Promotions or Not and Discrimination

I read with considerable dismay in Saturday's Windsor Star that University of Windsor Law Professor Emily Carasco is suing the university and a colleague because she has been rejected in her bid to become the new dean. Sexism and racism are alleged. Can this be the same University of Windsor that I worked at for 10 years?

Professor Carasco's claim would seem to have some validity on the surface. Had a woman of colour applied for a deanship 30 or 40 years ago there is no doubt that she would not have made the cut. However, the University has bent over backwards during the last 20 years to be inclusive. This is the same university that hired the first female Dean of Engineering in Canada and a minority woman at that. Have the University's policies regressed in the last 5 years or so? This is the same university that established one of its pillars as 'social justice'. Has University of Windsor done a 180?

According to the Star the issue of plagiarism was raised by a colleague of Prof. Carasco's. A book which Carasco co-authored had to be recalled from the publisher to properly reference a chapter written by her. As described this appears to be a very serious academic failure for a student, let alone someone seeking a senior academic position at a university law school.

Additionally, Carasco refers to her "...decades of advocacy on behalf of equity at the University of Windsor.." It would seem that if the claim is creditable then her statement indicates that her career has been an utter failure. If her "decades of advocacy" have not helped create an environment where the best candidate is chosen then that speaks to her lack of success. Would the University want to appoint a Dean whose career by her own admission is a failure?

Surprisingly, there is an elephant in the room. Sexism and racism were cited by Carasco. However, agism was not. The Star article lists Carasco's age as 63, an age when many people are retired and those who are not enter the home stretch. If Carasco were to receive the Five-Year renewable term she seeks then she would be 73 when she stepped down. It would seem reasonable that the University and its Law School would want to hire a younger dean with newer ideas and a fresher agenda rather than a dean who is mired in identity politics and grievances of the past.

Perhaps there will come a time when people who identify themselves as belonging to any group that was previously suppressed will accept a rejection with the understanding that their skill set was not what was required. I fear that that time is still far off.