue of PRINCIPLE not of definitions.

Ember - You have no clue about the tenure process. Diversity activities are the last thing P&T Committees would worry about. It's the scientific reputation, research dollars, and publications that matter. Teaching is secondary (it can help or hurt but is not decisive). Service means close to nothing. Sure FAR [faculty activity report] forms include diversity activities, but they include 100+ items. This is a laundry list to remind absent-minded faculty what they did last year. VT is not forcing any of their faculty to do any type of diversity activities in any meaningful way (other than the lip service you read in newspapers). I have not witnessed a single case of denied tenure due to inattention to diversity. Note that I am not making any statement about the Affirmative Action here. I have mixed feelings about it. But the ignorance of postings such as those of Ember needs to be clarified.

Anonymous, I assure you I have intimate knowledge of the tenure and promotion requirements. I do not deny that tenure depends greatly on the candidate's bringing in research money and publications. But here is a direct quote from the Provost's directive on Tenure and Promotion: "The university and college committees require special attention to be given to documenting involvement in diversity initiatives; categories for documentation may be found in Section VII.C.1.-8. of the promotion and tenure guidelines, http://www.provost.vt.edu/documents/pt_guidelines_08-09.pdf or at www.provost.vt.edu/documents/reporting_diversity.php." Diversity is still an ideology and has no place as a requirement for faculty in a university.

Ember, the ability to quote a relevant statement from the faculty handbook is not synonymous with having intimate knowledge of how the P&T process operates in practice. If anything, your statement reassures me that you have no practical knowledge of how VT promotes its faculty. I am not aware of a single case of a faculty member who has been promoted or denied promotion based on her/his commitment to diversity issues. I concur that the handbook provides a formalized opportunity to incorporate such affirmative action criteria into the promotion process. However, as of today, this opportunity has not been utilized by the university in any noticeable way.

Anonymous: how many T&P committees have you actually served on, and in how many different departments? In any case, much of the problem is about NEW standards for T&P, not old ones that did not actually include the diversity requirements. In addition, part of the problem is that merit raises also are to be subject to the diversity policy and, in such cases, each incremental "diversity accomplishment" is likely to count for something.

Anonymous, Your debating tactic of tearing down the opposition’s personal expertise may work if it is that expertise that is the issue of debate. But in this instance it is not and only serves to obfuscate the issue. So, just for a moment, forget that stance and think about this one point: any ideology, such as diversity or multi-culturalism, which gives rise to preferences based on race, “gender” and whatever else has been declared to be undesirable or desirable, might be a subject for discussion and debate; these things need to be debated and a university is a good place to do that. But that ideology has been declared by this fine university to be not only undebatable but mandated, with the possibility of running contrary to a faculty’s own thought, beliefs, conscience and effectively ensuring that faculty must “tow the company line”. You have stated that you have never seen a promotion or tenure not granted on the basis of the diversity clause and that may be. Keep in mind, only recently have the diversity activity reports been made a requirement for consideration by the committees in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. And what might not be so obvious in the future, is what the subject of the committee’s deliberation might have to do or not do re his own conscience and thought in order to obtain that promotion or tenure.

haha the insidious scheme of diversity, that was hilarious. I think it is a good policy provided that the right kind of diversity is promoted. Some diversities are more equal than others. I think the new SGA should develop some sort of Ministry of Love to promote this diversity and anyone thinking it is a bad idea be detained and rehabilitated by the thought police.

Ember, my first posting included an explicit statement on having "mixed feelings" about the affirmative action. I agree that the issue should be discussed. My only point was that, in practice, diversity-related activities do not affect promotion. I doubt that they will count in the near future either, but I agreed with you before, and will agree again, that this may eventually happen. Adam, I did participate in P&T committees at departmental and college levels but cannot demonstrate that without loosing anonymity (so, yes, this may be a post from a Norwegian kid, a Mongolian sheepherder, or one of them trolls you hear about nowadays). Both of you may, however, be interested in a CT column by Graves (April 1) on the same topic (including FAR issues). BTW, Sean's point about some diversities being more equal than others has been voiced by many faculty who work here.

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