Campus pretending

[bigsky]

"We pretend to teach; they pretend to learn." is a pretty famous paper about Universities.

There is another pretending; universities pretend to be a place where differences of opinion are allowed.

Universities also pretend that they are above the laws of due process. Here is an article about a professor who was fired without notice for stating that hiring based on race is unlawful. The original un-noticed charge against him? "Lack of collegiality".

This guy just would not go along just to get along.

https://www.city-journal.org/article...BkmyXXbpc36Crg

[bigsky]

Of course this has always been about DEI, and protecting against merit and performance based employment. I voted for performance funding as a regent, to divvy up the state contribution to the universities and colleges, we cheer sports that are completely performance based, we try in many of our buying decisions for performance based decisions, but so much of the public sector is not just resistant but openly hostile to merit based hiring and funding. Why?

This is not just a story of due process but a story of DEI social justice hiring in higher education. The wasted research and teaching funding on campuses is truly astounding.

[dan_bgblue]

Why?

Because minorities and women have, historically, been mistreated when it comes to hiring practices. I spent 29 years in a hiring and labor management position, and that position required me to always weigh the competency, capability, personal traits, education, product knowledge, physical capabilities, gender and race. I sorted all that info and put together a spread sheet to put in plusses and minuses for those characteristics for each applicant. I don't think a person in the hiring and firing position can successfully do that and stay out of trouble if they do not do something similar. If I was gong to hire a painter, I would take bids, seek references, check their work schedule. 3 applicants, one woman, one Caucasian male, 1 female Jamaican are my applicants. All the qualifications are equal and the differences are obvious. Fortunately they were all of a similar age. The Jamaican female got the job. The other 2 applicants had no legal standing to bring a case against us for our hiring practices.

[bigsky]

You lost me with the first sentence. It is not up to the white males in the current applicant pool to sacrifice for the errors of history any more than it is up to the black descendants of slave traders in africa to pay reparations to the descendants of europeans captured and sold as slaves in Africa and the Middle east.

The consideration of race in hiring (and college admissions) is illegal. It has been for decades, but that changed in the era of DEI and affirmative action, which has also now been ruled illegal. And In the most in demand institutions, it's clearly and demonstrably discriminatory to Asians to consider "diversity" in admissions.

What is the opposite of DEI?
Merit.

And yet, this article is less about that than it is the lack of due process on campus. But if it is an institution that refuses to recognize the law regarding the racisim in hiring and admissions, it's probably the case that constitutional due processes are also discarded.

[bigsky]

"The school has now filed a federal lawsuit against Gerber for having the gall to defend his rights. For the uninitiated, Gerber’s vocal opposition to his former employer’s DEI policies led to his dismissal from his tenured post at the school. But the school is seemingly unsatisfied with taking away his livelihood. This frivolous countersuit is only the latest example of the university’s persistent disregard for due process and the rule of law. It also shows that the diversity-industrial complex won’t go quietly."

Disclosure: I'm a member of the Manhattan Institute and charter subscriber to City Journal.

[bigsky]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/u...rvard-unc.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...imination.html

The Supreme court has now ruled against race based hiring and college admittance preferences, and recently against requiring a heightened burden of proof of discrimination for members of majority groups, like straight women and males.

I appreciate a bigsky vs dan disagreement now and then. Otherwise we may be accused of being a fat guy echo chamber.

And Cheers to all fat guys everywhere, whether you are or just trying hard not to be.