The most recent internet sensation, a dress that some see as black and blue and others as white and gold, exploded on social media in a timely fashion for Nizam Arain, the director of Affirmative Action. Arain discussed the mysterious dress and how it reflects current society at the Social Justice Bag Lunch in Port O’Call last Friday.
Social Justice Bag Lunches are sponsored by Campus Climate and many other organizations on campus and are free to attend. Each lunch has a different theme, and the audience is encouraged to participate in conversation over a meal and provided desserts.
Arain began his presentation, titled “Understanding Affirmative Action,” with the picture of the dress that has sparked debate..
“If it’s just the meme of the day on social media, it might not have the greatest impact.” He referred to the dress, saying, “What we see and how our brains process is not only external reality, but also from the baggage we carry.”
He spoke many times about “first impressions,” and how ideas already held by the beholder might still affect those impressions, no matter how much of an attempt is made not to.
“Often times, we don’t look beyond our initial reaction,” he said.
There were many examples other than the dress meme, which he eventually translated to how Affirmative Action works. The program, established in the 1960s, has  been thought of as a tool to “even the playing field,”,, and  give equal chances of obtaining education or employment  for people of diverse ethnicities, religions, and genders.
Arain is involved in the hiring process at UW-L, and in describing how Affirmative Action works in that way, he stated, “We assemble a diverse search committee. Different people looking at the same information can get different results. Then we have to decide on the job qualifications and actually focus on those, before we start screening applicants.”
The order of the process does matter, for Arain mentioned that even though no one truly means to be biased, it is easier to have the qualifications before looking at any potential employee, so no advantages are held over other applicants.
“Affirmative Action is not about tilting the playing field. It is not quotas. It is not preferential treatment based on race or gender,” Arain asserted, busting a few myths about the program.,
He said, “A big part of it is just looking at data,” Dta such as the percentage of different ethnicities or genders of the school population, and projected percentages.
At the moment, according to Arain’s calculations, roughly 70 percent of the university’s staff is of the female gender or a different ethnicity. Though the student population is not as nearly that high of a percentage, with only about 9 percent being students of color, the process of admissions is very similar to that of hiring on campus.