Are University's Universities When Diversity Trumps Merit?

When Diversity Is Prioritized Over Merit in University Admissions

December 4, 2023 TruthUSA

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Queensland University of Technology has removed the word ‘merit’ from its hiring process.

Commentary

In a radio interview, the University’s Vice-Chancellor Margaret Sheil, communicated her concern that the university’s hiring strategy could be biased. Hence, the university will seek to appoint diverse individuals, including those from Indigenous, multicultural, and LGBT backgrounds, implying that the goal of “diversity” trumps “merit.”

Admittedly, the concept of merit itself is indeterminate—an empty vessel, the meaning of which has to be filled in by the university’s leadership team. As such, it could be argued that the university, rather than ditching merit, has simply embraced a competing version of merit that is radically different, and hostile, to the traditional concept.

In its first conception, merit refers to the relevant individual characteristics needed by the university to fulfill its educational functions. We know that, logically, two candidates cannot be equally qualified because there is always room for differentiation. There are thus always open-ended degrees of excellence.

In contrast, merit, in its second sense, is the possession of desirable group characteristics that can produce suitable social outcomes or results, for example, the representation of minority members in university teaching, research, and administrative positions in accordance with their numerical strength in society.

Proponents of this diversity-enhancing conception of merit argue that its content varies according to the needs of the community, thereby implying that membership in such a group may, in itself, be a sufficient meritorious qualification. Demonstrators are seen during a protest against an event by British activist

Rejecting Excellence

QUT’s hiring strategy does not involve the ditching of merit, but instead entails the adoption of this competing version.

In this context, it is appropriate to refer to a statement by Barry R. Gross, a philosophy professor, who has been critical of such approaches: “This new ‘equality’ substitutes for the rule of law or principle which took many centuries to establish, a rule of men which is no more than a rule of privilege and influence so rightly despised by the founders of liberal democracy.” Students study legal texts in the law faculty library at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 11, 2011. (Adam Berry/Getty Images)

One thing is certain. The ditching of the traditional concept of merit promotes QUT’s slogan “A university for the real world.” Indeed, regardless of the deceptive appeal of the slogan, the diversity conception of merit is supportive of this slogan.

The removal by QUT of the traditional notion of merit from its appointment process is problematic because universities have been established to pursue excellence. The achievement of this goal necessitates and condones discrimination against those who do not have the capacity, will, or intellect to contribute and profit from their involvement with the university. The traditional function of the university is to pursue intellectual and professional excellence for its own sake, thereby ensuring that sufficiently qualified people are trained to serve society in distinct roles. Nevertheless, waging war against excellence continues to be the rallying cry of those who control the mainstream academia and politics.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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