‘If there’s one lesson here, it’s that university administrators deserve more scrutiny,’ scholar says
A University of Washington psychology professor has accused administrators of being heavily involved in an illegal racial discrimination hiring controversy last year.
Professor Ione Fine’s claims contradict UW’s previous assertion that the psychology department, which was hiring at the time, was to blame for the discrimination scandal, in which a probe found the school prioritized a black candidate above white and Asian ones.
“There has been a pattern, a long-standing pattern, of illegal hiring in this university that was tacitly encouraged across the upper and central administration,” Fine said in a speech at a June 2024 faculty meeting, according to an audio recording of her speech obtained and recently published by the National Association of Scholars.
Fine told The College Fix this week her concerns are more about the cover up, not the motivations behind the initial diversity hiring effort.
“I think many of us, including myself, feel that when faculty are predominantly white that’s a strong indication that we’re excluding a lot of talent, and that imbalance reflects a real, ongoing injustice. Fixing that is a legitimate priority, and I really respect the work my colleagues have done in this area,” she said via email.
“Unfortunately I think our department wasn’t unique in being provided with misleading administrative guidance about what was legal. From discussions with colleagues in other universities, I don’t think this issue is unique to UW.”
Fine said she has asked UW to open a Complaint Investigation & Resolution Office inquiry into how the upper administration provides guidance to departments across the university.
“A genuinely independent inquiry would let us make a fresh start,” she said.
The recording is different from a similar recording of Fine from a March 2023 faculty meeting, which was obtained by Newsweek and covered in early 2024.
In the earlier recording, Fine denounced as illegal the psychology department’s previous reranking of potential hiring candidates based on their race. The June 2024 recording of Fine’s later speech highlights the supposed role of UW administration in the scandal.
In the 2024 recording, Fine alleged that Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement Chadwick Allen had encouraged psychology department faculty to give priority to a black candidate who was less suited to the position than the white and Asian candidates on the short list.
John Sailer, a senior fellow and director of higher education policy at the Manhattan Institute and a fellow at the NAS, reported Sept. 6 that Fine also alleged administrators had “scapegoated” the psychology department instead of assuming responsibility.
The College Fix previously reported that UW had launched an internal investigation of the discrimination scandal with its Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office, finding that the psychology department had violated UW’s nondiscrimination policy.
The scandal broke in November 2023 and UW imposed sanctions on the psychology department as a punishment.
However, Fine additionally claimed that UW only began the investigation when it realized that “illegal emails” from the diversity advisory committee regarding the reranking would have been made public via a public records request.
Fine also claimed that the investigation was rigged by Dianne Harris, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to cover up the administration’s involvement in the discrimination.
“You, Dean Harris, deliberately manipulated the CIRO investigation with the goal of deliberately scapegoating the department in order to hide the involvement of upper administration,” Fine alleged, according to the audio file, adding: “This strategy was endorsed at the highest levels, including the Board of Regents.”
Fine told The College Fix she thinks the psychology department “wasn’t unique in being provided with misleading administrative guidance about what was legal.”
Sailer said the hiring committee “almost certainly violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,” which bans employers from discriminating on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
He added UW’s original Complaint Investigation & Resolution Office investigation, while not explicitly saying so, “basically implied they violated state law.”
“For a university to conduct an investigation, and so forcefully push back against its own ‘equity’ policies, is unprecedented,” he told The Fix. “I don’t know of any other examples. Many universities could absolutely conduct similar investigations and uncover similar race-based hiring.”
“Since I published the story, several professors have told me that it’s rampant on their campuses. My previous reporting confirms that it’s widespread,” he said.
Sailer added that if Fine’s allegations are true, the university should investigate its own hiring practices and the administration’s involvement with hiring.
“If there’s one lesson here, it’s that university administrators deserve more scrutiny,” Sailer told The Fix. “Provosts and deans exercise enormous influence over an institution’s research, teaching, and hiring agenda. What they do is hugely significant but often unnoticed.”
When asked for a response to Fine’s allegations, UW stated that the original CIRO investigation into the psychology department was “comprehensive, and all aspects of it were evaluated.”
“Again, the UW is committed to diversity — and committed to equal opportunity in hiring — while upholding University policy and state and federal law,” Victor Balta, UW’s spokesperson, told The Fix. “Anyone who has evidence or concerns about inappropriate conduct within any specific hiring processes can report them to University human resources or the Civil Rights Investigation Office.”
MORE: University broke state law to hire black candidate over more qualified white one
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