Affirmative Action in Action: A Case Study of Faculty Recruitment at One Major Land-Grant University

Abstract

This study reports results of in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured interviews, conducted over the course of the 1995-96 academic year, of all members of a stratified sample of faculty search committees at Virginia Tech on the role of affirmative action in the process of faculty recruitment. The faculty interviews reveal that there is near universal acceptance of the principles of equal opportunity, but little support for affirmative measures designed to end workplace segregation or to ensure Further, the study suggests that faculty embrace very limited views of the meaning and value of diversity. Contrary to what some opponents of affirmative action might allege, affirmative action as implemented in faculty hiring at Virginia Tech does not constitute reverse discrimination or preferential treatment of women and minorities. In fact, affirmative action plays a very limited role in policy-university faculty themselves are no more likely to accept exceptions to hiring procedures believed to be than is the general public. Those seeking to promote greater workplace integration, therefore, might be better served by reinvigorated attempts to unpack the cultural biases inherent in existing recruitment systems rather than by attempts to persuade those involved in hiring to subvert fair processes.