Mas-Colell, Students Discuss Hiring

The administration's chief affirmative action officer yesterday briefed student activists and Undergraduate Council members on his efforts to increase recruitment of women and minority faculty.

The hour-long meeting was the second in a planned monthly series that Andreu Mas-Colell, recently appointed associate dean for affirmative action, said are intended to "keep a fluid relationship" between him and representatives of the Minority Student Alliance (MSA) and the council.

"It's probably easy to foster misunderstandings or go off on tangents if we don't have the opportunity to talk regularly," Mas-Colell said.

Mas-Colell's position was created as part of an affirmative action plan adopted last spring by the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS).

The Faculty began reviewing its recruitment policies a year and a half ago in response to pressure from the MSA, which issued a report at the time accusing the administration of "confusion" and "complacency" on the issue.

Students said that yesterday's session with Mas-Colell was friendly and constructive, but MSA spokesperson Wesley J. Paul '91 said that differences of opinions remain between students and administrators.

"The MSA still feels the administration hasn't gone far enough in the direction of structural reorganization," Paul said.

The main area of disagreement between Mas-Colell and the students arose overhow long he and future associate deans foraffirmative action should remain in office.

Unlike the associate deanship for undergraduateeducation, which is a three-year position, a newfaculty member will fill the affirmative actionposition every year.

Student representatives at yesterday's meetingsaid they feared that the office's high turnoverwould result in a loss of continuity.

Paul said an effective associate dean mustestablish "contact and networking" with departmentheads over a period of time. He said that by thetime each new associate dean learned the job,their one-year term would be over.

"The position has an importance that meritshaving someone for a longer time," said Randal S.Jeffrey '91, a member of the UndergraduateCouncil's ad hoc committee for minority and womenfaculty hiring.

But Mas-Colell, who is Berkman professor ofeconomics, said in an interview after the meetingthat since the new position required an uncertainamount of time, the administration was reluctantto require a longer commitment from facultymembers.

"One must be aware that for a faculty member[one year] is a very different commitment [fromthree years]," he said.

Students at the meeting also urged Mas-Colellto supply them with the names of those beingconsidered for tenured positions so thatundergraduates could check on the recruitment ofwomen and minorities and possibly meet withprospective candidates.

But Mas-Colell told the students that such apolicy would violate confidentiality rules.

Paul said that Mas-Colell told the students hehad spent much of his three months in officegetting a feel for the hiring situation in thevarious departments.

According to administration numbers, 7.8percent of FAS' tenured faculty are women, andseven percent are ethnic minorities. Womencomprise 27.8 percent of junior faculty, andminorities are 12.2 percent