George W. Dent, Jr., the head of the Ohio chapter of the National Association of Scholars, has issued a statement about a potentially discriminatory and illegal program announced this fall at Ohio State University. The matter is of broad importance because the program is part of a national drive to increase the number of women appointed to faculty positions in the sciences:

The Ohio Association of Scholars … is concerned that the recently adopted Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State (“CEOS”) Program will lead to hiring discrimination and quotas that are illegal, unconstitutional, and contrary to the University’s mission of academic excellence. We are particularly concerned because this Program is using funds provided by the National Science Foundation (“NSF”). We call upon officials of the University and the NSF to modify and clarify the goals and methods of this program to ensure that it is conducted in a legitimate, non-discriminatory and academically sound way …
the goal of the five-year program is “to change academic departmental culture in disciplines in which women are underrepresented on the faculty” to one that “specifically fosters women’s and underrepresented minorities’ opportunities for achievement.

The University then gets down to “specifics,” which sound for the world like quotas:

“Specific goals of Project CEOS include retaining to promotion and tenure all of the current female assistant professors in STEM disciplines [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics]; achieving 30 percent representation by women among the 80 faculty hires anticipated over the next five years in the participating colleges; hiring at least six new faculty who are either African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American or Native-American women; appointing at least three additional women as associate deans and chairs; and increasing entrepreneurial activity by women by 50 percent.”

Moreover, OSU fails to give any assurances that these numbers can be attained without illegal discrimination. This is a case to watch, and one can bet it’s not only happening at OSU.