SACRAMENTO
Inconsistent hiring practices at the 23 California State University campuses have led to diversity among professors and executives in some departments but not others, a state audit found Tuesday.
The CSU system has no way to gauge whether its professors and executives, or even the job candidates it attracts, reflect the available labor pool of women and minorities, as it is required to do under federal law, the California State Auditor reported.
While some campuses consider gender and ethnicity when they set up search committees for professors, others forbid considering those factors, the auditor found.
The report said that although the CSU Board of Trustees delegated hiring authority to individual campuses, it gave them little guidance on how to make those hiring decisions. The board is made up of the governor, state superintendent of education and other top state officials.
“In contrast, the University of California has developed guidelines stating that a special effort should be made to ensure that minorities and women have equal opportunity to serve on search committees,” the report said.
The auditor recommended that CSU develop an affirmative action plan and that it advertise executive-level positions in publications aimed at women and minorities.
