Diversity Math.

• Author: Lynch, Michael W.
• Position: San Diego State University violates California against reverse discrimination in hiring - Brief Article

In 1996, California voters passed an initiative that said the Golden State's public institutions couldn't use race, ethnicity, or sex as criteria in hiring, promotions, contracting, or university admissions. Someone forgot to tell Dr. Susan Moss, director of diversity and equity at San Diego State University.

In a memo about two job searches in SDSU's math and computer science department, Moss wrote: "I question, not the credentials of the candidates, but the motives of the proposal. My recommendation to the Provost is that if this committee's final choice does not advance the diversity of the dept., then the search should be closed and started over."

It's not as though the department had been ignoring the calculus of diversity. One of the department's last seven hires was Hispanic, another was Asian, and the other five were women, according to an unauthorized memo by search committee member Dr. Robert Grone. The final list of nine candidates contained two women and seven men; the men came from a variety of countries, and one had a Hispanic surname. It may not be clear how diversity helps students learn math, but if it does, they should be...