Exhibit B: In Canada, unlike the US, these things are clearly legal, so they are often done explicitly. I had noticed that as of 2020, most of the Canada Research Chair positions advertised race and gender restrictions on who could apply. This year, I got curious and decided to follow up. 4/
As @mattyglesias pointed out, universities are trying to solve (or avoid acknowledging) a simple math problem. Aging faculty + slow turnover = slow diversification. 7/
For example, suppose you had 40 teachers in a unit that had to be hired every 3 years, and currently had 25 white boys. If you set a goal of only having 15 white guys (most would say they are not that ambitious) it would still take 30 years with a policy of not hiring white men and only WM retirees. 8/
IME, administrators are unwilling to face this problem and tell student activists that it will take a long time, or admit that they are putting a thumb on the scale, or that putting a thumb on the scale (in the US) could be illegal. So people twist themselves into knots of dissonance. 9/
By the way, I hesitated for a long time before posting these previous minutes. I <3 CU and I don't think CU is unusual in what's been going on, so I didn't do it and I don't want CU to be singled out unfairly. (I also tried to raise this for years through proper internal channels.) 10/
I've seen this in every school I've been to in the last 10 years. I was told in 3/7 faculty interviews in 2017-2018 that my demographics were disqualifying for at least some SC members. 11/
But I'm sharing it now because it's annoying that we're still stuck in the “is it real?” conversation when we should be having the “is it right? is it legal?” conversation 12/
My personal answers would be “no” and “I'm not a lawyer, but I guess not (Title VI and VII),” but there are reasonable arguments for both sides. IME, those who deny it's real most strongly in X also argue it loudly behind the scenes. Make your case publicly! 13/
The other reason I'm sharing this now is that, as a mentor to WM trainees, I'm tired of gaslighting. There isn't a single professor at a major university who hasn't seen it/been aware of it, especially since 2020. If it's right, stand up for it. If not, stop. 14/END
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