This makes a great deal of sense. If we can make exceptions for race and gender, why not make exceptions for other criteria?
‘Academic Excellence’ Is Not an Excellent Criterion
By Patrick Deneen | Apr 11 2008 |
Last week the Rev. Wilson Miscamble, a professor of history at University of Notre Dame, spoke on campus [at Georgetown University] about the conscious and strenuous efforts that he believes would be required to maintain the Catholic character of Catholic institutions of higher education, such as Georgetown. His main proposal — that Catholic colleges and universities should seek to hire and retain a faculty composed of a majority of Catholic professors — received a critical response by incoming interim Dean of the College, professor Chester Gillis. Gillis argued that such a course should not be taken if it would compromise the “academic excellence” of the institution. It was suggested that such a compromise would lead, in turn, to the reduced academic status of a university like Georgetown.
I find this response puzzling in at least two respects. First, this university — like most others — currently considers criteria that should be included along with the ambition to achieve “academic excellence.” These include, but are not limited to, efforts to increase gender and racial diversity. There are times — most expressly in efforts to promote affirmative action — when it is argued that “academic excellence” should not be the sole or exclusive criterion. At other times, it is suggested that additional criteria such as gender or race should be considered when “all things are equal.” If either of these two arguments hold true in such cases, why cannot the same hold true for the effort to actively and consciously recruit Catholic faculty? I raise this question not to criticize affirmative action policies per se, but precisely to point out that we are already willing to consider additional criteria deemed to be important to the institution. If such criteria can be deemed a legitimate addition to “academic excellence,” then why not Catholicism at a university with an official affiliation with the Church? [end]
