Comments on: MIT Professor Explains Resignation, Charging “Unconscious Discrimination Against Minorities” http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2007/08/08/mit-professor-explains-resignation-charging-unconscious-discrimination-against-minorities/ Business + Technology in the Exponential Economy Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:29:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Gerard J. Holder http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2007/08/08/mit-professor-explains-resignation-charging-unconscious-discrimination-against-minorities/comment-page-1/#comment-2264 Gerard J. Holder Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:55:40 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/2007/08/08/mit-professor-explains-resignation-charging-unconscious-discrimination-against-minorities/#comment-2264 First, I do not profess to know anything about the inner workings of the MIT’s implicit discriminating work environment, but it sounds like the research of Mary P. Rowe, Ph.D. conducted in 1973 on “micro-inequities” have only reach the conscious but have yet to recondition the unconscious. Carl Jung wrote about the two components of the ego; the persona and the shadow. The persona is who we let the world see and the shadow is the part of us that we are ashamed and guilty about. We can have conscious conversation about implicit or explicit discrimination and strategies of change all day long. But until we individually become aware of our implicit biases, confront our shadows and are willing to make an authentic and conscious decision of change that will ultimately become part of our unconscious, only then will the perception of change exist, therefore change will exist. To echo the saying in the above article, “not only must the system be fair, it must be perceived to be fair.” What this all boils down to is that people in an academic, business, or social environment must become “unconsciously intelligent” in order to sustain change. To truly value an individual one must not be judge by the color their skin but by the content of their character; words of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Therefore, we must not judge individuals by their race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, demeanors or based on "social acceptance" but rather on their skills, knowledge and ability (SKA). Therefore, if MIT establishes a tenure process that has a SKA foundation, then perhaps “social acceptance” and/or demeanors are no longer perceived as an implicit requirement. First, I do not profess to know anything about the inner workings of the MIT’s implicit discriminating work environment, but it sounds like the research of Mary P. Rowe, Ph.D. conducted in 1973 on “micro-inequities” have only reach the conscious but have yet to recondition the unconscious. Carl Jung wrote about the two components of the ego; the persona and the shadow. The persona is who we let the world see and the shadow is the part of us that we are ashamed and guilty about. We can have conscious conversation about implicit or explicit discrimination and strategies of change all day long. But until we individually become aware of our implicit biases, confront our shadows and are willing to make an authentic and conscious decision of change that will ultimately become part of our unconscious, only then will the perception of change exist, therefore change will exist. To echo the saying in the above article, “not only must the system be fair, it must be perceived to be fair.”

What this all boils down to is that people in an academic, business, or social environment must become “unconsciously intelligent” in order to sustain change. To truly value an individual one must not be judge by the color their skin but by the content of their character; words of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Therefore, we must not judge individuals by their race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, demeanors or based on “social acceptance” but rather on their skills, knowledge and ability (SKA). Therefore, if MIT establishes a tenure process that has a SKA foundation, then perhaps “social acceptance” and/or demeanors are no longer perceived as an implicit requirement.

]]> By: Frank Douglas http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2007/08/08/mit-professor-explains-resignation-charging-unconscious-discrimination-against-minorities/comment-page-1/#comment-378 Frank Douglas Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:14:51 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/2007/08/08/mit-professor-explains-resignation-charging-unconscious-discrimination-against-minorities/#comment-378 Bob, You are one of the few individuals to understand the larger concern and my dismay that MIT does not recognize its responsibility to create an environment where issues of diversity are addressed. If the MITs do not address this they will be losing the opportunity to prepare graduates and to develop solutions for these global problems. The minority faculty issue is the tip of the iceberg. Bob, You are one of the few individuals to understand the larger concern and my dismay that MIT does not recognize its responsibility to create an environment where issues of diversity are addressed. If the MITs do not address this they will be losing the opportunity to prepare graduates and to develop solutions for these global problems. The minority faculty issue is the tip of the iceberg.

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