From: merolajs@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu (JOSEPH S. MEROLA DEPT OF CHEMISTRY VPI&SU)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Stigma was Re: Hiring quotas and faculty positions
Date: 13 Sep 92 22:54:00 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Sep13.215754.28594@msc.cornell.edu>, hillyard@lynx.msc.cornell.edu.UUCP (Sean Edward Hillyard,F7 Clark,50649,) writes...


>From the _Ithaca Journal_ sep 1, 92 without permission
>_____________
>Affirmative action carries stigma
>  by Julia Lawlor
>  Gannett News Service
> 
>People believed to be hired through affirmative action programs carry a 
>stigma of incompetence no matter how qualified they are for the job, 
>according to a new study.
>But, said Heilman, affirmative action has assumed a negative connotaion
>for many who regard it as a system of fulfilling hiring quotas without
>regard to a person's ability.
>Such an attitude has the potential to stigmatize all women and minorities,
>she said, unless their employers make clear they are qualified.
>In the first part of the study, researchers asked college students to
>evaluate a resume of a white man or a white woman applying for one of
>two jobs--electrician or hospital lab technician.  Some women applicants
>were identified as affirmative action hires.
> 
>Researchers found that the white males and the white non-affirmative action
>females were seen as equally qualified for the lab technician's job.
>The affirmative-action females were judged to be the least qualified.
> 
>For the electrician's job, men were judged more competent than women.
>but women with the affirmative action label were believed, again, to be 
>the least qualified.
> 
>"In situations where women typically are discriminated against," said
>Heilman, "being associated with affirmative action makes it worse.  And
>in situations where the women wouldn't be discriminated against, it
>creates a problem."



What this is saying is that the kinds of attitudes which makes
affirmative action necesarry are still there and when they cannot be
brought to bear to block a hire, they are still there in force to
try and scuttle someone's career.  The above clearly shows that
sexism is rampant in the rating of resumes and gets even worse when
the term affirmative action is applied.

This really says that those who say that we should only look at
cases on their "merit" are espousing some ideXl world that does not
yet exist.  I would agree with you wholeheartedly that, if we could
remove all forms of sexism, racism, and any other "isms" that
make hiring decisions no completely objective, then we can do
away with things such as affirmative action.  But, until that day
comes, we need something to help level the playing field and
also to educate many about the problem.

Notice that this article pointed out that the backlash that
>
creates this stigma comes from programs that mandate a certain
quota in hiring.  Affirmative action in the current context
does not mean quotas, but means that every method should be
made to identify and hire qualified, capable minorities for
positions that they normally would not have access to.


Does the fact that there is a stigma associated with affirmative
action mean that we should scrap the whole thing.  (This is
a position that some previous posters have taken.)  Well, the
next paragraph in this article seems to answer the question
well.                                                          





>Dispite findings, affirmative action programs should not be scrapped,
>said Heilman.  Instead, she said, managers sould take care to hire and
>promote only qualified candidates, and should make clear to employees
>that standards are not compromised.



To me, to scrap these programs because of these problems is to
say that : "Oh well, racism and sexism are so rampant that we can't
do anything about them and so let's give up, let the status quo
operate as is, and write off the potential contributions of
minorities and females."  I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to make
that concession.

Joseph S. Merola
Department of Chemistry
Virginia Tech (aka VPI&SU)           

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