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The June article "Gap Analysis" correctly links minorities' scarce presence in senior corporate-finance positions to their underrepresentation in college accounting and business programs. The writer also notes that minorities have traditionally had few role models encouraging them to study business.
While Corporate America and universities can't quickly create millions of minority role models in business, they can create many role models in another key spot of high visibility, influence, and impact: the front of the classroom.
Business-school faculties have historically been nearly barren of minorities. Since 1994, The PhD Project has partnered with corporations and academia to change that. Through an innovative mix of strategies, we have nearly tripled the number of minority faculty, from 294 to 858, by marketing the appeal of a career in the professorate.
Your article points corporations toward changing the landscape by supporting, recruiting, and providing scholarships for minority business students. This is true, and worthy, but it's also a zero-sum game: until we expand the pool of minority students, we're all fighting for the same limited supply of talent. By diversifying the front of the classroom, we are diversifying the rest of the classroom — and, in turn, the executive suites of tomorrow.
Bernard J. Milano
President
The PhD Project
Via E-mail
Your article "Gap Analysis" completely reflects the reality of Corporate America today. It is apparent that women are divided into two separate groups: white women and minority women. It is amazing to me that I can walk down the street and see so many different people from so many different cultural backgrounds, and yet when I walk into a boardroom I see only one group strongly represented: white men and women.
There is an insinuation in Corporate America that standards had to be lowered to allow in token minorities. As insulting as that is for those of us who work hard and are as gifted as our white counterparts, it is even more discouraging that the racist thread that has kept us out for so long continues to weave the false notion that we are less than part of the fabric of the workplace.
To say that a comfort level exists between white male and white female co-workers is an understatement. The more accurate commentary would be that the good-old-boys club that has run Corporate America for so long wants to keep companies as white as possible for as long as possible.
The beauty of our country is that in welcoming diverse people, we have enriched our own culture. But I suspect that unless we can get past ethnic background or gender, we will never be able to really see and appreciate true potential.
Maribel Danta
Via E-mail
Another Ultra Heard From
Given that your review seems to target ultraportables ("For Road Warriors, Lightening Strikes Again," InTech, June), I feel I have to comment on the omission of the most relevant Fujitsu model, the Lifebook Q2010.
Having just purchased one, and also two Sony Vaios, I would have to say that the Fujitsu is in a different league entirely. Admittedly this difference is reflected in the price, and the Blu-ray drive is in the docking station/port replicator, rather than in the machine. However, it is an object of great beauty and weighs less than 1,000g. Amazingly, it also has the 3G data card built in so you don't have to carry around another lump of plastic/aluminum from your mobile network provider of choice — you just place the SIMM card under the battery and off you go. Furthermore, it is still shipped with Win XP, rather than Vista, which strangles the performance out of the Vaio.
I would strongly advise that the Q2010 be looked at if you want the best ultraportable on the market.
Reiss Gunson
Via E-mail
Privatization of Water
In response to your article "Water for Profit" (February), I think the privatization of a common resource like the water supply is at odds with the principles of our democratic society. Consider the following quote from Milton Friedman:
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