The Problem of Privilege Discrimination and The Solution of “Evidence Based Discrimination”

I am a professor at a university in the American South. I am in my sixth year there. In that time, I have served on numerous hiring committees. For readers outside of academia, hiring a new faculty member is an extensive vetting process that can take several months. You are hiring someone who may be there for decades. After being a member of so many committees, I have gained a good understanding of the hiring process.

I am also a black faculty member. I have observed with keen interest the often-ineffective efforts at my university to recruit black faculty. I have been an integral part of the discussions around this issue. These discussions have only increased in recent years. I have become a tenured member of the faculty and expected to participate in university governance. I am also an officer in my university’s black faculty association.

My experiences, observations, and discussions with others about improving diversity in hiring lead me to this conclusion: The anti-bias procedures we have in place that are meant to protect people from employment discrimination skew hiring in favor of privilege. This privilege is primarily white. In the context of diversity hiring, we must recognize this privilege discrimination and replace it with a clearly articulated, evidence-based discrimination in favor of diversity.

Although my focus here will be on academia, the problems and solutions presented can apply to…