NYC Should Heed Ricci v. DeStefano

Why would adding an eight-point credit to the exams of high school graduates or GED holders applying to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) result in more black firefighters? (Source)

New York City Councilman Leroy Comrie is proposing such a bill. FDNY requires applicants to have at least 15 college semester credits earned at an accredited college or university, full time military service with an honorable discharge, or six months of full time, satisfactory paid work experience.

Giving applicants extra points merely for graduating high school certainly would benefit applicants, but why would doing so result in more black firefighters?

Ah, there’s the rub! It may result in more black firefighters if the credit were applied only to blacks.

And that would be illegal.

Mark Daly, communications director for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, said the bill “would not pass legal muster, but we are willing to work with the council to create a proposal that can be upheld by the courts. The state constitution requires candidates be chosen by fitness and merit. Just graduating from a New York City high school is not enough.”

Talk about lowered standards!

Veterans, NYC residents, parents of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty, and siblings of officers and firefighters killed on September 11, receive extra points. But these race-neutral credits are legal.

One councilman who opposes the bill gets to the heart of the issue: obsession with skin deep-only diversity. “I don’t think it’s fair,” said City Councilman Eric Ulrich. “If they want it to be all inclusive why don’t they have it apply to graduates of city Catholic schools and Yeshivas as well.”

It’s obvious Comrie and supporters haven’t thought this through. They should read Charles Murray’s Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950, one of my favorite books, as well as heed the lessons in the Supreme Court case, Ricci v. DeStefano.