Renwei Uncategorized

Differentiating Diversity Goals From Quotas In The Legal Profession

“This morning, I woke up / Feeling brand new, I jumped up / Feeling my highs and my lows / In my soul and my goals.” — Talib Kweli

Last week, I wrote about McKinsey & Company’s 2015 Diversity Matters Report. In my post, I wrote diversity-300x199that to foster a successful diversity program, McKinsey recommends for an organization to: i) create a clear value proposition for having a diverse and inclusive culture; and ii) set a few clear targets (not quotas) that balance complexity with cohesiveness.

Several readers have asked me, what the difference is between goals and quotas? Is it possible for a law firm to share clear numerical targets that would not be considered quotas? In the public education arena, Carnegie Mellon University has stated:

Are affirmative action goals merely targets that the university should aim for, or are they really inflexible hiring quotas that must be met—even if it means hiring women or minorities over equally or better qualified others?

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Renwei Uncategorized

Renwei Chung: I’m from here. Is that enough?

Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese parents in 1871, was the subject of the landmark Supreme Court case that established birthright citizenship.

“Where are you from?”

“Monterey, Calif.”

“Where are you really from?”

“My dad is from Taiwan and mom is from China, is that what you mean?”

In my life, these interrogatories are all too common. I’m not offended by this frame of mind, but I’m curious what my physical image conjures up and what inspires these daily encounters.

Am I seen as an economic or cultural threat? Am I viewed as an immigrant, an “anchor baby”? Or am I being dehumanized in some other way?

Maybe it’s hard for me to stomach the recently renewed attack on the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because I fear the root cause of these sentiments. As Mark Twain supposedly said, “History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

The strong anti-foreigner feelings of past generations are being revived as a rationale to make our country great again. At what cost?

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