Our national mentor program has seen a huge increase in the number of students who have lost jobs to seniors (for advertised junior positions) or who have been unable to find work in their subfield b/c the majority of positions open were for Seniors. Many of our most gifted students are actively looking outside of academe after being shut out of the market in this way . . .

So while we applaud the push to get women, and others, into higher positions in hire ed, I think we really have to ask how these efforts are actually benefiting a goal of diversifying the ranks in both the short and long term? whether systemic change is actually going on? and what do any policies, this one or the one I championed, mean at the weakest links in the process?

Wow. Really dismal. And just as dismal as the sexism is the clear evidence that people with (presumably) terminal degrees lack any critical reasoning skills whatsoever. Forget sensitivity training: a cultural studies class should be required by HR at every university. I mean, really: wow.

These problems get exponentially worse, of course, when you try to hire a senior woman of color.

For the old guard (old in the head and the heart), the intertwined expectations are always that (a) all candidates should have the networking, publishing profile, and research trajectory of establishment norms, (b) service (such as mentoring, community work, or campus work with student organizations, all of which is absolutely priceless) is a waste of time and looks “weird” on the record, and (c) any reference to race, gender or sexuality in research cheapens the already cheapened candidate, perhaps in part because it raises the prospect of closer scrutiny to departmental gender politics. The old guard lives in fear of the last.

But, of course, when you are transforming a departmental/unit culture, you desperately want to find people who can do a, b, and c in some kind of balance. They can do what Tanya wants. They can cement change.

It is a veritable Kobayashi Maru scenario.

Now I need the bourbon….

Yes, everything has to fire on all cylinders. It sure did for so many generations of entitled white men, when thumbs were put on the scale for them through the exclusion of most other races and sexes of people from grad school and discriminatory practices in hiring, as Janice suggests. AS IF UT-Austin wouldn’t have made sure that they were hiring superstars! Those first comments over at IHE remind me of my little brother when I played board games with him: when I started winning, he’d take the board and flip all of the pieces and cards and dice in the air so that the game was over.

Fortunately, some sensible people appear later in the comment thread. I especially appreciate the comments from “Madge the Academic Manicurist,” and from “Lance,” who I assume is our Lance here. Check them both out–scroll all the way down–but I’ll copy some of Lance’s comment here:

Since gains like this can be ephemeral, let us hope the administration and faculty maintain a commitment to a diverse faculty. The free and fair exchange of new and old ideas is a critical element of knowledge production, but it is hard to create the circumstances for it in a world with only one set of experiences represented.

As for the boys club here, go watch District 9, grab a bourbon, read some Coetzee, and think about the changing world around you. You – we – have all the advantages, and everything to lose. But these things (better and more plentiful job opportunities, higher wages, a system of social benefits impossible to measure) weren’t ever really ours. And we look mean when we cling to them. Do you want all the jobs? All of them? Forever? Really? How pathetic.

But but but Lance: they DO want all of the jobs forever, because no one else is truly qualified!

And as for Austin’s charms: people I know love the town. I think maybe it wears better on people who like the alt-rock, alt-country, indie film scene. And, of course, you have to like the heat.

They sure do have some good people there.

I am amused at the comments over at IHE. Being a faculty brat, I grew up watching high-flying engineering profs being recruited to my dad’s faculty. Everyone was thrilled when this or that noteworthy scholar was recruited. That’s the way the game is played in the big leagues (and that’s why we’re all told to publish and network so that we can take advantage of these opportunities should they come our way). However, when it comes to the IHE commenters, when women are recruited, even high-profile women such as those mentioned in the article, it’s all about discrimination.

GayProf at Center of Gravitas had a couple of great posts on just those last two topics in the past year.