The Loophole In Affirmative Action Hiring Of Engineering Faculty

Over the past twenty years engineering administrators have come under increasing pressure, due to affirmative action, to hire minority and women faculty. This has posed a problem due to the very small pool of minority and women Ph.D. graduates in engineering across the country. One solution to this problem that has been implemented is to augment the hiring pool with foreignborn minorities holding (or nearly holding) permanent residence status. Though at first glance this seems a tenable solution, in fact, it cuts at the very heart of the rationale many of us use to justify affirmative action programs. With the current growing political opposition to affirmative action and the real possibility of the dismemberment of affirmative action programs, any approach that seems to weaken the justification for affirmative action can be and probably will be used in promoting its demise. I believe that such is the case presented by utilizing the foreign born as affirmative action candidates.