The debate over the most effective minority faculty recruitment methods is one that continues to plague the academic community and equity-seeking groups.

Improvement in the numbers of minority faculty hired has been slow, and in a recent study by University of Toronto researchers Chandrakant Shah and Tomislav Svaboda the figures show that if minority candidates represent 15 per cent of new hires it could take "anywhere from 25 to 119 years to reach a desired minority complement of 15 per cent."

Their study used a simulation model to estimate how long it would take for the ethno-racial composition of faculty to reach targets set by the numbers present in the surrounding community and on minimal targets set by equity-seeking groups. The huge variance takes into account that the university's minority hiring patterns could change from year to year.

The way to make the timeline shorter, according to Shah and Svaboda, is to increase the numbers of minority faculty hired each year to 20 to 30 per cent of all new hires. If these hiring targets were maintained, the "critical mass" of faculty members from visible minority groups would approach the intended goals within five to 24 years.

In their report, the authors looked at the stated objectives of a 1990 University of Toronto faculty recruitment report known as the Rossi-Wayne Report. The document contained several recommendations about ways in which the "fair chances" of minority recruitment would be enhanced through a number of pro-active policy and practice initiatives in hiring practices. These included making search committees accountable for advertising positions in such a way that qualified members of minorities were encouraged to apply, and broadening curriculum choices so that whole areas of possible recruitment were not automatically shut out.

The debate on faculty hiring practices is becoming increasingly significant, the authors contend, because of the large increase in faculty hirings that are expected in the next five years.

How universities will take up the equity challenge in this historical opportunity is one which Shah and Svaboda submit will be judged by actions rather than words.

For a full text of the Shah-Svaboda study, A Question of Fairness, visit the University of Toronto News & Events website at www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bin/thoughts/forum000110.asp.