3/9/2011: Comments are heavily in favor of the surplus office and some obscure but important sounding A/R thing. Also support for a dedicated staff training room. Makes sense. Then for video conferencing for central admin – doesn’t everyone use skype for that? Here’s one on the Diversity police academy idea:
“Let’s spend the money on scholarships and fellowships for students in underrepresented groups instead, or on outreach programs like the one Economics runs in the summers.” Mary Jaeger
Also, some dog-hating economist railing against the cute bomb-sniffing puppy proposal. What’s PETA’s stance on this one?
3/8/2011: Comments on Frances Dyke’s “Seeds of Change” proposals are due tomorrow, here. Nothing yet in favor of the canine, but there is this posted, in favor of Annie Bentz’s plan to train “search advocates” who will sit on faculty hiring committees to sniff out “unconscious bias”:
“I write to express my support for the Seeds of Change, Building Diversity Proposal. The project represents the collaborative, best thinking of individuals from many campus units, all to further the end of diversifying our professoriate by impacting the search process from beginning to end. The project is well constructed, involves people on the “frontlines” of diversity and equity issues on this campus, and is a concrete response to a longstanding challenge, ie, diversifying who we hire as our faculty. I urge you to support the proposal and the people seeking to promote change.” Mia Tuan
Penny Daugherty’s AAEO office is already substantially larger and more expensive than what other campuses have, and they can’t even fill out their Affirmative Action plan on time. She wants more money for this? We’ve received one anonymous comment opposed:
UO Matters: The issue of recruiting women in the sciences raised in ‘seeds of change diversity’ narrative is a serious one and deserves serious attention. That being said, using one of the most difficult recruitment areas to justify a campus-wide police force of indoctrinated diversity advocates forced onto academic search committees is heavy-handed and worse, unnecessary.
Aside from women in the sciences, no major category of unclassified employees outside the immediate control of Johnson Hall is underrepresented for women and minorities, so why doesn’t the administrative side of the campus clean up its own act before sending out diversity police to the rest of us?
Funding for administration has increased more than twice as fast as for academic instruction, despite having done much worse with respect to diversity, so money isn’t the problem for administration. Funding and success in diversity are obviously inversely related on our campus. If anyone in the central administration is listening, please don’t send any more of your plans to help. They aren’t needed and we can’t afford them. Just send the money for the excessive increase in administrative funding.
Ironically, the most discriminatory, illegal comment I’ve ever heard on a search committee was made by one of the public proponents of this ‘seeds of change’ plan, a person who questioned whether a male, white, Mormon who had resigned an equivalent senior position at an AAU university better than the UO to take a two-year appointment to manage an orphanage-school-clinic for the indigent in Central America could be ‘sensitive’ to our campus culture, despite his long record of success on another aau campus. A currently sitting vice president repeated the same ‘concern’, and complaints from two members of the search committee to our former campus President were ignored, and both of those who made the comment are now senior members of our central administration. God save us. Petronius Arbiter.
2/28/2011: Frances Dyke’s “seeds of change” proposals. She wants comments by 3/9. I only read two, but I know this one is best:
Having a UODPS explosive detection canine would also provide the University of Oregon with a great professional recognition tool. Explosive detection canines are generally well liked and most always tend to have a gentle demeanor. The University of Oregon would help establish itself as a more professional public safety agency, by having an explosive detection canine as a member of its staff.
Affirmative Action Director Penny Daugherty‘s proposal is also a winner – if not quite as cuddly. Have Annie Bentz train “search advocates” who will sit on faculty hiring committees to sniff out “unconscious bias”:
Develop and offer a “diversity leadership academy” to train “search advocates” who will serve on search committees and actively promote diversity and affirmative action principles throughout the search process by sharing information, facilitating discussion of unconscious and unintentional bias throughout the search process, recommending inclusive/affirmative strategies, supporting full committee and stakeholder participation, and consulting with the Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity as needed.
Given the critical nature of this initiative, particularly as it relates to faculty appointments, the effort related to faculty hiring is already underway. An ambitious timetable has been established for developing a pilot “diversity leadership academy” to train “search advocates” to be available to serve on faculty searches beginning in 2011-2012.
How about just spending the $150,000 on a new faculty hire? Glad she left the link for anonymous reporting of financial irregularities right next to the list of proposals.
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