Harsh Critique of Diversity Hiring in Law Schools:

Professor Michael Livingston has published a harsh critique of diversity hiring of faculty. Agree or disagree with Livingston, my experience is that he is expressing views that many professors, including many liberals, agree with, but rarely express publicly for fear of career-related repercussions (as Livingston discusses). For example, I remember once having lunch with a group of otherwise liberal professors and the dean(!) at one of the top law schools in the country, and was amazed how anti-affirmative action (or more precisely racial preferences) they were in private conversation. None of them had, or has since to my knowledge, publicly expressed any such views. I think there is some (though not necessarily equal) merit on all sides of the AA debate, and the issue should be debated openly and honestly.