MuD & PHuD

Here are two things that get way, way, deep under my skin.

First, my place of employment. Day to day, awesome. Policies, terrible. I realize that policies are dictated by powers that are beyond the control of anyone I know personally...but that only serves to amplify my frustration. Here is part of a broadcast email we received not too long ago. The topic is hiring policies and Affirmative Action:

· All applicants and search candidates must complete a University of Happyland application form which requests voluntary provision of demographic information required by [diversity committee];
· No hiring offer will be made absent a completed University of Happyland application form;
· Human Resources may designate goal candidates who must be interviewed as part of the selection process;
· The hiring department will be required to provide basic race and sex demographic information on each candidate that is interviewed;
· The hiring department must provide written selection justification with comparative information on the successful candidate’s qualifications and experience vis-a- vis the non-successful goal candidates’ qualifications.
· Hiring offers may be delayed by Human Resources if written selection justification is not provided or is incomplete;

Ok, so there is some "voluntary" demographic information that can be filled out on the sheet. Of course, it's only "voluntary" if you want to be hired since no offer will be made unless you complete the entire application. With that information, the HR people are going to "designate goal candidates who must be interviewed".

Beautiful.

In other words, there are certain ethnically and gender-ally desirable candidates who are going to be interviewed regardless of their actual qualifications. Not only is that a waste of time and money, but those less qualified candidates are going to be interviewed to the exclusion of more qualified applicants. Time and money are limited, we can't interview everyone. And then, as yet another layer of bureaucracy, there needs to be extra justification for not hiring the "goal candidate". Oh, and I especially liked the tidbit about HR being able to "delay" hiring of a "non-goal candidate" if the written justification is "incomplete". Now, who makes the determination of completeness? Humm...

What a load.

And another thing...I was flying not too long ago (to Utah, as you might recall) and it turns out that Ted Kennedy and I share something in common after all. We're both on the "No-Fly" list. Now, either the lady at the desk misspoke and I'm actually on some less severe list or they've let up a bit because I was able to fly. But here's the thing that qualifies this little incident for this post...in order to "streamline" their ability to hassle me, I've got to give the government all sorts of information. The purpose, obviously, is to prove that I really am me. The thing that bothers me is that, although 'they' have this info already, I'm forced to hand it over to them in a nice, neat little package. Here's what's required not to get off the list...but only to get an asterisk or something next to my name so I don't end up in a windowless room in plastic zip-tie handcuffs:

The first part includes name, current address, gender, place of birth, date of birth, Social Security number, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and home and work telephone numbers.

The second part requires the passenger to submit notarized copies of at least three of the following documents: passport, including number and country; visa, including number and place of issuance; birth certificate, including number and place of issuance (if you submit a birth certificate, it must be a certified copy of the original); naturalization certificate; certificate of citizenship; voter registration card; military discharge paper; driver’s license (including number and state of issuance); government identity card (city, state or federal); or military identification card.

So, having done absolutely nothing wrong I am being forced to provide the government with all these nice little details about myself...or take the chance that my travel plans get shot to hell because somebody decides to do his/her job (as opposed to just letting me on the plane, as happened last time).

Now maybe I'm overreacting on both counts...but then again maybe not. In the case of the Affirmative [Racist/Sexist] Action policy, people like me (white males) are being systematically and legally discriminated against when applying for a position at this fine institution. This is to make up for the 'overrepresentation' of men relative to women in the sciences, etc. Well, I'm sure that'll give plenty of comfort to the more-qualified white male who gets shafted so a less qualified woman can be hired.* As to the "No-Fly" matter, I am being personally singled out because...actually, I have no idea why. I suppose there could have been some Irish terrorist with my name at some point...but I'm pretty sure that if he were going to fly the friendly skies with unfriendly intentions he'd find a way to get a new name and ID card to match.

So tell me, are we heading in the right direction in this country? Sadly, I'm not sure that we are.

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*Don't go and get all excited. You know what I mean.
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