A majority of University students tend to believe affirmative action hiring programs may result in less qualified job candidates gaining an edge because of their minority status, according to initial results of The Michigan Daily Student Survey.
Overall, 70 percent of students who responded to the survey - a sample representing 87 percent of the student population - said employers "sometimes" or "often" hire or promote unqualified minorities because of affirmative action policies.
Respondents who identified themselves as white were nearly twice as likely as non-white students - respondents who identified themselves as Asian, black or Latino/a - to say that employers often use ethnicity as a factor in hiring ahead of skill level.
LSA junior Monica Mikucki said she's aware that affirmative action is often represented that way.
"A lot of people tend to believe that affirmative action puts unqualified minorities in positions they shouldn't be in," Mikucki said. "Affirmative action only looks at the qualified minorities."
Sue Rasmussen, the director of the University's affirmative action programs, also said many people have illusions about affirmative action.
"There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there," Rasmussen said, referring to the idea that companies have policies such as minority hiring quotas.
"They're not a good kind of affirmative action, and they're not the types of practices that we use at the University," she said.
Because the University receives substantial federal funds, its hiring practices are subject to Executive Order 11246, which requires the University to utilize affirmative action policies when hiring faculty and staff members.
The law stipulates that the University must at least make "good-faith efforts" to hire women and minorities.
"The University must examine its workforce and compare it to the outside labor market," Rasmussen said. "We set different availabilities for faculty based on what department they're in," she said.
"We try to come up with percentages that reflect the number of women and minorities available."
Denise Bolar, a campus recruiter for computer giant IBM, said the company makes "a concerted effort" to hire minority employees but does not have any required quotas.
"IBM wants to ensure that it has a diverse workforce," Bolar said. "It's not as if anyone is telling us you have to hire so many women, so many people of color."
IBM is committed to hiring the most qualified employees, Bolar said, but the company may choose a minority over another equally-skilled candidate.
Hiring candidates for reasons not related to their work ability would diminish employees' value, Bolar said.
"I would like to think that I'm qualified for it, not that it's because I fit into a certain ethnic category," said Bolar, who is black.
Like IBM, the University places more importance on job qualifications than ethnicity or gender when hiring employees, Rasmussen said.
"The goal does not mean you go out and hire the first women or minority," she said, adding that only when two individuals are equally skilled could ethnicity be a decision-maker.
Law first-year student Eric Reed said he would have no problem being passed over for an equally-skilled minority candidate.
"I don't have any problem giving a historically underrepresented candidate an edge," Reed said.
LSA sophomore Pete Cullen said it's important to distinguish between "unqualified" and "less qualified" job candidates.
"If someone's getting hired they can probably do the job," Cullen said.
When goals are not being met, Rasmussen said the University advertises in markets that would tend to attract minority candidates.
Each year the University has about 10,000 open positions per year, most of which are for non-instructional employees, she added.
LSA senior Fayeannette Pierce said a mix of ethnicities and genders can only help a work environment.
"A diverse workplace would be more beneficial than an all-white, all-black, or all-anything workplace," Pierce said.
04-20-99
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