for 'lack of diversity'. So, let me get this right, in order to become more diverse, they fire all the white ones, leaving them with a few non-white ones.

How clever. Although maybe they ought to look up the meaning of the word 'diverse'.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...APDcqq?ocid=msedgntp

FOX News

The Art Institute of Chicago fired all of its trained volunteers and guides last month, who were mostly older White women, to diversify its team.

"We were surprised, we were disappointed," Gigi Vaffis, president of the docent council, said in an interview with radio station WBEZ of the firings. "There is an army of very highly skilled docents that are willing and ready and able to continue with arts education."

The Art Institute used to have more than 100 docents, 82 of whom were active, until an executive director of learning and engagement, Veronica Stein, sent an email on Sept. 3 firing them all, the Wall Street Journal reported. Docents are trained volunteers who lead tours of museums, and at the Art Institute, they averaged 15 years of unpaid service.

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The firings were apparently sparked by the fact that most of the docent staff was composed of older White, financially well-off women, the outlet reported. Stein said that the museum needed to take a new path "in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility."

The fired docents were offered a two-year free pass to the museum as gratitude for their previous service.

The institute is one of America’s oldest and largest museums, with its docent program launching in 1961 as part of an initiative of the Woman’s Board and the Junior League of Chicago.

The docents sent a letter on Sept. 13 detailing the staff "engaged in eighteen months of twice-a-week training to qualify as a docent, five years of continual research and writing to meet the criteria of 13 museum content areas, and monthly and bi-weekly trainings to further educate ourselves with the materials, processes and cultural context" of the museum’s pieces.

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"It was nearly a full-time job," Dietrich Klevorn, a docent since 2012, told the Wall Street Journal. "We had to spend a lot of time physically in the museum studying works of art, researching, putting tours together."

"We had to be very comprehensive about everything as we talked with them, moving through the space," she said. Klevorn was the only docent to speak on the record to WSJ, after the museum reportedly requested they not speak to the media.

People line up outside the Art institute of Chicago as the museum re-opens on Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Chicago. The museum had been shuttered due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Getty Images© Getty Images People line up outside the Art institute of Chicago as the museum re-opens on Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Chicago. The museum had been shuttered due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Getty Images
The Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board even hit back at the museum’s decision, calling Stein’s termination letter to the docents as "weaselly."

"Why not invest some time in recruiting new, diverse docents? Why not grow the corps in such a way that it’s refreshed? Why not help docents who need help with expenses or child care? Why not have a hybrid model, at least until the current docents exit?" the board wrote in its Sept. 27 opinion piece.

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"Instead of trashing volunteerism as inherently elitist, why not avow and attest to its ongoing value as a vital part of necessary diversification and cultural change?"

Robert Levy, chairman of the Art Institute, defended the decision to fire the docents days later in his own op-ed, and said that the plan to do so had been in the works for 12 years.

"Critical self-reflection and participatory, recuperative action is required if we are to remain relevant to the changing audiences seeking connection to art," he wrote.

Klevorn, who is Black, conceded to WSJ that the docent staff was "not a demographically representative population." Vaffis, however, noted that the staff was a diverse group socioeconomically, and included a fireman and condo manager among the group.

"Still, the Art Institute hasn’t explained why they had to be jettisoned en masse and not diversified over time. The museum appears to be in the grips of a self-defeating overcorrection. It has adopted the language of diversity, inclusion and equity so completely that it was willing to fire the same upper-middle class volunteers it relies on for charitable donations," WSJ noted.

The Art Institute did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the matter.

I had read this a few days ago. I am a Chicago native and as a kid had no idea what was what at the Art Institute. The story of someone's stupidity has now gone round the globe. Maybe Hunter will have an exhibit there soon!

Sounds like a discrimination lawsuit to me. This shit will continue until people start punching back.

Ah …: Who says it isn’t possible to turn back to the clock. It’s been some time since employers could blatantly refuse to hire people because of their race—much less fire them with no thought for the consequences. I just wish I had the body I did back when that was last unquestionably possible in this country. We accuse some Muslim countries of trying to turn back the clock to the seventh century, but although we still have a long way to go to match that, it’s not like we’re not trying.

Perhaps the tribal leaders at the museum can have all the white devils killed, taxidermied and put on display. I can see it now: Alabaster Satans from before the Revolution...

Brainstorming the idea:

They want docents from "all income levels" to perform a job for which they won't be paid. I'm sure there will be tons of people from the minimum wage crowd lining up for this opportunity.

Won't be paid and is almost a full time job.

82 people who "averaged 15 years of unpaid service". Those people probably know their shit and more about the museum than the people running it.

Here is what the new tour guides will tell the attendant.
And over here we has some paintins n shit! Any y'll wants to ax me any quesions?

I tell you I was shocked to see the woman in charge was not only black, but uses the she/her pronouns.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
They want docents from "all income levels" to perform a job for which they won't be paid. I'm sure there will be tons of people from the minimum wage crowd lining up for this opportunity.

It being Chicago I imagine the goal may be to fill the positions with political cronies and put them on the payroll.

Before:

"Sunflowers. Van Gogh’s paintings of Sunflowers are among his most famous. He did them in Arles, in the south of France, in 1888 and 1889. Vincent painted a total of five large canvases with sunflowers in a vase, with three shades of yellow ‘and nothing else’. In this way, he demonstrated that it was possible to create an image with numerous variations of a single colour, without any loss of eloquence.

The sunflower paintings had a special significance for Van Gogh: they communicated ‘gratitude’, he wrote. He hung the first two in the room of his friend, the painter Paul Gauguin, who came to live with him for a while in the Yellow House. Gauguin was impressed by the sunflowers, which he thought were ‘completely Vincent’. Van Gogh had already painted a new version during his friend’s stay and Gauguin later asked for one as a gift, which Vincent was reluctant to give him. He later produced two loose copies."

Now:

"That's a picture of flowers"

Another stunning display of arrogance and stupidity. I had a robust volunteer program in my police department. They did so much to help the community that no one could have cared less what color they were.
Volunteer services are mostly staffed by older people of independent means and good will who want to give something back to their communities. Everybody else had to go to work. I swear they have instituted Idiocracy in these big cities. This CRT equity crap is so toxic and does nothing but generate resentment and hate. Shaking my head here in the Panhandle.

Wow that's stupid.. And I'm sure these financially well off white women did a lot of fund raising too.

Yeah I'm sure the poorer residents working two jobs and trying to make ends meet give two shits about volunteering at an art museum.

Another organization, next time they ask for donations, etc, I hope every white person says no, you don't want any of my dirty oppressive white man money

quote:

Volunteer services are mostly staffed by older people of independent means and good will who want to give something back to their communities.

And so it is in every community, every organization.
This is the first situation I've read of when they had the institution of which they had been pillars for decades spit in their faces. It will not be the last.

This cannot end well.

It took 12 years to come up with 'fire all the white ladies' as the solution to the diversity and inclusion problem? What a stunning lack of leadership.

quote:

trained volunteers and guides

How can they "FIRE" non salaried employees?

Peter Schiff had a few words to say on this. Skip to 52:30.

^^^Thank you for this PostSigSentry.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
They want docents from "all income levels" to perform a job for which they won't be paid. I'm sure there will be tons of people from the minimum wage crowd lining up for this opportunity.

As Mr Schiff notes in his article, this seems to be exactly what is intended - paying somebody without any other form of employment $25 an hour to stand around looking like they 'know stuff'an that...'

I wouldn’t fret to much about this. The fired docents are more than likely liberal Democrats who are just fine with it if it means increasing diversity and hiring more minorities

quote:

Originally posted by photohause:

quote:

trained volunteers and guides

How can they "FIRE" non salaried employees?

Stupid people in charge of "things" can fire anyone they want, whether their "subjects" are actually employed or not. It's what they do.