Required Components of the University of Connecticut's Affirmative Action Plan
Policy Statements:
The Policy Statements included in the Affirmative Action Plan (Plan) are signed each year by the President. The Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) reviews them for potential changes prior to his signature. The President's Policy on Affirmative Action and his policy on harassment are distributed at least annually to all employees.
Internal Communication:
The University of Connecticut (University) is required to declare its commitment to affirmative action. This section summarizes last year's activities for circulating that information to the internal community. The University's policy statements are publicized annually to all members of the University community. In addition, the full version of the Plan is sent to each of the University's campus libraries.
External Communication:
This section relates to publicizing the University's commitment of affirmative action. It details the various methods by which the University publicizes that commitment to its many external constituencies. These include, but are not limited to, employment recruiting sources, bidders, vendors, collective bargaining units which represent University employees, and others.
Assignment of Responsibility:
This section identifies the individuals and departments in the University who have duties and responsibilities, either wholly or in part, relating to promoting affirmative action policies and assuring compliance, including the development and implementation of the Plan.
Organizational Analysis:
Included here is the Occupational Category Study, in which authorized position titles are grouped with other classifications having similar job content, salary ranges, and opportunity into occupational categories. Within each job category, titles are ranked from the highest to lowest salary range. The following categories, which correspond to federal designations for higher education institutions, are used throughout the Plan:
1 - Executive/Managerial
2 - Faculty
3 - Nonteaching Professional
4 - Secretarial/Clerical
5 - Technical/Paraprofessional
6 - Qualified Craft Worker
7 - Maintenance/Service
Workforce Analysis:
In this section, we summarize workforce data by race and sex, for the Total University and for each campus. Separate summaries enumerate full-time and part-time employees. Additional analyses report on age groupings and the number of employees with disabilities in the full-time workforce.
Availability Analysis:
As a preparatory step in determining whether protected classes, e.g., minority groups and/or women, are fully and fairly utilized in the work force, we conduct analysis to determine the availability of those groups in the labor markets relevant to each campus. Separate analyses are conducted for each occupational category and for payroll titles with a significant number of employees at each location. For faculty, we perform separate availability analyses by schools, colleges, and/or discipline groups.
Various data sources are used to calculate the potential availability base, which is incorporated into the Utilization Analysis. This section details the labor markets, data sources, and value weights used for each analysis group.
Utilization Analysis:
In this section we calculate how the representation of minorities and/or women in the University's workforce compares to the availability of similar groups in the relevant labor market. If the percentage of representation of a particular race/sex group in the workforce is less than the percentage of that group in the availability base, then a condition of underutilization exists. These statistical comparisons provide the basis by which we set numerical hiring and promotional goals.
Utilization analyses are performed along the same lines as the various availability analyses, i.e., for each occupational category and for payroll titles with a significant number of employees at each campus. In the full Plan, this section primarily presents the statistical analyses.
Employment Analysis:
The University undertakes a comprehensive review of the employment process to identify policies and practices that perpetuate or build in barriers to equal employment opportunity. In the Employment Process Analysis, using the same analysis groups as in the previous data sections, we report the various types of personnel actions which resulted in an increase or decrease in the specific analysis group during the Plan year. These include hires, permanent, temporary, emergency, etc.; promotions; reassignments; separations; and others. The Applicant Flow Analysis tracks applicants through the hiring or promotional process to identify the step at which they were no longer viable candidates.
Identification of Problem Areas:
In this section, the University reports on its examination of personnel policies and practices to identify nonquantifiable aspects of the employment process which may impede affirmative action progress. Once again, we perform these analyses along the same lines as used in prior sections. The following aspects of employment are addressed: employment applications, job qualifications, recruitment practices, personnel policies, job structuring, orientation, training, counseling, grievance procedure, evaluation, layoffs, and termination.
Program Goals and Timetables:
In this section, the University establishes program, or non-quantitative, goals which promote affirmative action and/or eliminate any policy or employment practice that adversely affects protected class members. For each of these goals, we also set a target date for its accomplishment. No goal is set for identified problems that are unavoidable, inherent in the hiring process or the environment, and are beyond resolution. For example, incomplete applications for employment are problematic. However, Personnel recruiting staff assist potential applicants in completing these forms.
Upward Mobility and Staff Development:
This section summarizes the year's activities in the University's Upward Mobility Program. The Program is primarily directed toward employees in Classified service, since a formal promotional system already exists. However, career counseling and exploring staff development opportunities also are ongoing for Unclassified nonteaching professionals. In the full version of the Plan, this section includes quantitative reports detailing the individual components of the Program, such as Temporary Service in a Higher Class, Tuition Reimbursement Applications, Career Counseling, and Upward Mobility Candidates.
Discrimination Complaint Procedures:
Any employee, student, or other member of the University community injured by the discriminatory behavior of an employee may file a complaint under the Discrimination Complaint Procedures. Similar complaints against students should be filed with the Office of the Dean of Students under the Student Conduct Code.
University policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, national origin, ethnicity, physical or mental disabilities, learning disability, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, status as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam Era, and any other group protected by civil rights laws. Discrimination means unequal treatment or harassment based upon any of these group characteristics.
Internal Program Evaluation:
This section describes the procedures in place by which we assess the University's affirmative action programs. In the full version of the Plan, it includes brief comments from the President and the Chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Equity.
Innovative Programs:
The development and implementation of programs not covered elsewhere in the Plan is an important part of the road to affirmative action. Accordingly, the University may structure innovative, comprehensive programs to create opportunities not otherwise available to achieve the full and fair participation of all protected group members.
Summary of Goals Analysis:
This is a key section in the Plan, in both content and volume. In it, we describe the various activities undertaken to achieve the hiring, promotion, upward mobility, and program goals contained in the previous year's Plan, and a critical self-analysis of the progress made toward those ends. In addition, the Administrative Regulations require the University to defend each permanent hire and promotion that occurred during the year that did not meet a numerical goal. The information collected in the University's search process is essential for providing the detailed descriptions required in this section.
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