Voluntary Affirmative Action Plan

[Faculty Handbook Category #3]

It is the goal of St. Olaf College to attain a work force which includes in all occupational fields and at all employment levels minorities and women in numbers consistent with the ratio of these groups in the available labor force. In June 1997, St. Olaf completed a study of the college’s utilization of women and minorities within its work force. The study examined the percentage of women and minorities within each of the college’s job classifications (i.e., faculty, executive, administrative and managerial, professional, technical, clerical, skilled crafts, and service employees), and compared these results with the percentage of women and minorities within the relevant labor force where qualified individuals to fill these positions exist. The results of this study indicate a manifest imbalance in the utilization of minorities in all job categories, and a manifest imbalance in the utilization of women in all categories except executive, professional, and clerical positions.

St. Olaf is proud of its long standing commitment to hiring the most qualified candidates, and its considerable efforts to remove artificial barriers to employment and advancement of all individuals regardless of race or gender. The college recognizes however, that mere prohibition of discriminatory practices is insufficient to remedy the effects of past societal beliefs and practices. Consequently, St. Olaf College is adopting this Voluntary Affirmative Action Plan to ensure that aggressive and imaginative continuing efforts are taken to attain an equitable representation of women and minorities within the college’s work force.

To attain a work force whose composition reflects the ethnic and gender make-up of the relevant applicant pool, the following steps have been adopted:

· The college will strive toward taking aggressive, positive, and continuing actions to notify underrepresented groups of job opportunities with the college. The college shall develop and maintain a mailing list of minority and women’s organizations concerned with assisting persons from these groups to find employment. The college will notify these organizations of job opportunities and encourage qualified women and minorities to apply. The college will also provide job specification and application forms to agencies concerned with assisting women and minorities in obtaining employment.

· When an employment position becomes available, the individual(s) charged with filling the position shall contact the Affirmative Action Officer to determine whether the position is within a job category which is underrepresented by women and/or minorities, and, if so, see that the organizations described above are contacted so that qualified candidates within these groups become aware of these opportunities.

· If it is determined that an open position is within a job category where under-representation of women and/or minorities exists, college hiring authorities will be notified that priority attention should be given to hiring applicants within the underrepresented group. This means that an applicant’s status as a member of an underrepresented group may be considered as an additional positive factor in choosing among qualified applicants for the position. NOTE: This Plan does not authorize setting aside any positions for women or minority candidates, nor does the Plan permit the hiring of unqualified candidates.

· If it is determined that an open position is not within an underrepresented job category, the hiring authority will be notified that it shall not provide any special consideration of an applicant’s race or gender when evaluating applicants for the position.

· The college will periodically review the analysis of the composition of its workforce, and compare the percentage of women and minorities within its job categories with those from the available work force. From this analysis the college will determine the additional number of employees by sex and/or ethnic group required by the college to attain an equitable representation for each group in all job categories.

· Statistics will be gathered on the numbers of minorities and women who: (1) applied for each position; (2) met the minimum qualifications for the position; (3) were offered employment; and (4) and were ultimately hired. Such information will further assist in determining why underrepresentation exists and how it may be best addressed. The college will continue to scrutinize and revise the application process to ensure that job prerequisites and selection criteria do not unreasonably result in an adverse impact upon the hiring of women and minorities. The college will further identify and initiate actions as appropriate to eliminate artificial and discriminatory barriers that may adversely impact employment and career progression opportunities for women and minorities.

This Voluntary Affirmative Action Plan is adopted to assist in attaining a balanced work force, not maintaining one. In no way are the goals articulated by this Plan intended to create quotas in hiring within those job categories where underrepresentation exists. Because it is the college’s desire to always hire the most qualified applicants, this Plan is not intended to dictate any employment decision. This Plan is intended to be a temporary measure to remedy past barriers which have resulted in manifest imbalances in certain job categories.

It is hoped that effective implementation of this Voluntary Affirmative Action Plan will result in a statistically measurable improvement in the hiring, training and promotion of women and minorities within those job categories where these groups are presently underrepresented. At the same time, it is hoped that the Plan will result in personnel practices that benefit of all college personnel. Finally, the Plan will serve as a guide to bringing about improved personnel administration practices that result in fuller development of underutilized human resources and more efficient, effective accomplishment of the college’s mission while making equal employment opportunity a reality for all persons associated with the college.