The first and foremost criteria when selecting any position
““ be it a college professor or a car salesman ““ must be
the person’s qualifications. People who have the best
credentials and most experience for the position should be able to
reap the fruits of their efforts. Yet, in the interest of diversity
and assistance to historically underprivileged groups, this
fundamental principle is under siege.
Because minorities such as blacks and Latinos continue to be
underrepresented in the upper echelons of higher education, certain
interest groups advocate using diversity as a consideration when
hiring professors. They feel diversity helps bring a unique and
special perspective to the college experience. This desire for
diversity leads to situations where universities may have to choose
between a less qualified minority applicant and a more qualified
non-minority applicant. The more qualified applicant should have
the job for several reasons.
Performance in any position must be the primary objective,
because performance is what helps an organization develop and grow.
In the case of professors ““ who have so much influence in
molding young minds ““ this is an even more urgent objective.
For a potential professor to have achieved better grades, done
better research, or have better speaking skills than other
applicants indicates that this person would be a good professor,
regardless of race. A less qualified professor will not help
students maximize the learning experience.
Candidates’ efforts to become better qualified should also
be rewarded. For a person to become better qualified, they must
have directed their efforts more productively and worked harder. It
is only fair that those who put the most into any endeavor are
rewarded accordingly. It may be true that minorities have had fewer
opportunities in the past, but this does not excuse unfair
treatment of qualified applicants today. Race cannot be allowed to
trump the effort an individual puts into becoming a professor. To
value race over effort is a suggestion that hard work and ability
should take a back seat to ethnicity, a factor which people have no
control over. Pursuing a diverse faculty at the cost of qualified
candidates values an arbitrary characteristic over an achievable
one.
The benefits of diversity are miniscule when compared to the
condescension and racial tension which extreme forms of affirmative
action create. I have repeatedly heard comments from other students
insinuating that black and Latino applicants at UCLA are somehow
less qualified. I have also observed that members of these ethnic
groups are viewed much more severely than whites and Asians when
they make ill-considered or unintelligent comments. While this is
painful to watch, SAT scores and high school GPAs make it hard to
refute the assertion that many of these students are less qualified
than their Asian and white counterparts. The resentment bred by
this discrepancy can be harmful in the educational setting.
The reasons why certain minority groups tend to be less
qualified at all levels of the educational system must be explored
and addressed. Until that happens, minorities will continue to be
underrepresented and underqualified. But hiring less qualified
professors to promote faculty diversity is not the answer. In the
long run, students will benefit from having the most qualified
professors in their classrooms.
Bhaskar is a second-year studying political science. E-mail him
at sbhaskar@media.ucla.edu.