Employment Equity and Institutional Commitments to Diversity: Disciplinary Perspectives from Public Administration and Public Affairs Education

Abstract

Are racism and discrimination forgotten issues in public administration research on the promotion of diversity in graduate education and faculty employment? Studies touching on diversity and employment equity usually address subjects such as education and training—the competencies needed by professional administrators, for example—as well as best practices in diversity management, persistent problems such as the lack of racial or gender diversity in upper management positions in public sector agencies, and the enduring challenges of minority recruitment and retention in public administration programs. The subjects of racism and discrimination as such—or of underlying factors generally—are seldom addressed centrally. Consequently, questions such as the following arise: What role might racism play in academic as well as public sector employment? What about other lines of causation impacting discrimination? How do individual, group, and institutional predispositions and actions affect employment equity? How have such questions been addressed in the public administration literature? In other research and research applications in the social, behavioral, and management sciences? And, finally, what can be learned from successful and failed diversity-promotion practices among academic programs?

A significant body of empirical research is uncovering patterns of action that have the intended or unintended effect of excluding candidates of color from recruitment pools, interview short-lists, and faculty hiring and advancement opportunities. This essay reviews and analyzes some of this literature, particularly as it relates to public affairs education. On that basis, it suggests the following: (1) new directions for diversity-related research, (2) changes in the articulation of diversity commitments, particularly by public administration departments and programs, and (3) ways to successfully realize those institutional commitments (assuming that they are more than rhetorical), pointing to research that specifies proven practices.