Affirmative Action & Equal Employment Opportunity
The University of Wisconsin System Administration is an Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity employer committed to achieving a diverse workforce and to maintaining a community which welcomes and values a climate supporting equal opportunity and difference among its members.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Equal Employment Opportunity means providing all individuals with an equal chance to become aware of, apply for, and compete for jobs. Those things which interfere with that equal chance are discriminatory. It applies to all faculty, academic staff, university staff, limited term and project positions, and to all employment practices including, but not limited to: recruitment, hiring, transfers, promotions, tenure, training, compensation, benefits, layoffs, non-contract renewals, termination, retention, and committee assignment. UW System Administration is committed to making every good faith effort to achieve the goal of equal employment opportunity.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action goes beyond the concept of equal employment opportunity. Affirmative Action means that the University is required to do more than ensure employment neutrality for women, racial/ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. Affirmative Action policies and programs are tools whereby additional efforts are made to recruit, employ and promote qualified members of these formerly excluded groups, even if that exclusion cannot be traced to particular discriminatory actions on the part of the University. Unless affirmative action is undertaken to overcome the present effects of systematic institutional forms of exclusion and discrimination, nondiscriminatory employment practices will perpetuate the present imbalance situation. Through specific and result-oriented activities the University’s goals are to ensure that every person is given full consideration through equal employment opportunity practices and achieve a representative workforce through its affirmative action programs.
UW System Human Resources promotes specific efforts designed to attract candidates from groups affected by discrimination and increase their utilization in the work force. These specific efforts may include special advertising designed to reach specific population groups, redesigning tests, and active recruiting of candidates from specific groups.
Compliance
UW System Administration’s Affirmative Action Plan is a positive effort to assure that women and minorities are not underrepresented in our workforce. Under federal law, an affirmative action plan must include (1) a workforce analysis by job group; (2) a utilization analysis and (3) a set of specific goals designed to overcome under-utilization. A utilization analysis of the workforce shows a comparison between the representation of minority and female workers in the University workforce and their availability. Goals are established based on the utilization analysis. All academic departments and employing units are expected to apply good faith efforts in recruiting and employing women and minorities to achieve these goals. The statistical analysis and establishment of goals represent an affirmative effort to ensure that the University continues to provide employment opportunities on a nondiscriminatory basis. UW System Administration’s Affirmative Action Plan is updated annually and copies are available from UW System Human Resources.