Earlier I covered a position for a Kentucky physicist where the job posting made it perfectly clear that no white person could get the job, on account of being white.

Admin made it perfectly clear that the posting was a mistake. Honest, they would consider any candidate, regardless of skin color, so they say (wink, wink). Now, I’ve mentioned before that these sorts of racist policies have been around in higher education for decades, and are second only to sexist policies.

But, sure, if you want to believe I’m wrong, and admin somehow accidentally typed up and posted such a want ad, well, you can believe what you want to believe.

Thing is, I knew this type of ad would get posted again; these people live in such a bubble they don’t have a clue what they do is wrong. Racist/sexist hiring policies have been so standardized that they really are starting to forget that it’s supposed to be done with a wink and a nod…and not in writing.

These policies are not restricted to the US, as even Canada, apparently, also believes the ethnicity of the applicant is important for scholarly positions. Consider this from a want ad for a vice provost (a position that could pay a few hundred thousand a year):

In keeping with the principles of employment equity and with an aim to address underrepresentation at Dalhousie, only applications from candidates who self-identify as racially visible and/or as Aboriginal peoples will be considered at this time.

Now, I don’t know what, exactly, “racially visible” means but it’s reasonable to suspect this is another (wink, wink) situation put into writing. Isn’t it fascinating that “principles of employment equity” are being used to justify this inequitable hiring?

I grant that there can be some positions where skin color/gender/ethnicity might be relevant (for example, I have no problem with Hooters only hiring female waitresses that can wear the uniform), but nothing in the extensive job description makes skin color relevant. Besides, this position is so far up in the hierarchy that she would never actually deal with a student (this position, if I worked at this university, would be my boss’ boss’ boss’ boss’ boss…perhaps only 3 more layers of bureaucracy until the Poo Bah is reached!)…it’s nuts.

Yes, I used the pronoun “she” in the previous paragraph, even though it’s clear the job description doesn’t specify female.

Nominations and/or applications should be submitted, in confidence, to Jane Griffith or Dania Zargaran...

Perhaps it’s just a paranoid delusion on my part, so I won’t go there but…we really, really, need to start asking hard questions about what’s going on in our institutions of higher education, because it’s very clear that they’re being taken over by racists.

(I know I’m posting a bit early here, but I wanted to get this up before they take down that racist job advertisement.)

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