The attacks on affirmative action over the last decade have not stopped a prestigious New York Ivy League institution from offering a popular educational program geared towards professionals already working in the affirmative action arena.
For more than 20 years, the New York City campus of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations has granted a certificate in affirmative action to individuals who deal with the legal and policy intricacies of affirmative action on a daily basis.
Between 50 and 60 students — most of whom are lawyers, consultants, human resources personnel and affirmative action and diversity officers at their respective colleges and universities — enroll in the required six workshops each year, where they take courses like, “Strategic Diversity Recruiting” and “The Law of EEO.”
Some policy experts contend that the certificate would have already come under attack from affirmative action opponents if Cornell were a public university. The university is currently the only one in the nation offering such a program.
The programs director, Christopher J. Metzler, says there has been steady interest over the years.
“Increasingly, employers are finding that folks working in affirmative action offices are fairly inexperienced in the whole affirmative action context,” he says. “We are providing for employers the training and development for all of their folks to do affirmative action in their various organizations.”
