To the Editor:
In a revealing display of double standards, CSU President Larry
Penley recently announced that he bypassed normal hiring procedures
in order to give a special position to an old friend.
President Penley has appointed Mr. John Lincoln as the
coordinator for university diversity programs. Although university
diversity procedures require that searches be as widely advertised
as possible and that “old boys networks” be scrupulously avoided,
Mr. Lincoln was awarded his six-figure position solely on the basis
of his personal relationship with President Penley.
Mr. Lincoln may well be the best person for the job, but in the
absence of a national search, it is impossible to know. He will
have to convince those of us who make hiring decisions to avoid
hiring in a manner similar to how he was brought to campus.
We are told that Mr. Lincoln’s position was created because
President Penley places such a high value on diversity.
Unfortunately, the thought that administrative positions should not
be expanded in a period when faculty positions are being cut back
does not seem to have occurred to him.
For too long the word “diversity” has been an excuse for double
standards and the dishonesty that inevitably surrounds them.
Despite the lofty rhetoric, President Penley is keeping faith with
a dishonorable tradition.
Steven Shulman
Professor of Economics
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