Claudine Gay debacle is the end result of a 1968 Xerox memo

“Affirmative Action lowers the standards wherever it touches.”

-Martin L Gross

The above observation by the late sociologist Martin Gross is especially relevant today after the president of one of the most esteemed universities in the world resigned in disgrace after her serial plagiarism was exposed. The genesis of the policy that led to her hiring can be found in a 1968 memo that then-Xerox CEO Joseph C. Wilson wrote in which he directed his hiring managers to hire underqualified and outright unqualified minorities in the name of “diversity.” Using Claudine Gay’s example as a case study, we can now clearly see the dismal fruit of this well-intentioned but sadly naive policy.

Xerox CEO Wilson implemented the policy in reaction to the riots sweeping the U.S. in 1968, particularly after Martin Luther King’s assassination. This reaction foreshadows corporate America’s reaction to the killing of George Floyd by the ramping up of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Wilson’s directive also included a warning that read, “The full and unqualified cooperation of all Xerox managers is expected in reaching our minority hiring goals.” He could have added “or else” to that statement.

Similar hiring directives have been issued at universities and corporations over the last several decades. The only difference is that the decision-makers have gotten clever and usually don’t memorialize these policies in writing. Word of mouth is the preferred method to avoid the blowback of conservatives and the general public. But now, leftists have deluded themselves into thinking that there will be no repercussions for their out-of-touch machinations.

Image made using the 1968-2008 Xerox logo, which is in the public domain.

Joseph Wilson’s diversity hiring policy garnered praise from the media and other corporate executives in 1968, but neither he nor they either foresaw or considered the long-term ramifications. Consider the following statements from Wilson’s memo in relation to the Claudine Gay debacle, as well as many other charlatans who benefitted from this wrongheaded initiative.

All managers responsible for hiring — regardless of geographical location — will re-examine their selection standards and training programs. Our past efforts, by and large, have sought to find only the best qualified people for Xerox, regardless of age, race or religion. But that goal, however valid, has inadvertently excluded many good people from productive employment. We are, accordingly, going to change the selection standards that screen out all but the most qualified people.

Former Harvard president Gay fits this description perfectly. I submit that the rest of the Ivy League, as well as other elite universities and organizations, have adopted Wilson’s hiring directive as standard operating procedure. Rigor, merit, and scholarship take a back seat to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) dogma. Again, from Wilson:

We will also begin devoting special attention to minority employees of limited qualifications to make them genuinely productive in the shortest possible time. Hopefully we can maintain standards of performance throughout.

Unfortunately, in the C. Gay case, “standards of performance” were not maintained, as evidenced by her roughly 50 documented instances of plagiarism. So much for Mr. Wilson’s altruistic intentions.

Perhaps the most important part of the memo is the following:

The full and unqualified cooperation of all Xerox managers is expected in reaching our minority hiring goals.

Translation: Get with the program or else. If these managers can’t be bribed with bonuses for increasing diversity hires, they will be forced out.

The 1968 Xerox memo needs wider circulation. I ask readers to forward it to like-minded colleagues and conservative local media outlets. The lowering of hiring standards was greatly boosted by Joseph C. Wilson’s directive over 50 years ago. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we need to expose the roots of the hiring of the unqualified in the name of DEI.

Michael A. Bertolone, M.S. is a freelance writer in Rochester, N.Y. His eBook The War on Equality: How Equity is Destroying Our Society, which explores the abuses of affirmative action and DEI, is available on Amazon.