The University of Louisville is under fire for posting a job listing that was blatantly racist on a leading higher education job website.
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The posting, listed on HigherEdJobs, was looking for a new professor to join the Department of Physics and Astronomy. At first glance it seemed like a normal listing, asking for candidates with Ph.Ds and who were open to a tenure-track position.
However in the first paragraph, under Position Description the listing said:
“The University of Louisville is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Americans with Disabilities Employer, committed to diversity. In that spirit, the Department of Physics and Astronomy announces a tenure-track Assistant Professor position that will be filled by an African American, a Hispanic American, or a Native American Indian.”
The job listing has since been deleted but is still cached, here is a screenshot:
University spokeswoman Cindy Hess called this an error and said:
“The position will be reposted and [human resources] will contact all applicants and encourage them to reapply. [The University] strives to attract candidates representing the labor market availability percentage for women and minorities in those job groups where underutilization has been identified. We are committed to exercising all good faith efforts to recruit women or minorities in job groups at rates which are at least equivalent to their availability in the labor market.”
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From Inside Higher Ed:
Even before the recent, widespread student protests over campus climate issues, many colleges and universities were working to make their faculties more diverse. But can a department specifically reserve a position for an underrepresented minority candidate? That’s what some are asking after a job ad for an assistant professorship reserved for nonwhite, non-Asian Ph.D.s was abruptly deleted from a jobs site on Tuesday.
The post (inactive but still cached here) on HigherEdJobs mostly resembled a typical ad, encouraging applicants “with a Ph.D. in physics or a related area, a strong research record and a passion for teaching” to apply. It also included a standard equal employment opportunity statement saying the University of Louisville is “an affirmative action, equal opportunity, Americans with disabilities employer, committed to community engagement and diversity, and in that spirit, seeks applications from a broad variety of candidates.”
But just under that statement, the ad continued, “The Department of Physics and Astronomy announces a tenure-track assistant professor position that will be filled by an African-American, Hispanic American or a Native American Indian [sic].”
Should their be racial reasons for hiring people to educational positions? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
