From: len@schur.math.nwu.edu (Len Evens)
Subject: Re: Hiring quotas and faculty positions (Repost #2)
Organization: Dept of Math, Northwestern Univ
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 15:50:55 GMT

In article <11SEP199209542037@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu> merolajs@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu (JOSEPH S. MEROLA DEPT OF CHEMISTRY VPI&SU) writes:
>     There have been a lot of interesting posts on this topic, but a number of
>them seem to have a distorted view of affirmative action.  While I can't
>speak for every institution or even any other individual, the interpretation
>that has been applied in job searches in which I have been involved is NOt
>the one stated above (i.e.  we will settle for someone of lower quality if
>they are from an underrepresented group).  Rather, affirmative action means 
>that extra efforts will be made to ensure that qualified women and minority
>applicants apply for the position so that we have a large pool of all
>representations to evaluate.  So, we may make a special effort to contact
>minority institutions to make them aware of our position.  Or, we may 
>use personal contacts to identify female or minority candidates and 
>encourage them to apply.  
>
>     A previous poster also touched on a very important point:  the concept
>of "the best person" is not a valid one since there are dozens of 
>parameters that define best.  Let me try to give an example from my own
>field of chemistry.  When we advertise a position, it is  genereally more
> [Deleted Material]
>    I hope you see from the above how complicated the evaluation can be 
>and I have only touched on a few areas that are considered.  Ultimately,
>you get the idea that there is no such thing as a "best" candidate.
>Back to the idea of affirmative action, the "qualities" of gender or
>ethnic background can indeed be a valid consideration.  Let's take the
>case of gender.  Last year, my department had more female senior
>chemistry majors than male ( 34 vs 18)  and our graduate program has
>a large percentage of female students (38 out of 130 total).  The concept
>that female faculty members will play an important role in mentoring
>these students to their full potential is a valid one in my opinion.
>
>    Will we accept a "poor" candidate just because they are female?
>I guess I have the same problem concerning "poor" as I do with "best",
>but the answer is no.  But, I am trying to say that this is just one
>more of the factors that enter into the very complicated equation
>and it is no less valid than any of the others.
>
>Joseph S. Merola
>Department of Chemistry
>Virginia Tech (aka VPI&SU)
>

I would like to echo this analysis as it applies to hiring in mathematics.
I have served on our hiring committee at Northwestern for the past several
years.  While we have made several offers recently to women, I would say
that we did so because in balance we felt they best met the needs of
our department.  In some cases, one could argue that some people, 
men and women, whom we made offers to, were not the most `qualified' according 
to the most obvious criteria.  However, the reasons for making the offers
were based on the fields they worked in and the perceived needs of the
department rather than gender.   About the only `bias' I have noticed
in favor of women is that our deans and administrators seem to be willing
to work very hard to hire an extremely well qualified woman candidate
once we bring her to their attention.  Of course, they are usually
very enthusiastic about exceptional candidates, but they may be even more
enthusiastic in the case of women.

I have heard rumors that at a few other institutions, women less qualified
than men in similar areas, were given preference, but I have no personal
direct knowledge of that.  Since a lot of complicated things, some of them
pretty stupid, happen in academic hiring, I suppose a certain amount of
this sort of thing does happen, but I think it is grossly exaggerated
and probably balanced by a greater amount of discrimination against
women.  The way affirmative action was supposed to work was in situations
where in balance several candidates were deemed equally qualified, a
candidate from a previously discriminated against group should be given
the nod.   In my experience, that has been largely the way it has worked.

less qualified women rece 

Leonard Evens      len@math.nwu.edu      708-491-5537
Dept. of Mathematics, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL 60208
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers