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Recruiters face diversity issue
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Also by Heather Quitos:
- In-Depth: Spending money to make money (April 26, 2007)
- J-Cheezy, UW kick off challenge (April 20, 2007)
- In-Depth: Looking inside UW's closet (April 12, 2007)
- Recruiters face diversity issue (March 26, 2007)
- Tag-team academics (March 14, 2007)
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With graduation looming for many University of Wisconsin students closing out their undergraduate careers, business recruiters across the nation begin to appear on campus looking for new employees.
Although recruiting at a top public university like UW undoubtedly gives corporations a highly qualified pool of candidates, some businesses have speculated the student body is not diverse enough for their recruiting preferences.
One business even took the drastic step to stop recruiting at UW altogether, because of the lack of diversity among the student body. However, the move was only temporary.
Regardless of continued recruitment, concern is growing among national corporations that the UW student body is not diverse enough for a career in business. These companies believe having experience working and living in a diverse environment is a valuable quality for their potential employees.
"Corporations and non-profits … they want to hire in a pool of candidates that's diverse in terms of racial diversity [and] ethnic diversity," School of Business Career Center Director Steve Schroeder said. "In terms of what companies tell us, yes, it's a major issue, but it's not just in Madison."
The UW System Board of Regents recently confirmed its commitment to promoting racial diversity on all of its campuses, allowing race to be included as a factor in admissions decisions systemwide.
However, UW System Spokesperson David Giroux emphasized the policy is one that had already been in place for years at UW-Madison.
"This is a core part of one's educational experience," Giroux said. "That knowledge comes expounded from people from a number of cultural backgrounds, regional backgrounds, people who bring different viewpoints to the discussion."
According to Engineering Career Services Director Sandra Arnn, the UW engineering department experienced firsthand the consequences of a lack of diversity a couple years ago when Proctor & Gamble in Green Bay stopped recruiting on the Madison campus.
However, the drop was only temporary, Arnn said, and since then, no businesses have stopped recruiting at the engineering school solely for diversity issues.
"[They] went to University of Illinois and schools in Michigan instead," Arnn said. "After a year they called and asked to come back because they wanted Wisconsin students. They had trouble keeping students from Michigan and Illinois there."
This past fall, Arnn said 250 businesses appeared at the engineering school's career fair — the largest number so far for the school — but she reiterated the importance of building a qualified and different pool.
"The bottom line answer is that no companies have stopped recruiting at UW because of this," Arnn said. "However, many companies [know] how important diversity is for future recruiting."
According to Schroeder, the business school has not seen a drop in the number of businesses recruiting at UW because of the lack of diversity on campus.
At the beginning of March, the school had 401 companies looking to hire university business students.
The concern from businesses, however, has pushed Schroeder and other administrators to increase diversity within the school.
This includes changing the school's approach to admissions.
Instead of forcing UW students to apply as juniors, the Business School now allows "exceptional" freshman candidates to apply directly into the school.
"We want to take the crÃ
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I think diversity is a joke and this article is crap. Just another minority writer who wants more color on this campus and justifies it by saying that is what companies want. They only want minorities because if they don’t hire enough then they get sued for being racist and not equal oppurtunity…which is crap.
I second that comment. We dont need a “diverse” campus just to say we let in all races. we need a smart campus, where we let in only the smartest people regardless of race. Who cares about race? Ill tell you who. Its the minorites that cant get in based on academic merit and have to find another excuse to help them get in. It should be about how the applicant compares to others on academic achievement, not just to fill a quota. Its the damn liberals and their P.C. police causing this reverse racism.
So some companies wont’t show up when they are looking to fill their diversity quota?
The ignorant comments posted by some readers of this story reveal how sorely diversity is needed. Students of color admitted to UW Madison are qualified and have just as much right to attend the university as white students. Furthermore, the university admits white students with lower GPAs, test scores and class rank than student. Why aren’t you attacking them, and questioning their right to attend? Is it because they are white?
The comments posted thusfar, are not based in reality or upon the facts. Rather, they are filled with racists stereotypes, misinformation and outright lies. Perhaps the writers need an authentic educational experience that includes classes in fact-finding, critical thinking and analysis, and anti-racism. Maybe even they can learn, if they try hard enough!
“Students of color admitted to UW Madison are qualified and have just as much right to attend the university as white students.”
Apparently more of a right, based only on their color. Qualified? Let us hope so, but the quest for special treatment seems to call that into question.
Wisconsin should make out OK, diversity or not.
Humans grew bigger brains as the climate they lived in got cooler, according to researchers at the University at Albany, New York.
The researchers concluded that humans got brainier because they had to adapt to a more challenging environment. They base this assertion on a plot of cranial capacity of 109 fossilised human skulls against the corresponding paleontological record of two million years of changing climate.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/26/research_skulls/
UW’s reputation on race has been hurt by the Barrows case more than anything else. We need new leadership here to clean up the mess made by John Wiley.
Leadership is badly needed at UW-Madison on a number of things. Wiley has really been terrible.
Barrows, Barrett, Kaplan, Coronado, Cohen, Hong, Goodwin, and the whole convulsion over backup appointments. That’s far too many errors from John Wiley. Get a new chancellor ASAP.
Well put, but the UW Regents are just boobs. Don’t count on action from any of them.