FEATURED
Administrator with intersectionality experience sought
Pasadena City College is seeking a new associate dean who must have experience working with “queer communities,” according to the posted job description.
The role, which can pay as high as $166,000 per year, includes regular responsibilities expected of a college administrator focused on noncredit continuing education programs. The hire will work with local employers and monitor “budgets, grants, and contracts.”
This division of the college offers classes such as “Sewing Techniques for Older Adults” and “Computer Skills.”
But the “Associate Dean for Noncredit CE and Special Programs” should also have “demonstrated experience working with communities who have been traditionally underserved by higher education and experience in the pedagogy reflecting intersections of race, culture, class, ethnic, and queer communities.”
“Knowledge of equity-minded and student-centered practices in adult education,” is also a desired skill.
The college’s marketing director did not respond to two emails sent in the past two weeks. The communications office also did not respond to a voicemail left in the past two weeks. The Fix asked why it is important for this dean to have a background working with “queer communities.”
The Fix asked for specific ways an associate dean of noncredit CE would work with LGBT students.
However, an education expert at the American Enterprise Institute criticized the job description in emailed comments to The Fix.
Rick Hess said colleges like Pasadena City College prioritize identity politics in hiring and will need to “clearly articulate why some specific skills or expertise can serve students, that’s obviously relevant.”
“But that has nothing to do with crude identity markers,” Hess said. “Serious DEI enthusiasts claim to recognize that distinction, which should make this silly even for many in the DEI world.”
The director of education policy studies at AEI said there are no clear connections he can see between a dean overseeing workforce development and intersectionality.
“[T]hey would need to make a deliberate case as to why identity matters when understanding or coordinating workforce development,” Hess said. “And focusing on this rather than relevant skills and expertise means they risk focusing on the wrong candidates and the wrong qualifications.”
This is not the first time the college has focused on identity politics while hiring. It previously hired an “undocumented student success specialist” to help illegal alien students.
This administrator “implements, and (co)-leads initiatives for undocumented students that focus on academic success, holistic well-being, inclusion, and completion/graduation,” as The Fix previously reported.
While the community college district says it is an “equal opportunity employer,” it also “encourages applications from underrepresented minorities and the disabled.”
Other colleges have included identity politics as a requirement.
The Fix previously reported that a “minimum qualifications” to be a chemistry professor at Minnesota State University-Mankato is to demonstrate the “ability to serve a diverse population and apply an equity lens to this position including social justice and/or anti-racism”
The same university sought a DEI-focused assistant defense coach for its football team. The desired applicant needed to have an “equity lens” focus, though it was only “preferred” they have experience coaching a defensive position and recruiting athletes.
In 2024, the University of California Davis required breast cancer surgeons to explain their support for diversity when applying.
The school required applicants to submit a DEI statement, but made it optional for them to include a “Statement of Teaching” and “Statement of Research.”
