At Least One Place is Doing the Right Thing About DEI
University of Texas at Austin Is Closing Their DEI Office
I did a post yesterday proclaiming the evil of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement. Make no mistake about it though: I don’t support discrimination. A position at a company, a student berth at a university, or any other damn thing should go to the person who has the best qualifications for the job. If someone doesn’t have the qualifications they shouldn’t get the prize. This works regardless of “representation.”
I’ll give you an example: Per the US Census, citizens described as “White, Alone not Hispanic or Latino” currently comprise 58.9% of the US population. Individuals described as Black or African comprise 13.6% of the population. White people comprise approximately 50% of NFL fans. The minimum salary for a rookie player in the NFL is $875,000 dollars. The minimum salary of an NBA player is over $1.1 million. These are good, high paying jobs with perks like travel and health benefits. And the facts of the matter are that 70.4% of NBA players and 56.4% of NFL players are black.
If I were a typical liberal and had no clue how statistics worked (but I repeat myself) I would be tempted to point this out as being racist. There is a clear statistical correlation between race and who gets these high paying, fame generating jobs and race. Clearly, I would think, whites are being discriminated against.
Fortunately, I’m not a liberal and I have taken a statistics class, so I know that correlation does not imply causation. I understand that there are other forces at work here. I also watch sports. I know that, in general terms, black players tend to be better athletes in those sports. The reasons for that are primarily cultural. One former NCAA football coach who must not be named once proclaimed the work ethic of the black athlete. (And JoePa did some evil stuff, but he was a football coach for long enough to know what he was talking about.) And, since black players tend to outwork their white counterparts, they tend to be better.
I’m a Piston’s fan and no lover of Michael Jordan, the front runner who whined his way to his first NBA championship, but the man was known for making three hundred free throws a day. Not taking three hundred shots, making three hundred shots. If it missed it didn’t count. That’s the kind of work that pays off. He has a well earn reputation for excellence even if I don’t like the guy.
And so, at the end of the day, denying a black player a spot on an NBA roster due to statistical over-representation on NBA rosters would be flat out discrimination. Those guys work hard for those spots and they’ve earned their spots. If white people are under-represented as NBA players and don’t get these very lucrative roster spots, that’s just too bad.
That much having been said, it should work both ways. The state of Texas is doing its best to make sure it will once again. The University of Texas at Austin is too. Per Fox News:
The University of Texas at Austin laid off dozens of employees who worked in their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs to comply with a new state law, according to a report.
University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell announced Tuesday the school’s Division of Campus and Community Engagement is being dissolved and its programs and funding transferred to other divisions.
The announcement comes as the university works to comply with a new Texas law that came into effect Jan. 1, which effectively dissolved DEI institutions at public colleges and universities throughout the state.
So someone is stopping the discrimination. And yes, DEI is discrimination. If denying an NBA player a job that he has earned due to his own hard work is discrimination then so is denying a white student a spot that they have earned at a university.
And yes, I get the historical injustice argument. It’s bunk. There have been slaves held the world over and there is not a single case of any DEI movement for any enslaved race of people until the black people of the modern day. None of them. Not one.
And, following on yesterday’s piece, I fail to see how a DEI office is even allowed to exist. Preach what you want. You don’t have the right to force it down my throat. You damn sure don’t have the right to deny one or both of my daughters a spot at a university because their skin is pale, and that’s what this is really all about. But there is this, at least in Texas:
The law mandates that all governing boards of public colleges and universities ensure that their institutions prohibit the establishment and maintenance of a DEI office and the issue of "DEI Statements." In addition, hiring practices and training are no longer able to use DEI statements.
"I recognize that strong feelings have surrounded SB 17 from the beginning and will shape many Longhorns’ perceptions of these measures," Hartzell wrote in reference to the new law. "It is also important that this continues to be a welcoming, supportive community for all."
In the message, Hartzell said student-facing jobs would remain throughout the rest of the semester and that laid-off employees could apply for other positions at the university.
The firings came after state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R., outlined expectations on how universities will comply with the state law. He wrote a letter expressing the serious nature of the bill, saying that the measure "mandates a fundamental shift in the operation of our higher education institutions." He added that universities are expected to facilitate a "merit-based environment."
A “merit based environment” is how it should be. And yes, black people, you are capable of earning your way in if you want to. Your ancestors went from slavery to establishing a system of Historically Black Colleges and Universities that they not only attended, but taught at. It wasn’t fair, but they did it anyway.
That was at a time when there was no such thing as student loans and the former slaves had to travel overseas to get the education they needed to teach at those schools. The difference is that they weren’t looking for someone else to create their success. They earned it themselves, through merit.
So let’s stop with the racism. Slots at universities or companies should go to those who have earned them, not to someone with an excuse about how “That’s not easy,” or how they “shouldn’t have to.” Sometimes life is hard and yes, you should have to.