FACULTY SEARCH PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES Affirmative Action Office • 2010 Table of Contents AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Affirmative Action Federal affirmative action law requires employers to take positive measures to recruit and employ qualified women and minorities to correct effects of past discrimination. An affirmative action program is a set of specific and result-oriented procedures conducted in good faith to encourage the ideals of equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action is not a quota system and does not give hiring preference to those who are not qualified for positions. Who are the protected classes covered under Affirmative Action? Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native. Women Vietnam-era, special disabled, recently separated or other protected veterans Persons with disabilities Will affirmative action result in reverse discrimination? No. Discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex and age is illegal. Any person has the right to file a complaint if he or she believes an opportunity has been denied because of discrimination. Any form of discrimination conflicts with the intent of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity law. Is affirmative action a form of preferential treatment? Affirmative action is designed to correct underutilization. It is not designed to prefer minorities and females to the exclusion of other groups. Affirmative action increases levels of diversity by actively finding ways to encourage under-represented groups to apply for vacant positions, such as by placing job postings in publications and via media known to be accessed by target groups, as well as through traditional media. Affirmative action also works to ensure that selection criteria are valid and directly related to job performance, to ensure the suitability of each candidate is evaluated objectively, and potential sources of unfair advantage/disadvantage are eliminated from the process. Does affirmative action mean lowering standards? No. Meaningful standards for qualifications and job performance should not be lowered. However, affirmative action does mean changing standards when it is found, for example, that minimum qualifications which screen out a disproportionate number of persons of a certain protected group are unduly stringent, are not job related, or do not predict job performance. Affirmative action also means developing selection strategies which measure the skills required for the job instead of using artificial measurements which serve only to reduce the number of applicants. Are employers expected to hire the “less qualified” over the “more qualified” to meet affirmative action goals? No. The fully qualified candidate must always be appointed over one who is less qualified. The job must be offered to the applicant who is judged, against valid, job-related criteria, to be most likely to perform successfully in the position. Employers are not expected to establish any hiring practices that conflict with the principles of sound personnel management and equal opportunity law. When candidates demonstrate equal likelihood of being able to perform successfully, the "best" or "most" qualified applicant may be the one who is most motivated, has demonstrated potential or brings diversity into the workforce. The organization benefits from having the broad representation of ideas, perspectives, experiences and problem-solving approaches that a high level of workforce diversity provides. Criteria to Avoid as Exclusionary Affirmative Action Guidelines for the Evaluation of Qualifications Current federal, state and SUNY directives place responsibility upon the hiring institution – in practical terms, upon the hiring unit – for selecting the best qualified candidate from among those produced by an affirmative action search. These directives warn that the College should “not inadvertently foreclose consideration of the best qualified persons by untested presuppositions which operate to exclude women and minorities.” Job criteria which exclude affected groups are no less discriminatory because the discrimination is hidden or unintended. Criteria to Avoid as Exclusionary 1) Unstated criteria or criteria so vague as to permit arbitrary and highly subjective application in individual cases. 2) Criteria more rigid or exclusionary than necessary to serve professional and institutional interests. 3) Assumptions that the best candidates come from the “best” schools operate against women and minorities in several ways: many of these “best” schools excluded women and minorities in the past and still admit relatively few; women and minorities are often less able to pay the higher costs of prestigious institutions; marital and family responsibilities sometimes limit women‟s geographical mobility and therefore their ability to seek the “best” schools. Departments customarily give consideration to maintaining a staff balanced in the representation of various graduate schools, geographical areas, fields of specialization, divergent viewpoints within disciplines, and the like. It is also good educational practice to have staff and students who represent the diversity of affected groups. Equal Employment Opportunity Federal equal opportunity laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender, color, national origin, religion, disability, age, marital or veteran‟s status. In addition, New York State agencies are prohibited from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. These laws and policies mandate that neither SUNY Cortland nor any of its representatives discriminate in any employment decisions, including recruitment, selection, promotion, compensation, training opportunities, job assignments, disciplinary actions, discharge or any other conditions of employment. Equal opportunity requires the elimination of all existing discriminatory conditions, whether purposeful or inadvertent. Recordkeeping Retain all records related to the search for four years. At conclusion of the search, all committee members submit their records to the department secretary. Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes are to be kept for every search committee meeting. Committee members should rotate the responsibility of taking meeting minutes. If there is a problem with a search or it is challenged in a court of law, the meeting minutes can be very helpful in responding to issues. Minutes should include the names of the members present and major action(s) taken. Deliberations about individual applications should not be included. Suggested Agenda for the Initial Search Committee Meeting THE FIRST SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING At the first meeting of the search committee, the department chair is present and reviews the information numbered below. It is also highly recommended that the person providing administrative support to the search be in attendance at the first meeting. This helps ensure committee members and the administrative support staff member agree on their roles and responsibilities. Reminder: If the administrative support staff member is not present, a member of the committee should be taking meeting minutes. 1.Department chair‟s responsibilities at the first search committee meeting: 1. Review the position‟s major responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications. 2. Provide the search committee with the job description (if it has been created) and advise the committee to share the description with applicants prior to the phone interview stage of the search. 3. Identify and review the major challenges of the position. 4. Review the institution‟s commitment to conducting a search that is fair and transparent and to identifying the most qualified candidates for the position. a. Evaluate candidates solely on the basis of their qualifications not on the basis of who they know b. Do not factor in age, race, religion, sex, national origin, disability, etc. c. Remind the committee that we have made a good faith effort to diversify our applicant pool. Review the advertising plan including where and when the position was advertised. Notify the search committee of any placement goals (see permission to advertise for any goals). 5. Identify a timeline for completion of the search. 6. Mention the starting salary and how it should be conveyed to applicants. 7. Discuss the campus interview agenda – who the candidates will meet and for how long. 8. Introduce the person who will be providing administrative support to the search committee. Department Secretary/person providing administrative support to the search committee responsibilities at the first meeting: 1. Takes meeting minutes 2. Clarify role/expectations 2. Affirmative Action Search Procedure Training The Affirmative Action Officer (AAO) may attend the first meeting to orient the committee to the College‟s search procedures. The orientation includes on-line employment training and a discussion of search procedure topics such as the role of the search committee members and the hiring manager (department chair), the importance of confidentiality (add link), evaluation of applicants, and writing the recommendation. When there is significant recruitment activity on campus, the AAO may be unable to meet with individual search committees. Instead the AAO will schedule hold training sessions that committee members may register for at their convenience. Any department chair, secretary and committee member who has not participated in training within the past year is required to attend training. 3. Elect