Faking Diversity Transparency

Current student at IU here. Wanted to share the email that has been circulating around my school and multiple BBs/EBs that disproves the argument that these IU students have not been faking diversity. These candidates obviously DO NOT have diverse backgrounds. 

When confronted by HR after receiving an offer through one of the EB diversity programs, this lad clearly spins up a fake story. 

Whether or not you support diversity recruiting or the purpose of the post yesterday, the mental gymnastics should give you a bit of a laugh. 

This was posted last night, but that OP didn't have enough of a spine to leave it up. 

 

Honesty is an important value of mine

Proceeds to double down and continue to lie about his race

 

IBW Professors probably can't do much here. As mentioned in a post below, the legal ramifications of accusing somebody of lying about diversity could be huge. The professors can't control where or how the students apply. All they could do is suggest that the long-term career consequences of getting caught lying about diversity far outweigh the potential benefits of doing so, and they could expel students who are legitimately caught misrepresenting themselves in the application process.

 

First off, a genuine question to all the DEI experts: Does African = “Black”? What about South Africans which are predominantly white. Under this circumstance, I’d assume any white South African could make the claim of being Black by saying their ancestor was from Africa. Secondly, this guy is clearly a scumbag who was reaching for the limbs to claim any points for diversity. It’s so scummy to bring up his anecdotes of how he was discriminated against to emphasize the “racism” that he experienced. Without these loose claims of racism, he wouldn’t have a logical/cohesive story behind the purpose of him self-identifying as black. Can you imagine this in practicality? He “comes out of the closet” as African, and all the middle school kids do a 180 and start bullying him THROUGHOUT HIGH-SCHOOL… those kids would’ve been canceled in a heart beat. This entire debacle emphasizes how utterly nonsensical the diversity programs are and the “self-identification” process is. I honestly would be in support of a deeper background check to verify racial identity and household income (and this would allow for low-income and first-gen students who are actually the one’s being marginalized in the IB process vs the black guy who went Exeter —> Princeton) to actually make these programs effective.

 

Love the mental gymnastics here.

What about South Africans which are predominantly white

For one, South Africa is not predominantly white. The white population is 5% max.

Under this circumstance, I'd assume any white South African could make the claim of being Black by saying their ancestor was from Africa

Second, there is no such thing as a "White South African." What you have there are colonizers that overstayed their welcome. What you have there are the so-called "Afrikaners." They are a settler colonialist ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries. They practice their own culture, speak their own language and etc. They do not identify as Africans but rather Dutch descendants. They called themselves "Afrikaners" as a distinction for a purpose.

I say that to say this, the supposed white South African would clearly be lying by claiming to be Black when there is no proof whatsoever in his/her DNA of a black ancestry.

To those living in a Eurocentric bubble, please sling the MS if it makes you feel better.. You MF's goin' learn today.

 

I honestly would be in support of a deeper background check to verify racial identity and household income (and this would allow for low-income and first-gen students who are actually the one's being marginalized in the IB process vs the black guy who went Exeter -> Princeton) to actually make these programs effective.

I would actually agree with you if we lived in a just world - but we don't. How would this account for racial bias in the IB process? Believe it or not, that is a thing that actually happens when the vast majority of the recruiters at these firms are white, the executive assistants are white, the HR is white, the teams conducting the interviews made up predominantly of white faces, etc. I'll pose that question to you because often times when these conversations are had, the self-proclaimed warriors of justice and anti-diversity types love mentioning household income, etc. When the person choosing which candidates' resumes to send to the deal team is Holly, and the deal team interviewing the candidates are Brad, Josh, Kelly, and Cornelius, how do you eliminate racial bias in the ultimate selection of those brought on as interns or full-timers? When Jake (the candidate) is able to relate to Josh (the associate conducting the interview) on the strength of them both growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut, playing golf, ski aspen, hockey, or w.e. and Darnell (the other candidate) isn't able to because he grew up in Watts, how do you control for the clear bias that's bound to take place in Josh perceiving Jake to be a stronger candidate than Darnell? While you might believe Diversity based on race is the devil's work because that one black chick or black dude that got a summer internship offer in the TMT group while 55% of the rest of the interns are white males, 35% white females, 10% other, what would you propose to eliminate racial bias?

 

By your argument, Asians are the ones getting the short end of the stick because they won’t be able to connect with “Brad” either. So buddy, should Asians also get diversity recruiting? I bet I know your answer, and your argument completely falls apart because you fail to take into account this isn’t solely a “black vs white” issue.

 

Holy shit. This might be the worst take of all time. FIRST: why in the hell are you generalizing that the white candidate grew up in a well off area compared to the black candidate? Yes, statistically white families are wealthier. But this is IB. Realistically, little to none of the applicant pool is low-income/first gen (which is why I advocate for diversity programs for them). You’d be surprised to see how white washed the traditional black candidate in IB is. Plus, you’re reaffirming my point because the “fit” and “culture” ALL has to do with income and the living environment in which you were raised. Flip the switch and say that Brad grew up in a fucking trailer park and Darius (Private school —> Exeter —> Princeton). In this case, Darius will 100% know the lingo better and come across more “polished,” regardless of merit. Look around your colleagues —especially at top BB’s— and notice the interactions. Almost all diversity kids who get offers have grown up around the same privilege that’s scapegoated as “white man” and therefore seamlessly fit in. Look around WSO on all the anti-diversity posts and you’ll find a handful of diversity kids reaffirming that they grew up with insignificant obstacles relative to the amount of “equity boost” they receive in the recruiting process.

 

Can someone provide a bit more background on how IU professors are involved, as well why the hell we would post this when trying to defend himself? Does this guy look white? Mad confusing w/o context clues.

 

IU professors are not involved in any way, this guy is not even in the IBW. He just applied to PWP's diversity program as black when in fact he is Indian, and through it, he received an SA offer. Since he is very obviously not black and told his friends about the lie, the PWP intern class and his peers at IU found out he was lying about diversity. When someone from the PWP intern class sent him a fake HR email confronting him, this was his response.

 

This makes a lot more sense. Thank you for the context my guy.

 
Most Helpful

The interesting thing about all of this is that it exposes the insanity of diversity recruiting in the first place. It begs the question of who are we really trying to help with these programs? Kids with any amount of African ancestory in their DNA? I think most people here would agree that offering programs to those of lower socio-economic class would completely solve the arbitrary and subjective (not to mention pointless) elements of "racial identity" 

 

You are missing the point; the email was not even from PWP, it was from someone else in the intern class. Of course, the company will not push back, but when you pull stuff like this, you risk being ostracized by your peers, like in this case. Also, the company can decide to push you out/not give a return offer without saying it is because you lied about race, they can always make up some bs that your performance was bad. Bottom line is they won't confront you straight up but it can hurt you severely, especially in the long run.

 

Might be an uncomfortable truth around here, but both socio-economic factors and race play a role in discrimination, especially in highly gatekept industries like finance. 

Can assure you that not too long ago, it would have been easier for some scrappy white kid from a poor background to break in and rise through the ranks vs. a wealthy Black kid. And even among wealth Black people, they don't run in the same social circles or type of generational wealth that feeds directly into high paying finance jobs

Whether what we have now is an ideal solution is up for debate, but to pretend discrimination is purely class-based is just wrong. 

 

This dude is on some Biblical tiers of professional bullshitting, holy fuck, listen to this, it literally goes from:

"This discrepancy arising has a lot to do with my family..."

next paragraph is a sucker punch from left field

"My grandparents passed away when I was young"

bro didn't even waste 30 seconds guilting the HR employees that are going to eat this up like a pastel-colored instagram sorority post

"Thank you!" with an exclamation mark, essentially "fuck you!"

If this dude keeps the gig, he will go down in history as a legend

 
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