Conference Explores Diversity of University Staff

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October 14, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

By Alvin Powell
Gazette Staff

Issues surrounding the recruitment of a diverse student population and a faculty that fairly represents women and minorities have been hotly debated in the national news, though less attention has been paid to the question of staff diversity in universities.

Panelists (left to right) Marsha Semuels, assistant provost for finance; Joan Reede, assistant dean for faculty development and diversity; and Joel Monell, dean for administration and academic services discuss "Staff Diversity: Does It Really Matter?" during the Third Workforce Management Conference at the Ames Courtroom on Friday, Oct. 8. Photo by Kris Snibbe.

Last Friday, a panel of 10 faculty and administrators considered the question of staff diversity at Harvard from a number of different perspectives.

The conference, sponsored by the Office of the Assistant to the President and the Workforce Initiatives Unit within the Office of Human Resources, focused on one of the most basic questions surrounding this effort: Why is staff diversity at Harvard important?

The 10 faculty members and administrators on the conference’s panel said drawing staff members from as many segments of society as possible is as important to Harvard’s educational role as having a diverse student body and a diverse faculty.

"Counselors talk to students about personal problems, financial aid officers talk to them about finances. It’s impossible to isolate the staff from their roles as part of the educational institution," said Joel C. Monell, dean for administrative and academic services at the Graduate School of Education.

"When [differences] are not taken into consideration, we don’t do as good a job as we could understanding the needs of our students," said Joan Reede, associate dean for faculty development and diversity, director of the Minority Faculty Development Program and faculty director of Community Outreach Programs at Harvard Medical School.

The conference, titled "Staff Diversity: Does it Really Matter?," was the third in a series of Workforce Management Conferences sponsored by the Office of the Assistant to the President and was intended to stimulate discussion of important workforce topics and to present senior managers with examples of successful policies and procedures from outside the University.

About 100 senior managers, including President Neil L. Rudenstine, Provost Harvey V. Fineberg, and several deans and vice presidents attended the conference, moderated by Charles Ogletree Jr., the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law. The half-day conference was held in the Ames Courtroom in the Law School’s Austin Hall.

Though the panelists agreed generally that diversity is important, several disagreed about how to get there.

Winthrop Professor of History Stephan Thernstrom was a strong proponent of a system based solely on merit, arguing that the way to get diversity among staff, faculty, and students is to improve education for underrepresented minorities, rather than by creating specific recruiting programs with different or lower admission requirements for minorities than those for whites.

"There’s a tension between meritocracy and diversity," Thernstrom said. "My view is that we should never make these decisions based on anything other than merit."

Others on the panel argued that targeted recruiting programs are important because "merit" is in many cases a subjective quality – when deciding between two students who both have 1600 SAT scores, for example. Those making decisions based on "merit" alone tend to choose people like themselves, which may often inhibit, rather than foster, diversity.

"In cultures that are meritocracies where the goal is to achieve the advancement of the institution, managers will feel empowered to hire people more like them, people they’re comfortable with," said School of Public Health Dean for Administration Richard Cannon. "If you look at the really ‘must’ qualities to get a job done, you’ll often find the ‘musts’ are really quite few. Then you can start deciding what other things you think are important.

"A lot of people have a piece of the truth," Cannon said. "The more diverse your environment, the more complex a truth you’ll discover."

Harvard needs to keep in mind that its recruiting strategy for staff – who can get similar jobs elsewhere – has to be different than it is for faculty and students, for whom a Harvard education or faculty position is precious, said John Gabarro, the UPS Foundation Professor of Human Resource Management at the Business School.

"We hold a very favored position, offering a rare commodity, to students and faculty. That’s not the same for staff," Gabarro said. "Other companies hold a lot of prestige. We’re playing in a market characterized worldwide as a war for talent."

Discussion also touched on ensuring that the University has an environment that welcomes members of all different backgrounds. While several panelists stressed the importance of this issue, Professor of Government Harvey Mansfield argued that it’s good for people to feel on edge, to feel challenged when they begin a new job.

Mansfield argued that shared hard work, not artificial programs, create a sense of camaraderie and of a job well done. Shared focus on the mission, he said, not programs aimed at making everyone feel good, will cement bonds between workers of different races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds.

"By working and focusing on the job, people come to respect each other," Mansfield said.

Polly Price, associate vice president of human resources, attended the conference and said it was gratifying to focus attention on the staff, an often overlooked population at Harvard. Price said the Office of Human Resources is trying to reach out and let prospective employees know that the University isn’t just a place where you go to get educated, it’s a place you go to get a job as well.

"I think it’s gratifying to have the opportunity to talk about staff issues because we don’t often talk about those," Price said.

Rudenstine opened the conference by posing the title question: Why does diversity matter? He also commented afterward that the discussion was valuable in Harvard’s ongoing process of rethinking how the University identifies and recruits people from different groups. Rudenstine counseled patience but said he’s optimistic that Harvard’s efforts at creating a truly diverse University will bear fruit.

"It’s an effort that’s well thought-out, extremely professional, and that has resources behind it to make it work. We’re at the beginning," Rudenstine said.

Fineberg closed the conference, saying that the issue of diversity isn’t an easy one, but that it needs to be addressed if Harvard is to create the best possible workplace for all employees.

"It's a pretty tough subject," Fineberg said. "We need to do more of this. We need to continue this discussion and to act on what we decide."