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