Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,
While perusing the last installment of The Eagle, I was somewhat surprised to read a letter to the editor. It harshly criticized the administration and faculty of CEU for its lack of diversity in its hiring practices.
I wondered who this writer was talking about. True, CEU did recently hire two new history professors (among many others) but these new hires are both “minorities” (as a sociology teacher I personally believe that the use of the word minority has a negative connotation and does nothing but perpetuate inequality – be it legitimate or imagined; however, I feel the term is necessary as an appropriate response to last edition’s letter.)
To clarify – or state the obvious, Jennifer Truschka is female and Todd Leahy is Native American. Hmm … where is the lack of diversity? If the writer was basing his opinion on skin color he is just as guilty of prejudice as anyone else.
Admittedly we may not have the most ethnically diverse campus, but in all reality as far as junior colleges go it is important to keep in mind that there must be an appropriate “fit” between students and faculty and staff.
CEU (and its faculty and administration) as a junior college is here to serve the students – they are our employers; without them we would cease to exist. Many of our students are from Utah (gasp!) many are from Carbon and Emery counties (double gasp!!!) when you compare the racial statistics between the counties that CEU serves and the campus, most people would say that CEU is a relatively diverse place.
This latest round of new hires in the history department expands that diversity. Perhaps the author of last fortnight’s “letter to the editor” would have profited more had he spent his time separating the facts from fiction and the truth from trivial pettiness. I personally am pleased with our new faculty and welcome them, without reservation, to CEU.
Billy Lanier
CEU adjunct faculty