Heather ...

Your observations are spot on! As a former University Professor, I can vouch that the campus culture you describe is real and crushing in it's effects. And not only at UC.

these folks reside in a "bubble" and you are right Heather, they will not respond to anything that resembles a budget.
The so called "diversity mandate" will strangle all of us

If Berkeley is spending $2M and a staff of 20+, it has an advantage in funding. That margin, however, small makes a big difference in a highly competitive research funding environment. The stakes here are too high: UCSD will not be worth your attention if it wasn't doing so well in building research programs, attracting the best students and faculty. That is its primary mission, and with any business, there are costs. Diversity has become that cost. If you really want to address this issue, go after the politicians in Washington, DC who are sending these mandates down to the scientific agencies. It is easy to take a potshot at UCSD, remarkably a university that has outperformed almost all other campuses in the UC system and breathing down the neck of a much older Berkeley.

Herp: Not that easy: "contribution to diversity" and "gender diversity" are among evaluative criteria for many funding and contracting agencies. It pays to show that the university takes this seriously. Even if 1% of funding is influenced by this consideration, that is $10M in additional funding.

Diversity is a big industry: look around pretty much any university, public or private, has plenty of offices of diversity, equity etc. There is a reason for it...

This is what I am talking about. Taxpayers money wasted again!!!

This is what I am talking about. Taxpayers money wasted again!!!

Not Important wrote:

The university is driven by the diversity mandates that has overtaken most federal branches, and certainly all federal agencies that fund research. The university operates in a highly competitive marketplace of top-ranked universities and cannot afford to make up its rules.

Yes, but does UCSD HAVE to pay a quarter of a million bucks a year -- plus perks -- to fill the position of Vice-Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion? In today's job market, does anyone really believe the position would go unfilled if the spot paid "only" $100,000 per year? Does UC Berkeley's equivalent really need a staff of 24 people? (And are all of them Diverse-Americans?)

Heather: your article is a misplaced anger at University of California. The university is driven by the diversity mandates that has overtaken most federal branches, and certainly all federal agencies that fund research. The university operates in a highly competitive marketplace of top-ranked universities and cannot afford to make up its rules. If you really want help this cause, launch an investigation into agency such as NSF -- and its onerous requirements -- or department of education with its executive rulings. The trouble is that it is a hardwork and in the end no one will know agencies NSF, NIH, DOE, ONR that would be talking about. Either way, there will be no Pulitzer waiting for you. Just righteous anger of a few who are presented piecemeal information.

The story is not much different even for corporate honchos, once a year most senior executives go through this rub down for promoting minorities and women in their organization, and provide minority business subcontracting plans to the government. In fact, there are now companies -- of course, owned by minority businesses -- that provide you suitable cover from such rubdown, for a price. For companies, it is cost of doing business and a distraction, hence no one talks about it. Universities have to be open, but that should not be held against them.

May be you have not heard, but yes UCSD does require every single contract to fill out minority business plan demonstrating how it plans to support minority businesses. That may be your next story. Either way, no Pulitzer unless you are complete and mainstream.

All concerned ought to thank the original "hate crime" hoaxers


http://elvisnixon.com/2010/03/06/jigaboo-jones-hosts-compton-cookout.aspx

This is nothing new. Back in the late 70s
or 80s, Hispanic students at UCLA staged
a rally to get the university to open
a Chicano Studies program. The students
camped out on the campus lawns and refused
to leave unless their protest was acted upon.
The UCLA administration first said that
there was no money for a Chicano Studies
program and then, when the students still
camped out on the campus greenery, the
administration caved and eliminated the
graduate school of nursing and used the
money saved to grant the wishes of the
Hispanic students and started the Chicano
Studies program.

Disgusting

It used to be that white men just needed to show up and the world was handed to them.

No more: America will soon be a Nation of Color where whites will have no primacy and privilege. We will have to compete on a level playing field with every one else.

white men have had 1000 years of affirmative action. It scares us that it is ending.

The University of California is an unaccountable criminal mafia organization. Study of the organization of the Regents is enough to understand how they get away with siphoning vast amounts of wealth and promoting ridiculous policies in service to foreign interests. 26 regents, 12 year terms except for the four elected regents that get maximum eight year terms. It's designed to protect unaccountability. UC faculty, staff and students are traitors to TRUTH and no university in the history of world has betrayed the human species and TRUTH more than the University of California. Mum on obvious 9/11 lies, mum on the obvious holohoax, mum on the obvious NASA hoaxes. UC is a disgrace.

It would appear that the cost of diversity insurance is rising faster than the cost of health care or higher education.

Diversity insurance is the tribute that colleges and universities pay to victim studies programs, offices of institutional diversity and diversity staffers in the offices of student affairs to insure that if there is some kind of incident that is construed by some to be an incident of racial, gender, religious or orientation bias, the school is somewhat protected. In fact, for purposes of ginning up support for such investments in diversity insurance, hoaxes are just as good as actual incidents. That may explain why so many alleged instances of bias turn out to be hoaxes.

The problem is maddening because the offices of diversity have no natural bureaucratic predators to control their growth. As tuition spirals out of control, the country is awash in student debt, and much of the social sciences and humanities is in an endless pursuit of narratives of oppression, it is very depressing to see very little on the horizon offering opposition to this insanity.

Heather, you are a great voice of reason, but I fear it is being heard by too few people.

We need fewer white men around. I mean, what have white men ever done for anyone? They are evil.

That's pretty much the message of diversity in a nutshell.

Given the fiscal cliff that "Kahl-ee-forn-ya" is goin' off, this is the new DEFINITION of fanaticism.

Mrs Mac Donald, I salut Your curage in speaking against the leftist,socialist, blood sucking machine and exposing the truth. How can people like Blum seat on both sides of a barricade; be a capitalist and a socialist at the same time? Seems to me he is just an opportunist and a bloody lier. Best regards DR Snyder MD

California like China or Russia is a single party state

All of these college beurocratic useless, pieces of (fill in the blank) do is make seniors pay more for their house taxes, and burdern working stiffs to no end. Instead, these miscreants should be calling for an end to illegal immigration in California, and a return to an honest society based on following the law. Every California citizen,I've talked to about this issue, the addition of another useless taxpayer paid beurocrat,is outragaed.

Good article; I really don't disagree with anything Ms. Mac Donald says except for one thing. Prop 30 is not just about UCSD but about 30,000 k-12 teachers who were laid off and those who are teaching now facing furlough days. I don't disagree that this sort of behavior is egregious. Merit is not as valuable as "diversity"; this obsession with "diversity" by the numbers undermines academic excellence.

this new vice chancellorship is a position of extraordinary complexity and challenge: It “will require creativity and innovation to establish the role and organizational structure to enable achievement of the campus’ strategic diversity goals.”

Sounds like one of those shovel ready jobs you hear so much about. Too bad these professional experts at manipulating so much horsepucky don't stick to organic farming of precious locally grown handpicked heirloom produce that benefits from spreading so much organic fertilizer.

No new taxes. No new fines. No new fees. No expansion of bureacracy. Time to trim the fat instead.

How dumb things happen at smart universities. The public’s UC Berkeley harvests family savings, Alumni donations, supporter’s money and taxes. Cal. ranked #1 public university total academic cost (resident) as a result of the Provost’s, Chancellor’s ‘charge resident’s higher tuition’. UCB tuition is rising faster than other universities.

Cal ranked # 2 in faculty earning potential. Spending on salaries increased 29% in last six years. Believe it: Harvard College less costly.

University of California negates promise of equality of opportunity: access, affordability. Self-absorbed Provost Breslauer Chancellor Birgeneau are outspoken on ‘charging residents much higher’ tuition.

Birgeneau ($450,000) Breslauer ($306,000) like to blame the politicians, since they stopped giving them their entitled funding. The ‘charge instate students higher tuition’ skyrocketed fees by an average 14% per year from 2006 to 2011 academic years. If they had allowed fees to rise at the same rate of inflation over past 10 years fees would still be in reach of middle income students. Breslauer Birgeneau increase disparities in higher education, defeat the promise of equality of opportunity, and create a less-educated work force.

Additional state tax funding must sunset. The sluggish economy, 10% unemployment devastates family savings. Simply asking for more taxes (Prop 30, 32, 38) to spend on self-absorbed Cal. leadership, inefficient higher education practices, over-the-top salaries, bonuses, is not the answer.

UCB is to maximize access to the widest number of residence at a reasonable cost. Birgeneau Breslauer’s ‘charge Californians higher tuition’ denies middle income families the transformative value of Cal.

The California dream: keep it alive and well. Fire hapless Provost George W Breslauer. Clueless Chancellor Birgeneau resigned. Cal. leadership must accept responsibility for failing Californians.

Opinions? UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu Calif. State Senators, Assembly members.

If anyone was wondering how they should vote on Gov. Moonbeam's tax hike initiative, this should help.

I clicked on the link to information about Linda Greene, and it confirmed what I suspected: she's a Person of Color.

Here's an honest question: Is there even ONE "Vice-Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion" at ANY major university who isn't a member of an ethnic or sexual minority group? Is there even one such who happens to be a straight white male who was selected as the most competent person for the job?

I'm sorry, Dr. King, but the academy believes the whole "content of their character" thing is highly overrated.

Thank God for Heather MacDonald.

No one, I repeat NO ONE in the mainstream media would ever right an article like this.

I hope someone forwards this to the gnomes at UCSD.

State does not have money nor the will to enforce 209. Make no mistake, this lobby is extremely powerful and unforgiving. Hence anonymous.

There is a strong analogy between these diversicrats and ambulance-chasing lawyers. By day they shed crocodile tears for the poor exploited masses, but by night they drive off in their Mercedes to their McMansions in La Jolla. How long are people going to let them go on playing the outsider?

Our higher education system is being corrupted, and like just about every other form of corruption, the underlying ostensible motivation is benevolent and public-spirited.

Another excellent piece of research by the talented Heather MacDonald. But, just to set the record straight, no one asked us Californians to create this exorbitantly paid university position. And just as no one previously asked us Californians to create a politically appointed – and highly compensated - state oversight board governing the allocation of billions in taxpayer funding to support embryonic stem cell research. Knee jerk reaction says here’s another typical example of crazy Californians wasting money their state doesn’t have in support of a dubious principle. However, the correct conclusion is that this is just another mundane example of cronyism, of giving a political ally the gift that keeps on giving – namely, taxpayer funding.

And this helping the undeserving to someone else’s money isn’t at all unusual here, it’s as common as blue skies and sunshine in September. Underneath the ditzy political principles, it’s all about the money and only about the money. So, why don’t savvy Californians do something about this all too frequent taxpayer swindle? We do, we move to another state at the first convenient opportunity. The undeserving stay however, they currently outnumber us, they like crony politics for the favors bestowed and that isn’t about to change

After reading Heather MacDonald's article I will subscribe to the journal.

Tremendous article - you can only shake your head with wonder at how supposedly intelligent people could behave with such rank stupidity. How is it possible that our society could have come to accept this utter foolishness?

Actually foolish isn't a strong enough word, what comes to mind is insanity. Only a group that is insulated against the real world could possibly do what is described here - the word silly also comes to mind, but it is a tragic silliness since the cost to the taxpayers and students is so high. Can't these people see themselves, don't they have any comprehension of what they are doing?

And you have to wonder where the media is on this, but then again, media conditioning is actually responsible for much of it. No one dares say a word here, since any opposition would lead to the charge of 'racism.' Since it is logically impossible to prove a lack of racism, fear of this charge leads to impossibly strange things - like this insanity. And one wonders what's next?

It's like Alice in Wonderland, it really is!

So, what happened to Prop 209? Did it get repealed? These hiring programs seem to be in direct violation of that.

Thanks so much for your article, Heather. During my time in graduate school, I saw such things (though, fortunately, not to the extent of what's happening at UCSD) frequently. I see little of it now as a part-time college instructor, though that may be due to the fact that I teach at a for-profit institution.

One very curious point: I read the article to which you linked regarding the campus Left's anger at Khosla. After reading it, I went to the author's UCSD website (it's here: http://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/lmartincabrera.html). Note the background for Professor Cabrera's picture. What you see behind him should say it all regarding the campus Left.

Again, nice article.

Liberals have LOST THEIR COLLECTIVE MINDS... These corrupt incompetent racist gravy train riders are the ENEMY of America and should be lined up for what they have done!

The irony about needing "diversity chancellors" is that our college campuses are about as nonwhite and nonmale as any place in the country.

This piece may be god's truth plainly spoken. But here is another consisting of solid facts that you seem to not appreciate or acknowledge: (a) diversity industry is not created by or endemic to UCSD or even UC, its wellsource is in the federal government and funding agencies. The amount of scrutiny and pressure that the university faces for not actively promoting diversity from agencies such as NSF to department of education is enormous; (b) such criticism as yours is NOT shared by the mainstream media. This article and the one before it can languish in unknown parts of the press but not following diversity/equity and any smallest incident of that (like the Compton riots) will be national news in all media outlets. Yours, unfortunately, is an obscure media outlet, even professedly right-wing press components (WSJ, Fox) will not pick this story.

Taken together, there you have it: righteous anger in unknown parts of the media versus clear and present pressure from Washington DC (regardless of administration), what would you do if you are the chancellor? Carry your agenda for a $3B university forward or get bogged down in a $1M decision?

Honest, fearless and the unmitigated truth.

Oh, for the Love of Life Orchestra! I am beginning to think that the fundamental divide of our culture is between fairness and justice - which are not only not the same thing, but actually are polar opposites. I would love to be paid well over a quarter-million dollars a year for the pursuit of a fantasy, but it'd be impossible to sleep well.

G-d, I miss Andrew Breitbart...

Merely another reason why I'll never give another dime to my UC alma mater...

Excellent piece, Heather -- Thanks! I'm all in favor of encouraging diversity through normal channels, but your phrase, "the biggest enemy of meritocracy is the diversity industry" is right on target.

Read how Judge struck down Baltimore's public pension reform http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-pension-ruling-20120920,0,1894776.storyeform.

This is a big issue in Japan, Korea and China. That's one of their key strengths. They've been very successful at recruiting qualified Asians.

Great incisive article!

On a smaller scale, check out this newly created position at UC Berkeley to help "undocumented" Illegal Alien students; one of 19 recommended positions by a special task force. It will help only "undocumented" students (about 200) and no one else.


http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/09/18/poi-person-tbd/
How about that for misuse of public education funds?

To my fellow UC system alums who may read this: if Prop 30 passes, when the current student calls you during a fundraising drive to ask for donations, tell him that your increased sales and income tax payments are your donation for this year and cite the Regents' endorsement!