| Candidates lack diversity |
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| Written by Anne-Marije Rook - Argonaut | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 12 February 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Idaho State Board of Education announced five possible candidates
for the position of University of Idaho president last month. Two of
these candidates, Kansas State University Provost Duane Nellis and
Montana State University Provost David Dooley, recently visited the
university.
While I am not undermining the candidates’ outstanding qualifications, I couldn’t help but notice all five finalists have two things in common — they are middle-class men, and with the exception of Stanislaus President Ham Shirvani, an Iranian immigrant, the men are white. Unexpected? No. Disappointing? Yes. “The University of Idaho seeks to transform and broaden diversity in every respect as it relates to our campus culture and climate,” the beginning of the UI Office of Diversity statement said. Having yet another white, middle-class, male president, however, doesn’t show diversity to me. Seeing no women on the finalist list reflects the climate issues still present in higher administration. There are few women in key leadership positions, and many women in higher education feel vulnerable in tenure and promotion time. Female faculty have experienced more difficulty in faculty or staff positions than men in those positions. While the male-to-female ratio of students at UI is 52-to-48, the gender percentage is not reflected in the university’s leadership positions. Women are a distinct minority here, and one can’t help but notice that. “The number of women in higher education administration is smaller and therefore makes the number of potential candidates (for president) lower,” said ASUI President Garrett Holbrook, who is part of the search committee. When the choice is career or children, women are more reluctant to jump through all the hoops to get tenured or rise to key leadership positions in higher education. However, this is an ongoing argument, as others claim, thanks to affirmative action measures, higher education provides equal opportunity to male and female faculty alike. “I wouldn’t make the assumption that it is harder for women to get on tenure track,” said Mark Browning of the State Board of Education. While the specifics about the presidential applicants were not released for confidentially reasons, Browning ensured gender and ethnicity weren’t a factor in candidate selection. “We looked at character and actions. We didn’t pick just two white males,” Holbrook said. “We picked two white males who in the work they’ve done show they’re capable in dealing with a vast amount of diversity … they were far and away the top two choices.” Along with talk about the university’s president comes, of course, talk about the president’s spouse. It might not be prohibited for the president’s spouse to have a career of her or his own. Traditionally, however, the spouse is expected to suspend her or his career upon arrival in Moscow to fulfill certain university duties and commitments. These duties include running Operation Education, being the public face of the university and sitting on various boards and committees. If she or he is not willing to give up her or his career, it conflicts with time commitments to the university. The spouse receives no financial support for her or his commitment, as the financial compensation is included in the president’s salary. I find this problematic, seeing as this makes the spouse fully financially dependent on the spouse. I wonder how many men would be willing to suspend a career of their own while their wives become university presidents. Thus far, only one female has held the position of UI president, and that was Elizabeth Zinser in 1989. Meanwhile, there’s been a lot of talk about diversifying the campus, and former President Timothy White was a big supporter of diversity issues on campus. “The fact that he always came to our events said a lot,” said Lysa Salsbury, program coordinator of the UI Women’s Center. “I would like to see a president that has the interest of diversity groups in the forefront of his or her — well, let’s face it — his mind,” Salsbury said. Too many students think issues involving gender are over and won, and women have reached equality in society, but when they get into the workplace, they find that is not the case. Salsbury said she would love to see the Women’s Center incorporated in the CORE curriculum. “We always talk about diversifying campus,” Salsbury said, “it’s important to incorporate the gender component in introductory classes.” I don’t doubt the candidates’ competence to be the change the university is looking for, and the background and experiences of these men are promising. However, it should not go unnoticed — students and faculty alike are looking for diversity and better representation in leadership positions.  Add as favorites (127) | Views: 1671
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