From: merolajs@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu (JOSEPH S. MEROLA DEPT OF CHEMISTRY VPI&SU)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Hiring quotas and faculty positions (Repost #2)
Date: 11 Sep 92 23:43:00 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


There have been a number of excellent, thoughtful posts on both sides
of this issue over the last couple of days.  Clearly, this is an area
that evokes a lot of emotional response.  A lot of the posters feel
that affirmative action penalizes innocent people. Beneath all of this
is the belief that the ONLY reason a person got a job is because of
their race or gender.  Since I'm not quoting any other posts, let
me try to summarize my own beliefs here:

1.  Hiring (or discriminating against) any individual SOLELY on the
basis of sex or gender is wrong.  However, that is not to say that
under the right circumstances that these may not be criteria that
should be considered.  

2.  There is no single criterion which determines who is the "best"
candidate for any job.  There are a lot of technical and a lot of
non-technical factors which enter into a hiring decision.  In the
proper context, gender and race can be a valid non-technical 
factor.

3.  Affirmative action is NOT intended to atone for past sins.  
Instead, it is intended to push the status quo a little faster
into the state it would be in if past discrimination had not
occurred.  This is not a trivial distinction.

Some of the previous posts actually showed that people are willing
to accept some amount of discrimination on non-technical factors,
even in they are against affirmative action.  For example, one
poster suggested that action that would help a "poor" person
might be acceptable.  But why should I suffer because I happened
to be born "rich"?  I know this is an oversimplification, but it
clearly applies to any argument.  How many of you who read this
group have every received financial aid based on NEED and not on
ABILITY?  Why should I (through taxes, etc) pay for your tuition
just because your family is poor?  Personally, I think that there
are a lot of societal benefits that could acrue from this.  And
so, there are societal benefits that come from affirmative 
action.  

Beyond this, forgive me for continuing to harp on this point, 
but anyone who says "I would have gotten that job but they gave
it to a less qualified ______ (insert your favorite minority
here)"  has no concept of the complexity of the job hiring
situation.  Let's take the issue of affirmative action off the
table for a minute and just talk about a situation where a
job offer decision has come down to four white males.  All 
four are well-qualified for the position.  Three are perhaps
more qualified based on some semi-objective critera (letters
of recommendation, proposals, etc) while the fourth is 
somewhat lower.  However, the fourth person got his Ph.D. from
someone that the people doing the hiring know personally and
are good friends, etc, etc.  Here the "less" qualified person
is offered the job because of contacts.  We all probably know
situations where this has happened.  My question is:  YOU are
that fourth white male.  Are you going to refuse that job 
because you know you weren't the most qualified?  In fact, most
people try to choose Ph.D. advisors and post-doctoral 
advisors who are well-connected and whose connections will help
in landing that job.  

Not the same thing as institutionalized affirmative action you
say?  I would agree with that.  I am just trying to emphasize
that the "best person" does not always get the job for a lot of
reasons.  Are there  reasons why the gender or race of
someone may be a valid consideration?  If you could go back over some of my
earlier posts I tried to make that case.  
The need for mentors for women and minorities in science is
evident (at least to me.)  Without them, there will never
be a flat playing field for all concerned.  To get to that
point, the system needs a little push.

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

Newsgroups: sci.research.careers