![[a cartoon of a diverse group of people]](https://i0.wp.com/outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/diversity-cartoon-gender-race-workplace-1000x550-570x314.jpg?resize=570%2C314&ssl=1)
James Joyner’s post on MIT’s incoming class turns my mind to an experience I had not that long ago. I was at a training conference with a number of colleagues from my institution of employment. One of the conference speakers made a passing remark that made mention of critical race theory (CRT). I think it was simply in terms of explaining that person’s area of research.* One member of my delegation made a derogatory remark about CRT, and then brought it up again in some chitchat later.
So, here’s the deal. The delegation I was with included all five college deans (all white males), an associate dean (a white male), a senior-level administrator (a white male), the head of development (a white male), and several development officers (all white, one of whom was female). So, there were roughly a dozen of us, all white, and only one female–in the most junior position of the group.
I was waiting for a chance to point out to my colleague that, yes, clearly, diversity happens by itself without any help whatsoever! Just look at all of us.
Indeed, it is an observation I could have made about any significant meeting that I was in during my time in administration. Given the configuration of different groups, the number of females at the main table would range from zero to one, ditto the number of persons of color.
But, of course, the reality is that people tend to replicate themselves in the hiring process, whether they realize it or not. That doesn’t always mean race and gender, but can mean professional/educational profiles, personality, etc. But it very frequently can be about the basic, ascriptive characteristics that people are comfortable with.
And, to the point of why affirmative action may be needed at educational (and other) institutions, it can affect who is even eligible to be in the hiring pool in the first place. If structural conditions make it less likely that, say, Black students get into school, the number of Black persons available for leadership opportunities is smaller.
Further, it takes time. If MIT, to take the example from James’ post, admits fewer undergraduates of color, then that means, downstream, fewer graduate students of color, and then fewer professors, chairs, and deans of color.
Since we know that, as a group, Blacks start off in a different position than Whites, it makes sense to try and ameliorate the long-term effects of this fact. Unless, of course, one thinks the Whites and Blacks deserve their current relative starting spots. In that case, whatever we get is the just result, regardless of all the generations of injustice that have come before.
*This was around the transition from CRT being the Big Scary letters before DEI become the letters to fear!
