According to internal data, the University of California’s faculty is 54.9% White and 22.2% Asian. Skews a little whiter than you’d expect based off of California’s demographics, but it doesn’t scream of racial bias happening in hiring. Still, the Department of Justice wants to investigate the school system to root out the spectre of race-based hiring. Washington Post has coverage:
In a letter to University of California President Michael Drake dated Thursday, the Justice Department claimed a strategic growth plan created by the UC system that mentions diversity in hiring suggests that the educational institution “may be engaged” in discriminatory employment practices based on race or sex.
In response, University of California spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the system is “committed to fair and lawful processes in all of our programs and activities, consistent with federal and state antidiscrimination laws.”
The University of California system was one of the first places that schools concerned with diversity and equity looked to following SFFA v. Harvard. Affirmative action has been prohibited by California’s constitution since Proposition 209 was voted on in 1996. On the one hand, University of California should be the last school targeted. While they’ve had goals for racial equity, year after year, they’ve failed to meet them since Prop 209 became the law of the land. But pointing out a 30-year failure streak isn’t enough apparently: aspiring to racial equity, even without the results, seems to run afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment. Maybe the DOJ will manage to get that White faculty rate up to 100% once this is all over. I mean, make merit great again.
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Justice Dept. Says It Is Investigating Univ. Of California Hiring Practices [Washington Post]
Earlier: Suit Alleges Anti-White Bias In Tax Law Hiring Despite Virtually All Tax Lawyers Being White
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.