Dear UC President Mark Yudof,
We understand that you are coming to a final decision on the chancellor search at UC Berkeley.As a group of UC Berkeley faculty who remain unconditionally committed to achieving racial diversity on the campus, we want to reaffirm our expectation that each of the final candidates must have a proven track record of promoting faculty, staff and student diversity, especially in promoting faculty of color to senior management positions. We expect that the successful candidate will not only provide an estimable record of effective commitment to progress in equity and inclusion but will also, in final interview, articulate a faculty diversity plan for the Berkeley campus that is clear and measurable.
As you know, under the leadership of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Vice Chancellor Gibor Basri we have made significant gains in the campus diversity goals. As the position announcement notes, “The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund recognized UC Berkeley as a national model for equity, inclusion and diversity in 2010 with a pioneering $16 million, 10-year grant that engages Berkeley students, faculty, and staff across all disciplines in research, teaching, and public service.”
We must be assured that this funding commitment will be sustained and deepened in order to ensure that we make Berkeley a more accessible campus for underrepresented students. We must also be assured that minority staff members will be encouraged and nurtured to assume leadership positions on the campus. And, with respect to faculty hiring and retention, we have a long way to go in ensuring greater success in placing minority faculty across all departments and colleges, not to mention their appointment as departmental chairs, divisional deans and senior administrators. We therefore would expect that the final candidates have a clearly demonstrated commitment to and record of leadership in the hiring, promotion and administrative placement of underrepresented faculty.
To this end, we also want to make clear that the final pool must itself demonstrate the university’s commitment to diversity by ensuring that underrepresented minority presidential candidates will be in the final interview group and — we should be able to expect — on your short list. We remind you of the selection criteria, as noted in the campus website, on the search process. “Both the (search) committee and the president should be mindful of the university’s commitment to hiring women and underrepresented minorities.”
We only wish to substitute “must” for “should” in the final selection moment for the next UC Berkeley chancellor.
Signed by:
Gibor Basri, Astronomy; Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Education; Genaro Padilla, English; Malo Huston, City & Regional Planning; Charles Henry, African American Studies; Clair Brown, Economics; Alice Agogino, Mechanical Engineering; Shari Huhndorf, Native American Studies; Tyrone B. Hayes, Integrative Biology; Keith Feldman, Ethnic Studies; Rucker Johnson, Public Policy; Michael Omi, Asian American Studies; Steve Raphael, Public Policy; Marcial Gonzalez, English; Juana Maria Rodriguez, Women’s Studies; Victoria Robinson, Ethnic Studies; Donna Jones, English; Adrian Aguilera, Social Welfare; Janelle Scott, Education; Garrison Sposito, ESPM; Elaine Kim, Asian American Studies; Kurt Organista, Social Welfare; David Weisblat, Biology; Bertrall Ross, Law; Ugo Nwokeji, African American Studies; Jeff Romm, ESPM; Ian Haney-Lopez, Law; Richmond Sarpong, Chemistry; Rodrigo Almeida, CNR; Margaret Wilkerson, African Amer. Stud. Em.; Abena Osseo-Asare, History; Richard Busbaum, Law Em.; Patricia Baquedano-López, Education; Frank Worrell, Education; Laura Enriquez, Sociology; Mary Ann Mason, Social Welfare; Ivonne del Valle, Spanish & Portuguese; Jason Corburn, Public Health; William A. Lester, Chemistry; Ula Taylor, African American Studies; Rachel Morello-Frosch, ESPM; Ruth Love, Education; Lee Riley, Public Health; Margaret Conkey, Anthropology; Caroline Kane, MCB Em.; Greg Aponte, Nutritional Science; Tyler Stovall, History; Taeku Lee, Political Science; Rodney Hero, Political Science; Zeus Leonardo, Education; Catherine Ceniza Choy, Ethnic Studies; Na’ilah Nasir, Education; John Powell, Law; Tina Trujillo, Education; Beatriz Manz, Ethnic Studies; Kim TallBear, Native American Studies.
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To the authors of this letter:
Sorry, but affirmative action has been illegal in California since 1996. Our short list this year will consist almost entirely of white males, as that is what consists of nearly all law and business management graduates. We know that the UC system is primarily comprised of Asians, but that is besides the point. After all, it is rare for us to see Asians in MBA, MPP and JD programs. They usually stick to accounting, medicine, engineering, and finance. Only qualified candidates need apply, and we already have certain “qualities” in mind. We will let you know what these are after we have conferred with our legal counsel. Unlike in university admissions, test scores and GPAs are not considered, but trust us, our candidates will be judged strictly on their merits, and their race/ethnicity and socio-economic background will not be considered at all. Just trust us on this. You can trust us. We will do our best to select only the best candidates.
It is curious how those who hate “victimization” the most, and accuse proponents of inclusion of seeking discrimination, sound so much like bitter victims themselves. The faculty they attack in their cryptic and ahistorical comments are the very individuals who help to make Berkeley the brilliant academic institution that they chose to attend and that remains the crown jewel of public higher education in California and the U.S. Better to dial down the rhetoric and instead speak directly with these campus leaders to understand the position they are taking with regard to the future of Cal.
So quit your jobs and free them up for “underrepresented minorities”. BTW if you’re upset with things that are too white, you better stay away from anything having to do with aviation. The pilots, the air traffic controllers, the mechanics…I guess you should boycott football too because there’s NO black placekickers. Somebody call Al Sharpton!
I agree. It will be a welcome novelty to be systematically screwed and cheated by women and members of ethnic minorities, rather than old white guys.
I like how the Daily Cal headline mentions women, while the article seems to forget about women completely. It is sad to see such a large list of faculty who don’t seem to have any other requirements for the new chancellor other than they promote and hire based on a person’s color.
Perhaps all faculty and staff hirings should be conducted on the basis of racial quotas derived from nineteenth century pseudoscientific categories. That will diversify the campus!
Is there empirical evidence showing that racial diversity is positively correlated with education quality?
you must be a sad specimen of a person if all you can do is troll around the Daily Cal. I don’t read it very often, but it seems like you have the time to post multiple inane comments on EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE.
In other words, you want a Chancellor who will discriminate based on race, ethnicity and gender, regardless of the California Constitution, the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, all of which outlaw said discrimination.
Yes, Libs must assuage their guilt.
Best. Reply. Ever. !