State Audit of Diversity in CSU Hiring Practices

The Bureau of State Audits has released its audit on diversity in the CSU's hiring practices. Report 2007-102.2, titled "California State University: It Is Inconsistent in Considering Diversity When Hiring Professors, Management Personnel, Presidents, and System Executives" summarizes its findings as:

Our review of California State University's (university) hiring processes and employment discrimination lawsuits revealed the following:

• The university has issued little systemwide guidance to the campuses regarding the hiring process.
• Campuses are inconsistent in their consideration of gender and ethnicity when hiring assistant, associate, and full professors.
• Campuses use differing levels of detail when estimating the percentage of qualified women and minorities available for employment, decreasing the university's ability to effectively compare data among campuses.
• Campuses have hiring policies that vary in terms of the amount of guidance they provide search committees for Management Personnel Plan employees, and one campus has developed no policies for these positions that relate to nonacademic areas.
• While the hiring process for presidents requires input from many stakeholders, the hiring of system executives is largely at the discretion of the chancellor in consultation with the board of trustees.
• As of June 30, 2007, the university spent $2.3 million on settlements resulting from employment discrimination lawsuits filed during the five-year period we reviewed, and $5.3 million for outside counsel in defending itself against such lawsuits.

Report links:

• Summary of "California State University: It Is Inconsistent in Considering Diversity When Hiring Professors, Management Personnel, Presidents, and System Executives"
• Fact Sheet for "California State University: It Is Inconsistent in Considering Diversity When Hiring Professors, Management Personnel, Presidents, and System Executives" [PDF]
• Complete report: "California State University: It Is Inconsistent in Considering Diversity When Hiring Professors, Management Personnel, Presidents, and System Executives"[PDF]