How To Achieve Faculty Diversity In Public Higher Education: Minority Faculty Preferences And Their Alternatives

Abstract

Most educators in American public higher education vigorously embrace the goal of diversity for both faculty and students. One approach frequently utilized is preferential programs for targeted minorities for both faculty employment and student admissions. The Supreme Court has recently recognized that achieving a diverse student body in a public college or university is a sufficiently important interest to constitutionally justify implementation of a preferential admissions plan for minority students. The unanswered issue explored in this article is whether diversity may similarly serve as a sufficient justification for preferential hiring of minority faculty candidates. Also discussed are alternatives that institutions of higher learning may pursue in order to achieve faculty diversity without utilizing race- or ethnic-conscious faculty preferential hiring programs.