Taking Affirmative Action
Return to Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action
Boise State University has a strong policy of equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination. The law also requires that the University provide equal employment opportunity to all. Therefore the University does not discriminate with regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or veteran’s status.
Further, it is required by regulation that we take affirmative action in all employment matters to ensure that our policies, procedures and practices are non-discriminatory. As a federal contractor, the University must identify and address any under-utilization of women or minorities in the campus workforce.
The University updates its written Affirmative Action Plan annually. As part of this process, the University analyzes the participation of women and minorities by job group and then identifies the likely recruiting sources – internal, external, local or national recruitment area – to fill vacancies in each job group. Based on those expected sources, and utilizing census data in accordance with federal regulations, the University estimates the availability of women and minorities for each job group.
If women or minorities are underutilized in any job group, the University must set a placement goal for each such job group equal to the availability percentage. (“Underutilized” is specifically defined by law as: having fewer women or minorities in a job group than is reasonably expected based on their availability.) The University is then obligated to make good faith efforts to fill vacancies in that job group in that Affirmative Action Plan year at the rate of availability.
The University must be able to document that it made good faith efforts to meet any established goals. In general, “good faith efforts” means that the University takes any and all appropriate steps to ensure that people in the underutilized group – whether women or minorities or both – as well as all others, have access to the selection process. Recruitment strategies must be designed to let people know, especially where under-utilization exists, about opportunities. Further job prerequisites such as education, experience, job performance and references must not disproportionately exclude women or minorities unless such requirements are demonstrably job-related and significant to successful performance.
It is the responsibility of the EEO/AA Office to develop the University’s Affirmative Action Plan and to ensure that the plan is carried out. The EEO/AA Office will work with hiring managers and search committees to assure that appropriate recruiting strategies are developed for each open position. During the selection process, EEO/AA will review applicant pool and screening information.