Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190379
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES J. KILPATRICK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The professorship would be a "tenure-track teaching position" beginning in the fall of 1990. A Ph.D. would be required; teaching experience at the college level was desirable. "The successful candidate will show evidence of excellence in teaching and active scholarship." Salary would be commensurate with experience. Applications should be sent to Dr. Edward Weiss, chairman of a biology search committee.
The ad concluded with two sentences in italics: The college is committed to a rigorous Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity program. Applications from women and minorities are especially encouraged.
An assistant professor of biology at another state institution thought a change might be desirable. He had his Ph.D.; he had done postdoctoral work with the National Institutes of Health; he had published scholarly papers and had received awards for excellence in teaching. He put together a resume and formal letter of application, provided the required recommendations, and fired off the package to Dr. Weiss.
A considerable time elapsed. On May 9 came an answer:
"It is with considerable disappointment and much frustration that I write to inform you that the search for the general biology/vertebrate biology position has been terminated by the administration due to an inability to find a viable black candidate.
"I apologize for the delay in providing word of the outcome of the search, but the process was lengthy and somewhat contentious. At this time, it is uncertain as to what will happen with this position in the future . . . ."
What can be said of this remarkable decision? At the very least, it provides a sad example of racism in its naked form.
It has to be assumed that the college needed an assistant professor of biology. The slot was available within the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science. Funds were on hand. Presumably an expanding enrollment justified an additional faculty member. And here was a manifestly qualified applicant who might have been hired but for one unforgivable flaw: His skin was white.
It is to this lunatic end that "affirmative action" is taking us. Christopher Newport College is not alone. Harvard's Law School recently was embroiled in the same kind of thing. Colleges and universities across the nation are competing furiously for qualified minority faculty members. A number of Southern institutions of higher learning are under court orders to find such teachers. Fire departments and police departments similarly are coerced.
One wonders what this does to blacks. Suppose that eventually a black biologist is recruited. What does he ask himself? "Was I hired because of my qualifications? Or was I hired because of my race?"
The sorry incident in Virginia relates directly to the pending civil-rights bill in the Senate. One purpose of the bill is to overturn a decision by the Supreme Court a year ago in Wards Cove vs. Atonio. The effect of the court's opinion was to put the burden of proving racial discrimination largely upon the plaintiff. If the bill passes, prudent employers will be driven to racial quotas; they will have to count white noses and black noses, and relate the noses proportionately to all noses on the payroll. If the nose ratio is out of balance, costly litigation will ensue.
It is true-it is undeniably, sorrowfully true-that for generations racial discrimination worked the other way. No qualified black biologist could have been found on the faculty of any white college in the South. But two wrongs never yet have made a right; in its decision last month, a small Virginia college went woefully, inexcusably wrong.
Universal Press Syndicate
by CNB