Posted on 02/08/2023 4:10:19 AM PST by karpov
Last May, Inside Higher Ed reported that Appalachian State University was building a summer ’22 “working group” to address how the institution solicits and evaluates “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) statements. Though not every App State job posting asks prospective faculty members to submit such a document, many do. Was the university planning to create a blanket rule, thus forcing all academic departments to politicize their hiring? Naturally, the Martin Center was concerned.
What followed was a cat-and-mouse game of attempted public oversight that can best be described as Kafkaesque. First, the Martin Center scoured the university’s labyrinthine website for any mention of the working group’s existence. No dice. Next, we submitted, via online form, an official media request with three questions: Did such a group exist, who were its members, and what was its specific remit? Silence. Following that, we emailed Dr. Jamie Parson, who had recently been named App State’s chief diversity officer, a cabinet-level position. No response. Finally, following existing law, we created a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in which we asked for “any work product from the 2022 ‘DEI in Faculty Hiring Working Group’.”
To be clear, that committee name was not provided to the Martin Center by any university official. Nor does it turn up results when entered as a complete phrase in the App State website’s search box. (A search for the individual words does result in a number of hits, but none appear to be relevant.) Instead, the Martin Center was given the committee’s name by a well-positioned source. We believe our information to be correct, but, even if we’re wrong, we certainly provided the university with sufficient material to effect a records search.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
FOIA works the same way in .gov.
If you do not use the exactly perfect words in your request you will get “no applicable records” or similar response.
That means you need an inside whistleblower to even word a FOIA correctly.
One other trick .gov uses to evade FOIA is to contract out work to private contractors leading to a “cold trail” since the contractor is not subject to FOIA.
The contract names and descriptions themselves use vague bureaucratic language so they do not give away the “secret” of who contracted for what in that language.
Fundamental problem as App State has traditionally not been “diverse”. Diversity when I was there was limited to Yankees.
What I’ve said, and will say again, is that DEI simply CANNOT be eliminated via laws against it, because it is rooted in the PEOPLE who implement it.
And the same applies to public schools - try to outlaw DEI, and they go underground, with at least the same vigor.
The ONLY OPTION is removing each person involved in it, the moment they are discovered, and changing laws like Tenure and other job protection laws, is likely needed - or we’re wasting our time and celebrating fake victories.
Usually when you see blacks in Boone, mostly they are athletes at ASU...
Agree but you can lawsuit the h*ll out of them. This common practice of wide-open discrimination against white men has to hit the fan. Maybe with enough financial pain they’ll change.
Hang every last one!
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