Sponsored by Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC)

“Affirmative Action or Diversity Inclusion: Does My University Know the Difference?”

Introductions

 Moderator:Megan Strachan, SoCal HERC Coordinator

Presenter:Eddie Freeman, Executive Director Employment & Equal Opportunity Services, University of Texas at Arlington and North Texas HERC Director

What is Affirmative Action?

Affirmative action is the good faith obligation all federal contractors have to abide by equal opportunity policy.

Affirmative Action requires organizations to actively promote equal opportunity and eliminate discrimination.

What is Affirmative Action?The purpose of affirmative action is to establish fair access to employment opportunities and to create a work community that is an accurate reflection of the demographics of the qualified workforce.

Affirmative action does not mandate “quotas” or extending preferences to any individual based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.

What is sought in the idea of affirmative action is essentially the revision of standards and practices to ensure that institutions are in fact drawing from the largest marketplace of human resources in staffing their faculties and a critical review of appointment and advancement criteria to ensure that they do not inadvertently foreclose consideration of the best-qualified persons by untested presuppositions which operate to exclude women and minorities.

What is Affirmative Action?

Isn’t diversity just a new form of EEO and affirmative action?

EEO and Affirmative Action are legally mandated requirements to address the representation of minorities and women.

Managing diversity focuses on maximizing opportunities for all employees to contribute to business success.

What is Diversity ? Diversity is about all of the differences each of

us bring to the university or colleges that we serve.

It refers to race, gender, language, culture and also mean differences in thinking styles, perspective, sexual orientation, religion and more.

A diverse faculty helps universities recruit top minority students

Provides students with mentors and role models

Provides different perspectives and experiences

Why Diversity is Important

What Does Most Universities Think

Many colleges and universities share a common belief, born of experience, that diversity in their student bodies, faculties, and staff is important for them to fulfill their primary mission: providing a quality education.

What Does the Corporate World Think

Studies consistently show that diversity drives innovation and fosters creativity. In a Forbes survey, 85 percent of respondents said diversity is crucial for their businesses, and approximately 75 percent indicated that their companies will put more focus during the next three years to leverage diversity to achieve their business goals.

What is Inclusion? The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase one’s awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions” (AAC&U, 2009, ¶ 3).

When I hear someone say Diversity and Inclusion do they mean Affirmative Action?

No, Affirmative Action as the law and Diversity & Inclusion as strategic—getting the best talent from wherever it may be and ensuring it is diverse, representing the talent pool and the marketplace and our communities…

Have we moved away from affirmative action into diversity and inclusion because of political correctness and majority offense?

AA as the law and Diversity & Inclusion as strategic—getting the best talent from wherever it may be and ensuring it is diverse, representing the talent pool and the marketplace and our communities…

Internal messaging is important. I talk about facts—diversity is a fact in the world. Are we tapping into it? Are we creating the leaders we need to make us successful now and lead us into the future?

Have we moved away from affirmative action into diversity and inclusion because of political correctness and majority offense?

Diversity examines human and organizational similarities and differences. I don't think one replaces the other. I do believe that if an organization truly understands what diversity is and develops and executes a strategy to drive diversity and hold leaders accountable, Affirmative Action is not needed to enforce diversity.

How does knowing the difference help my University?

It changes your approach in recruiting and retaining a diverse student, faculty, and staff while also intentionally and actively creating a specific set of opportunities to use this diversity to enhance learning and performance for the entire campus community.

What is an Affirmative Action Plan?

The Affirmative Action Plan is designed to identify areas of under-representation by minority groups so the under-representation can be remedied.

Contains statistical and narrative information that helps the University:

Analyze workforceAccess possible underutilizationDevelop a plan of action to eliminate underutilizationMake good faith effort to execute plan

Key Elements of the AAP

INSPECTION OF THIS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANPERSONS COVERED BY THIS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANINVITATION TO SELF-IDENTIFYPOLICY STATEMENTINTERNAL DISSEMINATION OF POLICYEXTERNAL DISSEMINATION OF POLICY, OUTREACH AND POSITIVE RECRUITMENTRESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPLEMENTATIONTRAINING OF PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN SELECTION

REVIEW OF PERSONNEL PROCESSESPROPER CONSIDERATION OF QUALIFICATIONSREVIEW OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL QUALIFICATIONSREASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONSHARASSMENTMANDATORY JOB LISTINGAUDIT AND REPORTING SYSTEMOTHER MATTERS

How does creating an Affirmative Action plan help or hurt?

How does creating an Affirmative Action plan help or hurt?

It is one way to monitor your progress in hiring and retaining a diverse faculty, and staff

It allows you to target areas that are deficient or that don’t meet expectations

Identify barriers to achieving goals

What is my University/College’s role in implementing the plan?

Ensure a Diverse WorkforceRecruitment and RetentionCompliance ResponsibilityInternal Operation

Ensure Equal TreatmentDisciplinary ActionSelection Procedure

Questions?