The Effects of Public Policy on Workplace Diversity

1
The Effects of Public Policy on Workplace
Diversity

• Samuel L. Myers, Jr.
• Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social
  Justice
• Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs

Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity Saint
Paul, Minnesota February 21, 2007
2
Overview and Summary

• Affirmative Action as a remedy to racial
  disparities is not widely supported by Americans
• There is a renewed attempt to dismantle the
  apparatus of the Civil Rights Movement
• Factors that predict the retrenchment of
  Affirmative Action include economic stresses
  faced by white males
• Race-neutral remedies are one possible solution
• Race and Sports provides one metaphor for
  understanding this opposition to Affirmative
  Action

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Outline of Talk

• Definitions and Background
• Policy Trends
• The Concept of Race-Neutrality Application to
  Public Procurement and Contracting
• The Sports Metaphor Merit vs. Social Justice

4
Definitions

• Discrimination
• Differential treatment of otherwise equally
  qualified individuals

• Suspect Disparity
• Unequal results that cannot be attributed to
  unequal representation

• Racism
• Belief in the inherent inferiority of an
  individual because of racial group membership

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Examples

• Discrimination
• Black loan applicants are rejected when they have
  low credit scores white loan applicants with the
  same scores are accepted

• Suspect Disparity
• 1 of state contracts are awarded to women or
  minority owned firms 17 of local firms are
  women or minority

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Old Racism Examples

• Black loan applicant told not to even bother to
  apply -- We dont make loans to niggers.

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New Racism Examples?

• Lender believes that blacks are less reliable and
  are poor credit risks
• But makes loans to low risk blacks at inflated
  interest rates

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Definition Affirmative Action

• Positive steps taken to achieve a specified
  outcome
• Increase the representation of protected groups
  in areas of employment, education, and business
  from which they have been historically excluded
• Rectify current or prior discrimination
• A remedy for illegal discrimination

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The Problem

• Major retrenchment in affirmative action in three
  specific public spheres
• a) Public procurement and contracting
• b) Public higher education - admissions and
  scholarships
• c) Public employment

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The Problem, cont.

• Two major policy responses
• Attempts from many civil rights organizations to
  preserve affirmative action
• Attempts by many conservative organizations to
  assure that the dismantling of affirmative action
  is complete and permanent

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Background

• Affirmative Action becomes national policy in
  1965
• President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Executive Order
  11246
• Mandates that institutions take affirmative
  action to assure individuals are treated Awithout
  regard to their race, creed, color, or national
  origin
• Thus is an anti-discrimination effort

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Justifications for Affirmative Action

• Compensation for past discrimination
• Affirmative Action is a remedy for prior wrongs
• Provision of diversity in organizations
• Affirmative action is a means towards achieving
  the end of increasing minority employment
• Deterrent to workplace discrimination
• Affirmative Action is a prospective remedy to
  current or future wrongs

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Central Objections to Continuing Affirmative
Action

• Prior Wrongs have been remedied
• Diversity, while laudable, cannot justify reverse
  discrimination
• Current Discrimination No Longer Exists

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What do we know about why there is opposition to
AA?

• Widespread belief that things other than
  discrimination explain racial inequality
• Growing polarization between blacks and other
  minorities

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Attitudes Towards Race General Social Survey

• On the average (Negroes/Blacks/African-Americans)
  have worse jobs, income, and housing than white
  people. Do you think these differences are . . .
• Mainly due to discrimination?
• Because most (Negroes/Blacks/African-Americans)
  have less in-born ability to learn?
• Because most (Negroes/Blacks/African-Americans)
  don't have the chance for education that it takes
  to rise out of poverty?
• Because most (Negroes/Blacks/African-Americans)
  just don't have the motivation or will power to
  pull themselves up out of poverty?

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Mainly due to discrimination
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Because most have less in-born ability to learn
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Because most don't have the chance for education
that it takes to rise out of poverty
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Because most just don't have the motivation or
will power to pull themselves up out of poverty
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Opposition to Affirmative Action General Social
Survey

• Some people say that because of past
  discrimination, blacks should be given preference
  in hiring and promotion.
• Others say that such preference in hiring and
  promotion of blacks is wrong because it
  discriminates against whites

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Opposition to Affirmative Action

• What about your opinion -- are you for or against
  preferential hiring and promotion of blacks?
• IF FAVORS
• A. Do you favor preference in hiring and
  promotion strongly or not strongly?
• IF OPPOSES
• B. Do you oppose preference in hiring and
  promotion strongly or not strongly?

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Opposition to Affirmative Action
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Trend in Opposition to Affirmative Action
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Mechanisms for Retrenchment of Affirmative Action

• Legislative efforts to dismantle existing state
  and local Affirmative Action or to ban race-based
  programs
• Court decisions that require government entities
  to
• Show a compelling state justification for
  instituting any remedy
• Narrowly tailor any race-base program to remedy
  identified discrimination
• Ballot Initiatives

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Examples of Set-Backs

• Court Decisions
• Croson, 1989
• Hopwood, 1996
• Legislative Efforts
• Between 1992 and 2000
• 108 Anti-AA in Public Employment Bills introduced
• 113 Anti-AA in Public Contracting
• 107 Anti-AA in Higher Education

• Ballot Initiatives
• Washington California
• Proposition 209, 1995
• Eliminates affirmative action programs in all
  public contracts, at public state colleges and
  universities and hiring within public state
  agencies

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Continued Set-Backs

• Despite court upholdings of affirmative action
• Concrete Works v Denver (2003)
• Grutter v Bollinger (2003)
• Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit the Law
  Schools narrowly tailored use of race in
  admissions to further a compelling interest from
  a diverse student body
• Proposal 2 (Michigan Civil Rights Initiative)
  (November, 2006)
• Constitutional amendment prohibiting state and
  local government from discriminating against or
  granting preferential treatment to any individual
  or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or
  national origin

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The Model

• Factors contributing to legislation restricting
  affirmative action
• Economic Stress
• Unemployment rates, shift out of manufacturing,
  b/w income gaps, state employment
• Political Vulnerability
• Black elected officials, democratic voting,
  percent voting age population registered
• Socio-Demographic Stress
• Immigration, racial diversity, crime, welfare

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The Data

• Legislative Data by House by State 1992-1998
• Bills introduced
• Bills voted out of committee
• Bills passed
• State social, economic and political data --
  Census, Joint Center, Statistical Abstracts

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Results

• Economic/Socio-Demographic Models Predict Best
• Political Model Mispredicts Often

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Effects of Race, Crime and Welfare
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Economic/Social Stresses Matter
Percent correctly classified
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Model Predicted Affirmative Action Retrenchment

• California
• Oregon
• Illinois
• Florida
• Michigan

• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Louisiana
• South Carolina.
• Washington

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Findings

• Threats of increased numbers of minorities affect
  the likelihood that anti-affirmative action bills
  are introduced
• But, increased numbers of minorities help to
  prevent introduction of ballot initiatives
• Ballot initiatives more likely where white males
  are unemployed

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Ballot Initiatives White Male Threat
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Case Study Public Procurement and Contracting

• Billions of federal dollars for construction and
  highway projects to private firms
• FTA guidelines require DBE goals
• But, goals must be met partly through
  race-neutral means

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Race-Neutral Means

• Expanding pool of qualified women and
  minority-owned firms
• Bonding and insurance programs to help DBEs
  compete effectively
• Outreach activities
• i.e., virtually anything except direct set-asides
  or subcontracting goals for prime contractors

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Innovations in Measure Race-Neutrality

• Myers and Ha, Applied Economics Letters show
  portion of the overall goal that could be
  achieved through race-neutral means is
• Amount of dollars that could have been awarded
  without a DBE goal.
• This amount is often underestimated in
  conventional models

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Race and Sports

• Should there be affirmative action in competitive
  sports?
• What do we know about the opposition to
  affirmative action in sports?

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Opposition to Affirmative Action in Sports

• Rooney rule requires NFL Clubs to interview at
  least one minority candidate for head-coaching
  jobs
• Blogs dominated by opposition to the Rooney Rule
• Frequent commentary
• Tony Dungys race has nothing to do with it
• The reason there has never been a black coach to
  win the Super Bowl is that there has never been a
  black coach that a top white player was willing
  to play for

• Black coaches owe it all to Rooney rule

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The Interesting Case of Competitive Swimming

• Blacks dominate most Olympic sports
• One of the last outposts of virtual total
  exclusion of blacks is swimming
• But, great resistance to remedying the problem

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Historical Background

• Evidence of excellent boating and swimming skills
  among coastal Africans
• Slave traders reported many instances of blacks
  who jumped ship and swam ashore
• North of Acapulco (Mexico)
• Esmeraldas (Ecuador)
• Slave owners prohibited blacks from swimming
• Public swimming pools denied entrance to blacks
  or required separate pools
• Medical literature on body mass, bone structure,
  buoyancy explaining why blacks cannot swim

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Modern-Day Myths

• Blacks believe that they will catch colds by
  swimming (in the winter)
• Black males do not want to wear Speedos
• Black females do not want to get their hair wet
• Blacks do not have the money to pay for parking
• Blacks prefer to play basketball

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African-American children ages 5 to 19 years
fatally drowned at 2.3 times the rate of white
children in this age group during 20022003 (CDC
2005)
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USA Swimming Membership

• Of 249,182 members in 2005
• 1,220 black females
• 958 black males
• .9 of total
• The states with the highest disparities in
  drowning rates had the lowest numbers of black
  competitive swimmers

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Outreach Activities of USA Swimming

• Reduced membership dues
• Outreach camp
• Outreach grants of 2,000
• Differential times for inclusion in elite
  training camps
• But, substantial opposition from coaches, parents
  and athletes to affirmative action efforts

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The compelling state interest in remedying
disparities
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The Minnesota Paradox

• Blacks are 2,700 times more likely to be in the
  population than they are to be found among USA
  swimming registrants
• Virtually all of the 10 and under state records
  dating back to 1994 and 1995 are held by two
  persons of African American heritage

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MINNESOTA SWIMMING STATE RECORDS LONG COURSE (50
METERS)
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Who is Kris Humphries?
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MINNESOTA SWIMMING STATE RECORDS, SHORT COURSE
(25 YARDS)
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Who is Kaela Humphries?

• 2000 Olympic Trials
• University of Texas, Austin
• Two-time NCAA All-American
• Four-time Big 12 Conference Champion
• 12-time All-Big 12 Conference
• 2004 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 Conference
• Big 12 Commissioners Honor Roll

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Does this provide proof that blacks can swim?

• Collective denial that there is a problem
• Look at Kris. Look at Kaela.
• Blacks prefer basketball
• Reinforcement of biological myths
• Kris and Kaela are bi-racial
• Alison Terry (sprinter) is bi-racial
• Anthony Ervin (sprinter) (gold medal 50 meter
  free) is bi-racial
• Cullen Jones is sprinter

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Why this metaphor is helpful

• Remedying racial and ethnic inequality requires
  an understanding of the nature of the problem
• Myths and misconceptions affect beliefs about the
  problem
• Beliefs about the problem affect private views
  about the remedy
• Private views affect public action

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Summary and Conclusion

• Widespread opposition to Affirmative Action
• Rise in use of ballot initiatives as vehicle for
  dismantling public policies on affirmative action
• Opposition to Affirmative Action rooted in real
  social and economic factors related to racial
  separation
• Solutions need to address the underlying factors
  of
• Racial separation
• Misunderstandings and distrust

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Questions and Answers
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Sources

• GSS 1972-2004 Cumulative Datafile
• http//sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsdagss0
  4
• Aquatics International
• http//www.aquaticsintl.com/2005/oct/0510_minorit
  y.html
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
  National Center for Injury Prevention and
  Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and
  Reporting System (WISQARS) online. (2005)
  cited 2006 April 11. Available from URL
  www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. 
• Gilchrist J, Sacks JJ, Branche CM. Self-reported
  swimming ability in U.S. adults, 1994. Public
  Health Reports 2000115(23)1101.
• USA Swimming Membership Statistics Report, 2005.
• http//www.hhh.umn.edu/img/assets/9680/multicultu
  ralforum.ppt