We have four candidates for the top administrative position on our campus. Three are standard diversity bureaucrats who love “anti-racism,” austerity, and big data. The fourth enlisted in the army at 37 after the 9/11 terror attack and told us about his church and how much it matters to him. He also happens to be anti-austerity and doesn’t think we need more ‘anti-racism.’ I’m kind of stunned that such a normal candidate squeezed through.
These are all diversity hires, of course. But at least one is a normal human being, so that’s already big.
Clarissa's Blog 
Sounds great! But from nasty past experience: be wary of anyone who advertises his church involvement when he’s trying to get a job from you.
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He’s black and I’m hoping this is something that’s more normal in the black community. Or, rather, still normal.
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Here’s hoping! My mom is on the board of a local volunteer community organization. They raised a bunch of money to build a new building, and when it came time to hire a contractor, they took bids and all… and the guy they chose was the one who bid lowest, and dropped the most references to his church involvement. Mom was not comfortable with this, as the only actually-religious member of the board, but everyone else was completely bamboozled by it, having the general impression that church-involved people were more honest. Turns out, he radically underbid the project, ran out of money, kept working on it without finishing the building, and now insists that the organization owes him, and he will sue them and take the property with the unfinished building on it as payment.
…and now it comes out that this contractor has done the exact same thing to at least one local church in the recent past. It’s a pattern.
Name-dropping his church was part of his sales pitch.
Moral: Don’t take his word for it. Talk to some people from his church. Find out what people he worked with previously think of him.
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Unfortunately, the decision will be made by our diversity commissars. Nobody else was entrusted with it.
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“These are all diversity hires, of course.”
Is that American Newspeak for “Non-White”?
It reminds me of South Africa, where I grew up, with its “Blankes” and “Nie-Blankes” notices flourishing everywhere. Is the United States becoming an Apartheid state? I think we should be told.
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One woman and 3 black men. We aren’t hiring any Blankes for the job, that’s for sure. This wasn’t even a distant possibility. Out of these Nie-blankes, two are very qualified. It’s a shame they never got a chance to be selected on their own merits. It would have been a great achievement that is now stolen from them.
A Blankes can still squeeze through if she’s female or gay and willing to talk about the gayness 24/7.
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