Panelists are aware that they apply different standards as the
group’s deliberations progress beyond the few proposals for which a
consensus is reached rather quickly. An English scholar states:
We all talked about weaknesses in [the last six] in ways we hadn’t
talked about [the others]...This is one where the topic may have
been the criterion that made the difference, and this speaks to the
affirmative action business. I’m comfortable with saying, “The top
six are decided on this academic excellence, and then there are
other factors that have more weight with the others”... Taking
the other criteria into account [is important]...We’retalking
about relevance of study, how important a study is to a particular
field, or many fields at this particular point in time, how much it’s
needed.
Thus consistency in the use of rules competes with other consider-
ations as the panelists assess and reassess what constitutes a fair pro-
cess for the group of proposals as a whole.
“Excellence versus Diversity”
Whether it is appropriate to “factor in” diversity criteria remains
a contentious question among many academics, because many are
unaware that most decisions are de facto based on a combination of
excellence and diversity considerations. Purists argue that only excel-
lence should be considered in the distribution of awards.^25 An econ-
omist, for instance, is skeptical of panels’ ability to accommodate di-
versity considerations (“it’s only under a very unlikely roll of the dice
that you would get talent”). He argues that
Academia is intrinsically an elitist enterprise. We don’t let every-
body into college in this country; we don’t let everybody into grad
school; we don’t give everybody a tenure track job; we don’t ten-
Considering Interdisciplinarity and Diversity / 217