When Diversity Fails the Poor; Daily Beast, 9/28/14

Jedediah Purdy, Daily Beast; When Diversity Fails the Poor:

"Knocking—or praising—schools for their share of Pell Grant recipients really is rearranging the deck chairs here. We need to talk about economic fairness, even justice—an antique-sounding but still important word—not economic diversity. Unless everyone has health care, security, a good retirement, and dignity in their job, people will come to college to escape working-class life, not to represent it, and the idea of diversity between the rich and the poor, the privileged and unprivileged, will be something worse than a joke: a confusion.

This is an argument from the left, but it has a conservative twist. We ask schools, at all levels, to do too much in this country: to make up for deep-seated inequality, to sort children and young adults meritocratically for the market economy, to be more representative and unequal than our divided and unequal society, and, while they’re at it, to pass along precious reserves of memory, beauty, and critical thought that are valuable for their own sakes. Frustration at schools that are trying to do all these things at once spurs periodic fits of bureaucratic intrusion, like the Common Core and the Obama administration’s initiative to rank the country’s colleges and universities along a return-on-investment scale. These only make it harder for education to play its subtle, humanistic, neither-liberal-nor-conservative-but-both role of giving people a space to learn things of no obvious value, because they are strange and interesting, because their value will emerge years later, in the most surprising ways.

This may sound like a luxury, and it is, but it’s also a necessity for a certain kind of civilization."

N.F.L. Examines Its Record on Hiring of Women in Wake of Ray Rice Case; New York Times, 9/25/14

Ken Belson, New York Times; N.F.L. Examines Its Record on Hiring of Women in Wake of Ray Rice Case:

"When N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked last week whether any women had helped him decide to suspend the former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice two games for punching his then-fiancée, he sheepishly said no.

“You’re pointing out exactly what we’re concerned about, that we didn’t have the right voices at the table,” he told the reporter. “We need to get better expertise.”

Steve Bisciotti, the owner of the Ravens, was asked a similar question this week: Were any women involved in his decision to cut Rice and terminate his contract? The answer was similar. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a female president, G.M. or coach,” Bisciotti said.

Goodell and Bisciotti were acknowledging what outside experts and even some who have worked for the N.F.L. have known for years: that the league and its 32 teams have done a poor job hiring women, a deficiency that was laid bare by Rice’s suspension.

“Until they hired a raft of consultants and promoted the woman in charge of social responsibility, it was a bunch of guys in a room,” said Jodi Balsam, a former lawyer at the N.F.L. who now teaches at Brooklyn Law School. “They didn’t have any expertise on the pathology of domestic violence. It’s not that they had bad intentions or were purposely overlooking things because they were motivated to downplay anything that would hurt the league. But they were shortsighted in not having someone in the room to help them understand the pathology.”"

The Importance of Friendship Diversity; New York Magazine, 9/26/14

Ann Friedman, New Your Magazine; The Importance of Friendship Diversity:

"There are a lot of things about my upbringing that I’ve left behind (tuna casserole leaps to mind). But despite the fact that I now live in a majority-minority city and count several people of color among my closest friends, percentage-wise my social circle has remained pretty damn white. In fact, the Public Religion Research Institute found that the average white person’s friend group is a whopping 91 percent white. We’re all living in our own private Iowa. “It’s not that I don’t think white people are unwilling to cultivate real friendships with black people," writes Rebecca Carroll in The Guardian, “it’s that I don’t believe becoming close friends with black people occurs to them at all.”

But I know for a fact that it occurs to at least some of us."

The Business Case for Diversity in the Tech Industry; New York Times, 9/26/14

Farhad Manjoo, New York Times; The Business Case for Diversity in the Tech Industry:

"This week I wrote about Google’s efforts to increase the number of women and minorities who work at the company. Among other programs, Google is running a series of workshops to help employees understand and combat their unconscious biases. Google hopes the plan will put people on alert to the many small ways that its culture may make outsiders uncomfortable.

But several readers have raised a more basic question: Why does Google want diversity? White and Asian men make up the bulk of American software engineering graduates, and Google, like other tech giants, has done extremely well hiring from that pool. If a lack of diversity hasn’t hurt Google so far, why alter how the company works, apparently for reasons of political correctness?

I asked Google’s executives and managers several versions of this question. They said Google’s efforts to increase diversity had little to do with political correctness. Instead, they said, they were directly related to the company’s bottom line: By increasing diversity, Google can improve its products. And it can back up this argument with both research and experience.

“If we have an employee base that reflects our user base, we are going to better understand the needs of people all over the world,” said Brian Welle, the researcher in charge of Google’s diversity training workshops. “Having people with a different worldview and different ways of solving problems gives you the raw materials to be more innovative and to be able to solve problems that nobody has asked before.”"

Exposing Hidden Bias at Google; New York Times, 9/24/14

Farhad Manjoo, New York Times; Exposing Hidden Bias at Google:

"Men make up 83 percent of Google’s engineering employees and 79 percent of its managers. In a report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year, Google said that of its 36 executives and top-ranking managers, just three are women.

Google’s leaders say they are unhappy about the firm’s poor gender diversity, and about the severe underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics among its work force.

And so they are undertaking a long-term effort to improve these numbers, the centerpiece of which is a series of workshops aimed at making Google’s culture more accepting of diversity.

There’s just one problem: The company has no solid evidence that the workshops, or many of its other efforts to improve diversity, are actually working."

MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows; New York Times, 9/17/14

Felicia R. Lee, New York Times; MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows:

"Twelve men and nine women, whose work is as diverse as studying the racial elements in perceptions of crime and translating contemporary Arab poetry, have been named the 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships, based on achievement and potential, come with a stipend of $625,000 over five years and are among the most prestigious prizes for artists, scholars and professionals...

The artists among this year’s winners include Alison Bechdel, 54, a cartoonist and graphic memoirist in Bolton, Vt., whose 2006 memoir, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy,” became a musical at the Public Theater in 2013...

Sarah Deer, 41, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, develops policies and legislation to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence against American Indian women. Ms. Deer said she would use her MacArthur money to elevate the voices of such women, who she contends have been failed by both tribal courts and federal laws.

“Native Americans are the most victimized group for sexual violence and domestic violence,” Ms. Deer said in a telephone interview. “The treatment of native women that came with early settlement never stopped.”

Mary L. Bonauto, 53, a civil rights lawyer with the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Boston is among the other 2014 fellows whose talents have led her to advocacy work. Ms. Bonauto is credited as a major force behind the same-sex marriage cases that went to the Supreme Court."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Watch 6th Circuit For SCOTUS' Next Move On Gay Marriage; Associated Press via Huffington Post, 9/16/14

Brian Bakst, Associated Press via Huffington Post,; Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Watch 6th Circuit For SCOTUS' Next Move On Gay Marriage:

"Ginsburg said cases pending before the circuit covering Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee would probably play a role in the high court's timing. She said "there will be some urgency" if that appeals court allows same-sex marriage bans to stand. Such a decision would run contrary to a legal trend favoring gay marriage and force the Supreme Court to step in sooner, she predicted.

She said if the appeals panel falls in line with other rulings there is "no need for us to rush...

"Having people close to us who say who they are — that made the attitude change in this country," Ginsburg said at the University of Minnesota Law School."

Fall 2014 shows embrace minority leads as networks realise that diversity sells; Guardian, 9/11/14

Brian Moylan, Guardian; Fall 2014 shows embrace minority leads as networks realise that diversity sells:

"There’s also a 2013 study from UCLA that proves shows with greater diversity do better in the ratings. This was true not just in broadcast, but also in cable.

Still, that study showed the the lion’s share of programming on all of television has only 10 percent diversity in the cast. (Another study by the Center for Study of Women in Television & Film found that women account for only 43% of all speaking roles on television, so we still have some way to go on sexual diversity as well.)

But there has also become a broader discussion about diversity on television. In 2012 HBO’s show Girls strangely became ground zero for an internet-wide debate about the lack of people of color on the show in particular and television in general. In 2013 scandal erupted again when Saturday Night Live came under fire for not having any black actresses on its roster. After four months, they hired Sasheer Zamata for the ensemble and two African American women to work as writers.

Conquering diversity seems to be a problem that networks are invested in, if only to improve their bottom line. And if it gets us stories that reflect the actual world we live in, who cares what the result is. Still, there is a long way to go before TV is an actual reflection of our ever-expanding universe. But a bandwagon full of shows about families unlike those in Norman Rockwell paintings is one all the networks should consider jumping on. Hear that, CBS?"

Mostly White Forces in Mostly Black Towns: Police Struggle for Racial Diversity; New York Times, 9/9/14

Shaila Dewan, New York Times; Mostly White Forces in Mostly Black Towns: Police Struggle for Racial Diversity:

"The obstacles to diversity are many, Dr. Lim, the sociologist, said. Candidates usually must pass written tests, physical agility tests, psychological tests, polygraphs and background checks, some of which can have a disparate impact on minority candidates. Qualified black candidates are sought after not just by competing police departments, but also by employers in other industries. And some police chiefs have cited a negative attitude toward law enforcement among blacks that hinders recruiting.

Police departments have tried all kinds of remedies, from personal trainers to help with physical fitness tests to tailored recruiting. (A RAND survey found that women were attracted to the good salaries in policing, blacks to the profession’s prestige and Asians to the excitement of the job.)

But many small departments lack the resources, or the will, to conduct an exhaustive review of their hiring practices."

Top Colleges That Enroll Rich, Middle Class and Poor; New York Times, 9/8/14

David Leonhardt, New York Times; Top Colleges That Enroll Rich, Middle Class and Poor:

"To see which selective colleges are doing the most, and the least, to change the situation, The Upshot has analyzed data for every college with a four-year graduation rate of at least 75 percent. We combined data on enrollment and tuition costs to measure how hard each college is trying to attract and graduate poor and middle-class students. The result is our College Access Index.

Recruiting more high-achieving students from modest backgrounds, says Raynard Kington, the president of Grinnell, in central Iowa, “is the smart thing to do, because the country needs as much brainpower as we can get. And it’s the right thing to do, because it’s not fair that your ability to get a college education can be determined by your ability to buy an education.”

Vassar, the once all-female college in the Hudson River Valley, tops our index, with Grinnell placing second. About 23 percent of Vassar’s freshmen in recent years have received federal Pell grants (which mean they come from roughly the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution), up from 12 percent in 2007. After taking scholarships into account, the average annual cost of attending Vassar for lower-income students is about $6,000. Students cover much of that cost through campus jobs and loans.

The biggest theme to emerge from our analysis is that otherwise similar colleges often have very different levels of commitment to economic diversity. In this area, endowment is not destiny, and prestige is not destiny."

Corner Closet Opens Up a Bit Wider; New York Times, 9/5/14

James B. Stewart, New York Times; Corner Closet Opens Up a Bit Wider:

"Several of Mr. Burgess’s friends pointed out that once his bank went public, he’d be one of the first publicly gay chief executives. “I didn’t really think it was a story,” he said. “It just is what it is. But I did feel a sense of obligation to the generation behind me. We have good gay role models now in professional basketball and football, but there just weren’t many in business. I thought if I could be helpful to somebody, that would be great.”

Mr. Grenfell-Gardner expressed similar sentiments. “I hope the next generation realizes they can be whoever they want to be,” he said.

Mr. Sears said he encouraged Mr. Burgess to speak out. “It’s incredibly important for people to see that there are gay C.E.O.s,” Mr. Sears said. “So for Trevor and Jason to come out publicly as gay, that’s historic. At the same time, it’s mundane. They’re both C.E.O.s with partners and families and they’re just doing their jobs like everyone else. There’s nothing unique about that.”

Even now, Mr. Grenfell-Gardner said: “I don’t really want to be the poster child for gay C.E.O.s. There are so many talented people who have been mentors to me, both gay and straight. I want an environment where diversity is woven into our DNA as an organization. It makes us stronger. Forty percent of my leadership team is female. In the high-performance culture we’re trying to build, respect and tolerance is hard-wired. That’s what’s important to me.”"

Jesse Jackson targets Amazon.com over diversity; USA Today, 9/3/14

Jessica Guynn, USA Today; Jesse Jackson targets Amazon.com over diversity:

"Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling on Amazon.com to release its work force diversity numbers.

The Seattle technology giant is one of the lone holdouts among major technology companies.

Google, Facebook, Twitter and other leading Silicon Valley companies have publicly disclosed the racial and gender breakdown of employees in recent months.

The reports have shown what many have long suspected, that the technology industry is overwhelmingly white, Asian and male."

Gay Groups to March in St. Patrick’s Day Parade as a Ban Falls; New York Times, 9/3/14

Marc Santora, New York Times; Gay Groups to March in St. Patrick’s Day Parade as a Ban Falls:

"The organizers of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade said on Wednesday that they were lifting a ban on openly gay groups marching under their own banner, bringing to a close more than two decades of bitter protests and controversy that thrust an annual celebration into the national gay rights debate.

The decision is a striking reflection of the evolution of gay rights in the city and in American society, and is a measure of changing attitudes in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church."

This Man Changed His Name From José To Joe And Immediately Got More Job Interviews; Yahoo.com

Yahoo.com; This Man Changed His Name From José To Joe And Immediately Got More Job Interviews:

""I had to drop a letter to get a title.""

Why Was Michael Sam Cut By The Rams? Personnel Decision, Not Homophobia; International Business Times, 9/2/14

Thomas Barrabi, International Business Times; Why Was Michael Sam Cut By The Rams? Personnel Decision, Not Homophobia:

"The St. Louis Rams’ decision to cut openly gay rookie defensive end Michael Sam despite a strong statistical performance this preseason led some to question whether his sexuality played a role in his dismissal from the team. But from a football perspective, Sam was always a long shot to make the Rams’ final squad...

Sam cleared waivers on Sunday and is currently a free agent. Still, Meltzer believes that he has both the talent and the fortitude to make it in the NFL.

“I think he has the right perspective. I think he does have enough talent to make the league. He may have to play on a practice squad, but he has the right speed and football intelligence," he told IBTimes. “I don’t think there’s very many teams, if he has the talent, that will stray away from him. I think the biggest problem, which was that initial fanfare, is over now. The next team to take him, it’s not going to be as big of a story.”"

Op-ed: In The Long Run, Michael Sam Being Cut Was About Homophobia; Advocate, 9/2/14

Michelle Garcia, Advocate; Op-ed: In The Long Run, Michael Sam Being Cut Was About Homophobia:

"Did the Rams cut Michael Sam out of sheer homophobia? I doubt it. But it was homophobic reasons that got him to such a precarious position in the first place.

While the Rams were able to at least push this dream of having an out player a little further, and he was given a platform to show the entire league that he has potential for the pros, at the end of the day, the Rams did not have any use for him — they already had a nearly-full slate of defensive linemen, minus the one spot that undrafted rookie Ethan Westbrooks now has. And when 31 other teams had the chance to pick Sam up, it seems none of them needed him (and according to Outsports, at least six teams could probably use his talents right now).

Just in the last year, all of the the professional leagues (the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, and even the NFL) have made several outward attempts to appear more welcoming of LGBT athletes, staff, and fans. I don't want to believe that homophobia still persists in this way in the NFL. Like I said, I don't think Fisher and the Rams are a homophobic bunch; they're the ones who took a chance on Sam, and undeniably stood by him. But looking back, all of the fanfare from these pro leagues feels like simple lip service."