Diversity
Q: “Diversity”
is often used in both academia and in corporate institutions. “Diversity” is intended to describe a
methodology that creates ways to make the institution more reflective of the
community. What is the College diversity policy?
Q: That sounds very lofty. Most of the time people think that having students of many races is diversity. Having a 37% black, 35% Hispanic, and 18% white student population is someone’s idea of a diverse population. I know that is not your opinion. What is diversity?
A: Diversity means that one recognizes that no one person has a monopoly on the truth or a particular way of thinking. People should be judged on the power of their intellect, the kindness of their heart, and the generosity of their spirit. The forms that ask about racial diversity are silly. Diversity has many layers because we belong to different communities simultaneously. Examples of the basis or commonality for communities include: geographical proximity or groups based on religious, ethnic, physical, gender, intellectual, professional, or recreational interests. Creating a diverse organization is difficult because it takes people out of their comfort zone. People tend to like those whom they share some sort of common interest or other commonality. People can respect a person who is different as long as they conform.
Teams need several kinds of people. Leaders don’t need people who always agree with them. They need many points of view to create solutions that work. Diversity brings new information to the organization. In a 2014 article Katherine W. Phillips says, “Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harder-working.” [1]
One of reasons we teach the humanities is to
demonstrate both the similarities and differences of the human spirit. The human spirit is both the same and
different in each one of us. If one
person has strict religious based dietary rules, you can’t say to them, “Don’t
worry God with forgive you this one time if you eat x-food with me.” God may
forgive, but perhaps the person will never forgive you or themselves for a weak
moment?
There is an unresolved question, “Does diversity
cause better results and innovation or is the correlation just a statistical
anomaly?” It is difficult to devise an
experiment that would be conclusive. I
diverge a bit to a sport analogy about cause and effect. Baseball keeps all kinds of statistics. For example how do pitchers fair against
right-handed or left-handed batters based on a pitcher’s dominate throwing arm? Does a left-handed pitcher do better against
left-handed batters? Are there scientific
proofs involving measurements and the physics of a thrown ball? Or is the
correlation only an interesting data set?
The skeptic may ask, “Who cares? The
data are just counts of the results.”
In the 1950 book, Social pressures in informal
groups: a study of human factors in housing [2]
Leon Festinger, et al discuss the functioning of groups. Small groups influence the behavior of their
members. People in close proximity form
groups that support each other. This is
the basis of the science of social psychology.
Proximity may start friendships and they may continue after the
geographic proximity ends. Group
behavior is influenced by the institutional culture, relevant laws, as well as
interpersonal connections. In the 1950’s
they didn’t talk much about diversity and were concerned about what kept groups
together. This group cohesiveness leads
us to understand how diversity enables groups to be smarter than the sum of the
individuals.
Festinger describes a situation in the book (starting
at page 8) about a 1946 housing project named Westgate. They studied how residents made
friendships. These observations were so
important in the field of social psychology, more than 25 years later they were
still studied in undergraduate psychology courses. The fact that these were new housing projects,
the residents had no prior connections, and they were all MIT married
engineering students, gave the researchers an opportunity to study friendship
with many methodological controls. One
of their results was that proximity was important for the formation of personal
friendships. Electronic communications breaks down the barriers of time and
place and allow new kinds of friendships and continuation of proximity
initiated relationships. Festinger did not predict the extent of the influence
of increased electronic communications.
Friendships were not connected to diversity or the need to have diverse
relationships. While people who liked
each other became friends, proximity was the best predictor of friendship.
For diversity to be a factor in the increasing of
corporate well being and intelligence, people have to be willing to step away
from a comfort zone. On Face the
Nation on August 30, 2015 Louisiana
Q: Getting to some cases—what is the interpretation
of respect for those are different? What are some accommodations to allow for
diversity?
A: Some
aspects are controlled by state and federal laws. The Illinois Human Rights Act (775
ILCS 5/) states that all individuals within Illinois the have the right to freedom
from discrimination based on his or her race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, ancestry, age, order of protection status, marital status. The law then elaborates on what this
means. Compliance is sometimes a
delicate balance between the needs of the College and the individual. For example no teacher may schedule a major
exam on a religious holiday without making a reasonable accommodation to
members of that religious group. In my college years some professors were more
accommodating than others. One scheduled
a final on a Saturday. The class never
even met on Saturdays. He refused to
reschedule a test on another day for the Sabbath observers in the class. The class had many Sabbath observers. The
professor said, “God will forgive you.” After complaining to the dean, the
accommodation was to take the test on Saturday night after the Sabbath
ended. While technically that was an
accommodation, even the non-Sabbath observers thought that was unjust.
Here at the College, we try to treat students, faculty,
and staff with respect concerning their religious holidays while keeping in
mind that we have to watch out for those taking advantage of an observance that
is not theirs. In high school a few
non-Jewish students missed class on the Jewish holidays because they knew the
teachers would not cover much material in class on those days. Here we require
verification that a person is a legitimate observer. The verification process is left to the
discretion of the teacher or supervisor.
Q: How do you
deal with meetings that may happen on holidays or the Sabbath?
A: With every group there are those who have
time conflicts. If no one objects,
Saturday and Sunday meetings are allowed.
If a committee meeting has a regular time to meet each week and a member
can’t attend because of a conflict, the members must decide how to deal with
the situation. For example for a routine
meeting, a substitute may be sent. Other
times, the meeting is rescheduled. I
have heard of colleges scheduling graduations on Saturday. Those Sabbath observers who wanted to
participate in the ceremonies had to have an accommodation. At the May 16, 2015 commencement at Binghamton University Teaneck , New
Jersey
Here at the College we do not have a tradition of
weekend commencement exercises.
Commencement is usually scheduled for the first Tuesday after the end of
the spring semester classes.
Q: What
meetings would cause difficulty with religious accommodations?
A: A major decision making meeting should take into
account religious observances. We do not
schedule major meetings from Friday afternoon through Sunday.
A while ago a major state
university in another state was searching for a president. The search committee was charged by the
chancellor of the system to find someone who would lead the university on a new
course. The board of trustees had some
major policy changes that would need to be implemented by the new
president. Programs were going to be
changed, moved or consolidated. New
buildings were proposed or scheduled to be built and old ones re-purposed. All of these activities would be under the
supervision of the new president. The
university needed a president who had experience in the academic and community
arenas. The new president would need to
build bridges and gain support from the faculty, staff, community and students
so that the changes would help them all.
A president's responsibility includes providing leadership and vision
for planning, operations, and compliance with local, state, federal, and
accrediting body laws, rules, regulations, and legal interpretations. The provost provides similar leadership for
the academic programs and student services of the College. The provost works to
create a climate which enhances student learning, stimulates creative
approaches to teaching and learning, and motivates both staff and students to
optimum levels of student success and community achievement.
The process of choosing a
president requires a balance between information to be made public and
information that is kept private. A
person who applies for such a job has to be careful with his current job
because the current employer may view him/her as disloyal. If not appointed to the new job, the
candidate can lose respect and power and become ineffective in the current
position.
To choose a new president,
that state university appointed a “diverse” committee of faculty, alumni,
staff, administrators, and a student representative. The committee tried to include constituents
and diverse types of personality styles to see if they could form a committee
that represented the campus. The
president of the faculty senate, who is supposed to represent the faculty
voice, was not invited to be a member of the committee. The committee’s job was to discover and
codify the campus thought as what qualities should be in a new president and
then find candidates. After a self-study
to determine the needs and want of the campus, the committee advertised the
position and received applications. This
campus interview was a time to get to know the candidate and listen to them as
they explain their thought process and vision as to how they would be able to
lead the university. The on campus
interviews included meetings with special groups and open sessions for the
students and faculty.
The committee met for
several summer months and identified three candidates they wanted to interview.
They vetted the candidates and choose three finalists to be invited for on
campus interviews. After one declined
the interview, a fourth candidate was identified and invited. The three candidates were scheduled from
September through the second week in October.
Getting acceptable dates for the candidates took a lot of negotiations
and planning.
The first candidate was
scheduled for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The president of the faculty senate objected
and was supported by a resolution of the senate executive. The person making
the arrangements and scheduling said that was the only day the candidate was
available. This was a power play. What is more important following the
university guidelines for respectful and diverse campus and following the law
for non-discrimination or the interviewing of a candidate? Arguments about time and money are really
about power. People like to have power
over their situation and over others. A healthy
relationship is where the parties are more interested in win-win situations
than “I’m right, you’re wrong” dramas.
Scheduling another day
proved impossible. What possible
accommodations could be made was a heated discussion. One suggestion was to stream the interview
and allow those who couldn’t be there to chime in with questions. That did not work because if the faculty
senate president couldn’t be there in person, he could not be there via
teleconference either. Since body
language and other non-verbal communications convey messages beyond the words, for someone is to be taken seriously, they
have to look and feel the part.
Listening is an art and one needs to observe both how the candidate
moves and looks as well as the words in his answers. Does the candidate treat the faculty and
other with the respect they deserve? One
does not need a candidate who agrees with everyone and every idea, but getting
to acceptable answers is part of the job of a president.
The next offer was to allow
the faculty senate president to submit written questions. This means the
questions will definitely be asked, but the body language would not be viewed
and there would be no follow-up questions.
In the end the compromise was -- written questions would be allowed; the
faculty senate was allowed to teleconference additional questions on a future
date; and the university administration agreed never to schedule an important
university meeting on a day that limited participation because of a religious
holiday.
In the end the first
candidate was totally unacceptable. He had a great resume with all the
appropriate education and experience.
The president of the faculty senate read between the lines. The written questions made the candidate
uneasy. He was not a good listener and
the committee could tell from his body language that he was not a good
fit. They had a hard time believing
anything he said. He did not get the
job. Another candidate not only had the
right words, but was an active listener and before the end of his two days of
interviews already was able to build relationships. People believed him. He was offered the job and now many years
later the university is a better place because of him.
Q: Thank you very much.
=========================================
Part
thirty-two of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After
more than 30 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all
works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.”
Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments.
This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is
true, but some details have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college
or president is strictly coincidental.
[1] Phillips, Katherine W. "How
Diversity Works." Scientific American 311.4 (2014): pages 43-47. Retrieved
from Ebsco Academic Search Complete. 27 Aug. 2015 . The Ebsco citation for this article
has the wrong author attribution.
Ebsco’s citation has “Paul Caleb” as the author. I verified authorship
with the real author. She gave me
another source, the Scientific American web site: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/. The title there is: "How Diversity Makes Us Smarter." The author has no idea of a reason to change
the title. All of this causes problems
for those of you who want to read the whole article that I used.
On Sept 20, 2015 Ebsco sent me a message saying that the indexing and citation for this article was corrected.
On Sept 20, 2015 Ebsco sent me a message saying that the indexing and citation for this article was corrected.
[2] Festinger , Leon Stanford , California Stanford University
[3] Don Greenberg was not the only
Sabbath observant Jew to deliver a commencement speech. Jacob Dorfman, was the School of Management
[4] For more information see: Religious News Service: http://www.religionnews.com/2015/05/13/orthodox-jewish-commencement-speaker-finds-shabbat-workaround/ While the open microphone was the visible
problem, his rabbi determined the actual problem was the sound board. Every moment someone speaks lights go on or
off on the sound board. While the
university was willing to find a solution to the lights, they were unable. The story made the national news in the Washington
Post and New York Times. The
commencement speech can be viewed on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXh2U7v2RA
.
This was a proud moment for the student and the university.
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