During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
As Heather MacDonald documents at City Journal, the University of California, San Diego has created a new senior-level administrative position, the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. As MacDonald notes, the position is largely redundant, given the already-existing diversity infrastructure at UCSD. Despite that, the new position pays $250,000 a year, plus benefits, a relocation allowance, moving expenses, and a temporary housing allowance.
MacDonald raises an interesting question: What will the new vice chancellor actually do? This is a very relevant question given that there is no evidence that the UCSD faculty have discriminated against minorities or women in hiring decisions. The UCSD press office, in a marvelous display of bureaucratic-speak described the job duties as follows: It "will require creativity and innovation to establish the role and organizational structure to enable achievement of the campus' strategic diversity goals."
MacDonald notes that the similar position at UC Berkeley presides over a staff of 24 people. She estimates that the office for the new VC for EDI at UCSD will cost California taxpayers close to $1 million per year, not counting the salary of the VC for EDI.
Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has asked California voters to approve an $8 billion tax increase in November. One justification, he argues, is that the tax increase will aid the University of California. Voters who are fully informed of the new VC for EDI position at UCSD, I suspect, will have a hard time voting for the increase.
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Comments:
Jul '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
I went there in the 80's. There are a world of Asian, Latino, Black, and other non-white students in addition to homosexual clubs etc. How they need to micromanage beyond just letting qualified folks in is a joke. California is a broke joke.
At the time, Asians still had minority status and when I was applying for med school I asked realistically what my chances were. I had a 3.6 with a 99.7% MCAT and had volunteered at the hospital plus was a polymer chemist for the Navy at the time. I was told they had thousands of white males applying and only spots for about 20, most of whom had an inside edge with faculty/alumni.
Hello Louisiana State University for me. I officially became a redneck after I left that office at UCSD.
Dec '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
One wonders what might happen if every person who thinks this job is wildly unnecessary were to actually apply for it. Surely UCSD would be inclusive and review in detail all applicants...right?
...readying my resume. It might need a little word-smithing...
Oct '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
The primary function of the UCSD VC for EDI is to reliably transfer the wealth of the few remaining productive citizens in California to a Democrat operative who will live lavishly while saving the poor from starvation via the promotion of equity and food stamps.
Is this news???
May '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
My initial reaction was VC for EDI? What's EDI? "Erectile Dysfunction Initiative?"
Being California, I thought "yeah, sounds about right."
It would be a better return for the taxpayer money than Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Feb '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Not sure if she's still there, but Mary Ann Fox left my university (North Carolina State) to be chancellor at UCSD. She did a great job and left just in time as Gov. Easley started to spread his tentacles and slime into NCSU. Maybe she has made another excellent career move and gone elsewhere. Hope she has.
Jan '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Further evidence that the UC system doesn't need any more funds. What a waste of taxpayer money.
Aug '12
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Nick Stuart: My initial reaction was VC for EDI? What's EDI? "Erectile Dysfunction Initiative?"
Being California, I thought "yeah, sounds about right."
It would be a better return for the taxpayer money than Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. · 2 hours ago
Yes, I was actually quite relieved it was only the typical foolishness, rather than a new type.
Jun '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
When Heather announced the establishment of the position last year, she included some of the other UCSD diversitarians: (link at CJ link)
"which includes the Chancellor’s Diversity Office, the associate vice chancellor for faculty equity, the assistant vice chancellor for diversity, the faculty equity advisors, the graduate diversity coordinators, the staff diversity liaison, the undergraduate student diversity liaison, the graduate student diversity liaison, the chief diversity officer, the director of development for diversity initiatives, the Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity, the Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues, the Committee on the Status of Women, the Campus Council on Climate, Culture and Inclusion, the Diversity Council, and the directors of the Cross-Cultural Center, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, and the Women’s Center."
Jul '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Eeyore, they missed the white male Christian conservative heterosexual dept. I might be endangered soon and I sure feel oppressed.
May '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Let's start calling them by their true names: parasites, time-wasters, bullies, busybodies, kommissars.
Jun '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
In 1993, the new head of the English Department at Washington State University, Pullman invited all the women of the department to a reception. She told them that the day of the white male was over in the academy and that she wished to be on only one University committee - the Faculty Committee. There she was going to do everything in her power to make sure the University never - ever - made another white male hire.
(Story relayed to me by an Evil White Male in dept, who had been told by one of the women at the reception. I don't know if the snitch was subsequently expelled.)
Jan '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Hmmmm, I thought Michelle Obama was moving to Hawaii after the election(?)
Oct '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
The Left develops its publicly funded power base by exploiting false or exaggerated “racial incidents.” Note the craven reaction of administrators (especially in the original articles) and keep in mind UCSD has nearly 30,000 students.
Several days later …
Grievance politics is a Leftist scam.
Jul '11
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Funny how you won't see one Occupy clown occupying this most useless office on any campus, anywhere. If you want a place to start, in terms of wasted money at colleges, and why tuition rates are 2x/3X the inflation rate, start at any college's Diversity office.
An utterly ridiculous waste of time, money, and peoples' lives. Yet someone who has never lived in the real world will likely get that 1/4MM gig, and will never, ever, have to deal with anything that could even remotely be construed as pressure at work. Ever.
Oct '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Chris Campion: If you want a place to start, in terms of wasted money at colleges, and why tuition rates are 2x/3X the inflation rate, start at any college's Diversity office.
An utterly ridiculous waste of time, money, and peoples' lives.
EDI is a secular sacrament. The California tax payer has just hired a 1%-er Shaman to head the permanent grievance infrastructure, ready to oversee human sacrifices if "targets" are not met.
Clearly, the reason we don't have more qualified minorities in academia is there just aren't enough people getting handsome salaries to obsess about it.
On the positive side, minorities filling these make-work positions count as 'progress' on the road to great EDI "metrics." If you can't find qualified faculty, hire top-end administrators ... counts the same on the Diversity quotient!
Oct '10
Re: During Budget Crisis, University of California Creates New Position: "VC for EDI"
Get real! You think she'd work for that chump change? She got $317K for Diversity extortion just at University of Chicago's Medical Center BEFORE she became First Lady ... she'll need twice that to grace an entire UC campus. The good news is she's available to start in about four months.