"The Cost of Diversity"

Here's a story that will make you mad (or should): "The Cost of Diversity" at Right on the Left Coast. Darren tells the story of a qualified Air Force Academy Cadet who was passed over for an assignment in the name of diversity. The person who got the assignment: a woman who had not even wanted it.

He also told me that the list of squadron commanders for next year contained 35 or 36 white males, and that to make the list more "diverse" he had been removed from the list and replaced by a woman--who hadn't even applied for the position. He'll take his position as Squadron Operations Officer, a 2nd in command.

He wasn't denied this position because of anything he did. He was denied it solely based on his sex. He was denied it not based on what he's done, but on who he is.

......................................

There is a cost to these equal opportunity/affirmative action programs--and sadly, this young man seems to be bearing much more than his share of that cost.

Who else shares that cost? The whole squadron, if she's a lousy commander. But wait! After graduation, she'll probably get a high position in the Air Force, and keep moving up - because if there are diversity quotas at the Academy, there probably are in the Force (sorry if I don't know the appropriate military term), so who knows how high the cost could be? But what the heck, what's a little national security compared with diversity?

I feel sorry for this woman who is commanding a squadron when she apparently doesn't want to. I hope she gets a more appropriate position later on. She must be smart, talented, etc., to be in the Academy - I don't want to run down her own accomplishments. But passing up a qualified person for a position simply because he's white and male is just wrong.