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MERIT VS. EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
The (ongoing) research detailed in this
section is concerned with what I regard as a deterioration of merit as
the sole criterion of the evaluation of the academic community (both students
and faculty). The research has been funded mainly by the Donner Canadian
Foundation and partly both by the Horowitz Foundation and by the University
of Toronto Administration (a generous gesture, as it and I continue to
disagree about this issue). I have divided these writings into conceptual
and empirical. The latter section contains systematically analyzed data
which, at least in principle, may be useful for both the "merit" and "equity"
camps.
CONCEPTUAL CRITICISMS OF THE EQUITY/AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION CAMPUS MOVEMENT
- On How Emphasis On "Equity" Can Destroy
Merit In Tenure-Stream Hiring (1987)
- Three pro-employment-equity propaganda
posters produced by EE (extremist equity) Ontario NDP government in
1994. In 1995, the Progressive Conservative Government abolished
employment equity, but this had minimal impact on the universities (see,
e.g., http://www.safs.ca/jan2001/equity.html).
- Unpublished Letter to the Toronto
Star (1994) regarding the NDP government's Employment Equity Act
- Unpublished Letter to the Globe and Mail
(1994) regarding the editorial "Time for a Debate on Employment
Equity"
- The Continuing Saga of the Post-NDP-Era
Employment Equity Survey at UofT (1995)
- Political
Correctness and the Culture of Comfort: An Impediment to Observation,
Objectivity, and the Conflict of Ideas (1997)
- The Silent Equity Studies Debate
(1997)
-
Academic Diversity Examined (1997)
-
Enlightened vs. Ignorant Ways of Fighting Discrimination (1998)
- Is Birgeneau A Social Engineer? (2000)
- Views on Diversity Differ (2000)
- Spousal Hiring,
Society for Academic Freedom Newsletter, January 2001
- Presdient
Atkinsons' Opposition to the Use of SAT I (2001)
- Linking The Diversity Of Peoples'
Sex, Race, Etc. With The Diversification Of Ideas: Who's Being Racist
And Sexist Here? (2002)
- Canada
Research Chairs Politicized (2002)
- Diversity or
Conformity? (2002)
- Panel/Discusssion: The Moral
Bankruptcy of Diversity/Equity Hiring Policies for University Faculty:
Empirical, Logical and Ethical Considerations (2002)
- Diversity Debates: (2002)
- Quotas Help No One (2003)
- Excellence Through
Equity - Confronting the Tension in Universities (2003)
- Excellence
Through Diversity (2003)
- More Diversity Debates:
(2004)
- The Proportionality Game: Biological
Versus Intellectual Diversity (2004)
- Although meant as a jest, many a
true word is said … (2005)
- A Critique of the General Principles
Underlying "Equity" in Faculty Hiring (2005).
- Equity
Hiring as a Manifestation of Institiutional Prejudice (2005)
- High Time Equity Program Subject
to Detached Review (2006)
- No Race Preferential Treatment Either
for Murderers or Applicants for Tenure-stream Faculty Positions: Act-based
vs. Actor-based Ethics (2006)
- Equity vs. Merit-oriented Approaches
to Identifying Genuine Academic Disciplines (correspondence arising
from http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~furedy/Papers/me/
UTB12JunM.doc) (2006)
- Sex-preferential rather than merit-preferential
hiring for maths and hard sciences in top universities is a case of
relying not on a pool, but a puddle, of talent (2006)
- Dubious Partnership: Equity and excellence are not equivalent (2007)
SYSTEMATIC EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE
EFFECTS OF EQUITY/AFFIRMATIVE POLICIES ON THE HIRING OF TENURE-STREAM
FACULTY
This research employs methods of
multi-factorial anlyses used by experimental psychologists, where the
"subjects" are tenure-strea advertisements, the factors observed are such
independent variables as academic status, discipline hardness, location,
and time (usually before and after some signifciant political events such
as the abolition of employment equity 1995 in Ontario, or the passing
of the "anti-affirmative-action" Proposition 13 in 1997 in California),
and the dependent variables are rated degrees of emphasis (on a 7-point
scale) on merit and equity. These ratings are conducted by student raters,
who participate in the research not only as raters, but also in discussions
concerning the design of each study. For photograph of one of these discussions,
see discussion photo. Note
that I and my colleagues are conducting our discussion with an old-fashioned
black-board, rather than slides or power point.
- Provincial Politics
Fail to Affect Employment Equity Commitment in Universities (2001)
- University
Employment Equity Commitment Unaffected by Provincial Politics (2001)
- Employment "Equity" Steamrolls Conservative
Government (2001)
- Judgmental Content Analysis of Canadian
Tenures-Stream Advertisements to Assess Latent Influences on Institutional
Commitment to Affirmative Action This is Technical Report #1 to
the Donner Canadian Foundation (November, 2001)
- Latent or Even Unconscious(?)
Influences on Equity and Merit Phraseologies in Canadian Tenure-Stream
Advertisements (2002)
- Tenure-Stream
Advertisements Before and After the 1995 "Common Sense Revolution" (2003)
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