Minorities, recent immigrants and foreign nationals would all constitute diverse candidates under a recently released diversity in hiring directive, according to University Provost Madeline Wake.
The directive, which requires a diverse candidate to be included in the candidate pool for all new faculty hirings, was issued at an Aug. 18 Dean's Council, according to Kim Newman, an executive administrative assistant in the provost's office.
The directive should make it clear that "diversity is the number one priority" for Wake and the university, said Associate Provost for Diversity Keenan Grenell.
"The provost is walking the talk," he said.
Department of History Chair James Marten cited some concerns about the directive.
Marten said while he and most chairs believe the directive is "a very good thing" in principle, "one-size-fits-all policies can be problematic."
For instance, Marten said the history department is currently looking for a German history professor, and finding a minority candidate can be difficult.
"I don't know of any people of color who would be in that field," Marten said.
Grenell said Marquette must be prepared to "look in places where they've never looked before."
"You may not be able to find a Hispanic, African-American or Asian-American who specializes in German history, but you do not know if you do not try," he said.
Grenell said the current faculty makeup reflects a lack of effort to attract diverse pools of applicants in the past.
"If you look at the make-up of the faculty on this campus, it's evident we haven't had diverse pools in the past," he said.
"Having all-white pools for the majority of searches (means) we are not putting sufficient effort into our searches," Wake said.
Marten said the impact of the directive also depends on the level of the hiring process to which it applies.
He said finding diverse candidates may be relatively easy for the initial pool, which typically has 70 to 120 candidates, but more difficult for the interview pool, which is much smaller.
Marten said despite the concerns, he and the rest of the faculty supported the directive and the goals behind it.
Wake said her definition of "diverse" candidates goes beyond federally-defined minority groups.
She said recent immigrants and foreign nationals fall under her defintion.
However, Grenell said while diversity means having a global understanding, he was wary of making the parameters for diverse candidates too broad.
He said an overly broad view of diverse candidates steers the focus away from the initiative's intention.
Grenell was not hesitant to name the groups he had in mind.
"We need to be looking for black faculty and Hispanic faculty" to be more reflective of the metro area, Grenell said.
Diversifying the faculty does not mean simply hiring a certain number of minorities, but instead finding candidates who are a good fit at Marquette, Grenell said.
While some schools are "putting money and numbers on the table" and hiring regardless of vacancies, Grenell said Marquette is "trying to beef up (its) talent."
"I want to get the best people possible," he said.
Top minority talent in higher education is hard to come by, Grenell said.
"Minority intellectuals are a very scare resource," he said. "We're looking to compete at all levels for this talent."
Wake said that as a top strategic priority, diversity initiatives merit a meaningful dedication of resources.
She also said the use of those resources needs to be strategic rather than throwing money at the problem.
She cited recruiting from doctoral programs with high minority enrollment and tapping into networks of higher-education minorities among strategies to find diverse candidates.
Grenell said the concerns raised about the directive are a positive sign.
"Now people are thinking and they're asking themselves questions," he said. "'Will I be held accountable for fulfilling the directive? Where is this going to take us?'"
"This is part of the process of change," he said.
This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 27, 2005.