Berkeley Law School dean: We still use “unstated affirmative action,” but will deny it if caught

Local universities are expected to continue gaming the system when it comes to sidestepping the Supreme Court's ban on affirmative action. Journalist Christopher Rufo's recent tweet highlights a video of UC Berkeley's law dean Chemerinsky. In it, Chemerinsky brags to students that though Berkeley appears to align with Prop 209, he—and others—make hiring decisions based on “diversity.”

What I mean by “unstated affirmative action” is, what if the college or university doesn't tell anybody, doesn't make any public statements... I'll give you an example from our law school. But if ever I'm deposed, I'm going to deny I said this to you.

When we do faculty hiring, we're quite conscious that diversity is important to us. And we say diversity's important; it's fine to say that. But I'm very careful when we have a faculty appointments committee meeting, anytime somebody says, “We should really prefer this candidate or this candidate because this person would add diversity,” I say, “Don't say that. You can think it, you can vote it, but our discussions are not privileged, so don't ever articulate that that's what you're doing.”

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This video originally appeared on Twitter. Watch the whole thing here.

Image by Pxfuel

For more on the local response to SCOTUS ruling, read exclusive perspectives from former CFER Outreach Director Marc Ang and Bay Area CFER board member Tony Xu.

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