[rant]
OK, sorry for the rant, but I need to vent a bit. I’m a geographer about a year from finally finishing my Ph.D. I also happen to be a white male. Got my Association of American Geographers newsletter in the mail today--it’s the season for faculty job ads, so I thought I’d take a look and see what kind of jobs are available.

Much to my dismay, out of 47 institutions hiring, fully 32 of them boast that they officially discriminate against men and/or whites. Here are some representative samples:

“Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Miami University offers equal opportunity [HA! HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FUCKING FACE?!?]  in employment and education and full same-sex domestic partner benefits.”

University of Oklahoma: “Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.” [TRANSLATION: WHITE MALES DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO SEND YOUR C.V.]

Texas A&M: “We strongly encourage applications from women, underrepresented ethnic groups, and individuals with disabilities.” [SO IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE A LESBIAN PARAPLEGIC TIBETAN GOAT-HERDER, WE WANT YOUR APPLICATION!!!]

In other words, universities around the country “strongly encourage” white males not to even bother applying. All your hard work the last 5 years? Worthless, because we’re going to hire this obviously-less-qualified woman and/or recent immigrant from Shit-hole-i-stan.

Luckily, I’m already thoroughly fed up with academia and all its bullshit. The audaciousness of their discriminatory hiring policies just puts me over the edge. Fuck academia!

On the bright side, there are a few private firms that have ads in the newsletter--not a single one says anything about discriminating against men or whites.
[/rant]

I lost out on a job once.  It was a points system hiring process.  You got points for age group, military experience, prior LE experience, being female, and being a minority.

Ironically I only got extra points for the LE experience.

BTW did I mention this was an LE job?  


Also yes we are racist and going to hell for wanting true eqal opportunity.  They're just a little more equal than us sometimes.

I got affirmative actioned out of a promotion
He didn't do a good job, I laughed when he got fired

I dont know why they would include women in that list considering men are a minority in colleges.

Quoted: I lost out on a job once.  It was a points system hiring process.  You got points for age group, military experience, prior LE experience, being female, and being a minority. Ironically I only got extra points for the LE experience. BTW did I mention this was an LE job?   Also yes we are racist and going to hell for wanting true eqal opportunity.  They're just a little more equal than us sometimes.

I took the written test for a local LE agency, which was points based as well.. we were getting ready to get started, when the last applicant rolled in.. a bulldyke-looking black chick. They may as well have just handed her the job right there.

It turned out ok for me.  Who cares if I didn't get that job?  I make more money now than I would have if I got it.

One of my friends did get hired though.  He said everyone I bitched about didn't make it through the academy.  They cried and went home.

AA is such utter bullshit I hardly contain myself. And the fact they actively discriminate against men is truly ridiculous considering that women are in fact a majority on campus, and that includes grad students. They are a slight minority when it comes to faculty positions because a lot of them end up deciding they don't want to deal with 60hr+ work weeks and all the unbearable bullshit academia throws at you. That's a viable option when you have a husband bringing in the money. But of course the feminit-wits don't want to admit that. It's got to be male chauvinism. So therefore we've got to "stick it" to the men by screwing them out of a job.

Quoted: Much to my dismay, out of 47 institutions hiring, fully 32 of them boast that they officially discriminate against men and/or whites. Here are some representative samples: “Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Miami University offers equal opportunity [HA! HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FUCKING FACE?!?]  in employment and education and full same-sex domestic partner benefits.” University of Oklahoma: “Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.” [TRANSLATION: WHITE MALES DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO SEND YOUR C.V.] Texas A&M: “We strongly encourage applications from women, underrepresented ethnic groups, and individuals with disabilities.” [SO IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE A LESBIAN PARAPLEGIC TIBETAN GOAT-HERDER, WE WANT YOUR APPLICATION!!!] In other words, universities around the country “strongly encourage” white males not to even bother applying. All your hard work the last 5 years? Worthless, because we’re going to hire this obviously-less-qualified woman and/or recent immigrant from Shit-hole-i-stan.

Do you actually understand how affirmative action works, and how the order is written? Affirmative action REQUIRES that employers TRY to hire qualified people from under-represented groups.  It doesn't require them to actually hire them, and it certainly doesn't require them to hire anyone that is LESS qualified.

The implication that they are "encouraging white men to not even apply" is ridiculous.  The reason they even mention this in their announcements is (a) they are required to do so by AA rules, and (b) MOST of their senior faculty are probably WHITE MEN, and so they are required to try to hire more women and minorities - IF they can find qualified ones.

Guess what - ALL of my department's job announcements over the past EIGHT YEARS have had that exact same language in them.  All of them.  Every single one.  In that time we've hired seven new people.  By your logic, we must have hired all women and minorities, since we were encouraging white men to not bother applying, right?  In reality, we've hired seven WHITE MEN.  We advertised the positions, we looked at women and minority applicants, and none of them met our requirements as well as the white men we were looking at.




That said - I AGREE with you that universities often are the worst culprits in giving preferential treatment to women and minorities (which is NOT consistent with Affirmative Action language, by the way), and SOMETIMES there definitely are cases where less qualified women and minorities get jobs and promotions that perhaps they would not have gotten if they were white men.  So I definitely hear your frustration.

However, those cases are (in my experience) still relatively rare, and the VAST majority of white men in academia still manage to succeed or fail on the basis of their own competence, and little else.  

All the jobs I applied to had that same statement, and I got one of the jobs.  All the jobs all of my white men colleagues applied to had those same statements, and they got multiple job offers.  Same goes for my white men friends at other universities.  The white men I have known who DIDN'T get jobs were the incompetent ones.  The reasons they did not get jobs was NOT their skin color or gender.


So whatever you do, don't FAIL to apply to all of those schools.  Often, they cannot find qualified or competent women/minority applicants, and WILL end up hiring a white male.  If you've got your shit together, you'll be fine!  It's really not as bad as you think it is.  (with the caveat that I know little about the field of geography)

Quoted: The implication that they are "encouraging white men to not even apply" is ridiculous.  The reason they even mention this in their announcements is (a) they are required to do so by AA rules, and (b) MOST of their senior faculty are probably WHITE MEN, and so they are required to try to hire more women and minorities - IF they can find qualified ones.

Mentioning that they follow AA rules is one thing. Enthusiastically declaring their dedication to discrimination is entirely different. There were a handful of schools that had no mention of AA. Are they not subject to the same rules as other public universities in their state? And what should it matter that most of the senior faculty happen to be white men? I'm young and will start out as an assistant prof--why should I be discriminated against because the people who stuck around long enough to get tenure happen to be white males?

Having experience in my department where all the feminitwits are wringing their hands and wailing about our supposed "lack of diversity," I'm fully aware of the politics that drive these job ads. Your department may be different--I seem to recall that you're in economics or business admin or something along those lines. The politics are probably very different in geography, where the feminist geographers make their living bitching and moaning about how evil white men are and "deconstructing the texts of oppression."

My disgust with academia is actually due only in small part to AA. I have zero desire to teach for one thing--babysitting daddy's spoiled little princess and Mr. "I'm-Only-Here-To-Play-Football" doesn't really interest me. And the loudmouth feminazis and race hustlers make me wish I had gone into the elevator construction business like my uncle and grandfather. Luckily I do have skills that I can use in the private sector and government agencies. Those are my first choices. Academia is by far my last choice.

Quoted:
Much to my dismay, out of 47 institutions hiring, fully 32 of them boast that they officially discriminate against men and/or whites. Here are some representative samples:

“Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Miami University offers equal opportunity [HA! HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FUCKING FACE?!?] in employment and education and full same-sex domestic partner benefits.”

University of Oklahoma: “Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.” [TRANSLATION: WHITE MALES DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO SEND YOUR C.V.]

Texas A&M: “We strongly encourage applications from women, underrepresented ethnic groups, and individuals with disabilities.” [SO IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE A LESBIAN PARAPLEGIC TIBETAN GOAT-HERDER, WE WANT YOUR APPLICATION!!!]

In other words, universities around the country “strongly encourage” white males not to even bother applying. All your hard work the last 5 years? Worthless, because we’re going to hire this obviously-less-qualified woman and/or recent immigrant from Shit-hole-i-stan.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Do you actually understand how affirmative action works, and how the order is written?  Affirmative action REQUIRES that employers TRY to hire qualified people from under-represented groups. It doesn't require them to actually hire them, and it certainly doesn't require them to hire anyone that is LESS qualified.

The implication that they are "encouraging white men to not even apply" is ridiculous. The reason they even mention this in their announcements is (a) they are required to do so by AA rules, and (b) MOST of their senior faculty are probably WHITE MEN, and so they are required to try to hire more women and minorities - IF they can find qualified ones.

Guess what - ALL of my department's job announcements over the past EIGHT YEARS have had that exact same language in them. All of them. Every single one. In that time we've hired seven new people. By your logic, we must have hired all women and minorities, since we were encouraging white men to not bother applying, right? In reality, we've hired seven WHITE MEN. We advertised the positions, we looked at women and minority applicants, and none of them met our requirements as well as the white men we were looking at.




That said - I AGREE with you that universities often are the worst culprits in giving preferential treatment to women and minorities (which is NOT consistent with Affirmative Action language, by the way), and SOMETIMES there definitely are cases where less qualified women and minorities get jobs and promotions that perhaps they would not have gotten if they were white men. So I definitely hear your frustration.

However, those cases are (in my experience) still relatively rare, and the VAST majority of white men in academia still manage to succeed or fail on the basis of their own competence, and little else.

All the jobs I applied to had that same statement, and I got one of the jobs. All the jobs all of my white men colleagues applied to had those same statements, and they got multiple job offers. Same goes for my white men friends at other universities. The white men I have known who DIDN'T get jobs were the incompetent ones. The reasons they did not get jobs was NOT their skin color or gender.


So whatever you do, don't FAIL to apply to all of those schools. Often, they cannot find qualified or competent women/minority applicants, and WILL end up hiring a white male. If you've got your shit together, you'll be fine! It's really not as bad as you think it is. (with the caveat that I know little about the field of geography)
Damn. The truth is a bitch.

Quoted: Damn. The truth lawre71 is a bitch.

Fixed it for ya .

Micahel Savage on his radio show yesterday mentioned that he couldn't get a job after he got two masters and a PHD because he was white. He thinks the nearly retired professors hired inadequate minorities so that after retirement they would get consulting jobs at the same universities to make up for the poor qualities of the minority professors they just hired.