LETTER: Seeking quality over quota

If I were to argue that the NBA did not possess a sufficient amount of racial diversity among its players, I would most definitely stand alone. It is common knowledge that in such a competitive professional sport, the rosters reflect the highest skilled players for the job and nothing else.

The same holds true &- or at least should hold true &- for faculty recruitment among this nation’s universities (“Globe survey reveals low faculty diversity at area colleges,” Feb. 17, p. 1). Because like in the NBA, only the most qualified faculty members, regardless of their race or ethnicity, belong.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest and most influential civil rights leaders or our time and an alumnus of Boston University, once said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Accordingly, BU should hire faculty members based solely on their qualifications &- the so-called “content of their character” &- without regard to “the color of their skin.” I believe that it selects its faculty based on such merit, and as long as this institution succeeds in providing the highest quality of education possible for its students, then this, in itself, is ideal.

Why are we so caught up with flooding the newspapers with articles that scream quantity over quality, as arguing that a disproportion between faculty and students is proof of inequality? Why are we aiming to disrupt a predominantly healed post-1960s era with another fit of racism?
All affirmative action really does is fuel the flames of discrimination: It lowers our society back down to an injured, prejudiced state and takes us further away from the ideal and impartial nation that Dr. King once realized. His dream should not only echo from Washington, D.C. where it was once heard, but should also resonate here at his former institution and in all corners of our country.

Chase Baker
CAS 2012