Queensland University Omits ‘Merit’ From Hiring Strategy

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has ditched the word “merit” from its hiring process, due to concerns of “bias.” The university, instead, “does not want everybody to look the same” and will focus on hiring a diversity of personalities. The policy will, however, require selection panels to consider the diversity of responses, including those from Indigenous, multicultural, and LGBT+ backgrounds. Margaret Sheil, vice-chancellor at QUT, was concerned that “merit” could reflect a type of bias. “When people say things like ‘We do this on merit,’ they’re actually reflecting the bias of their own experience,” she told ABC Brisbane. She claimed, “There isn’t a way of being colour-blind that’s not got some form of bias into it.”...