President Luther Santiful (Army) opened the meeting, sponsored by Kathleen Gause (Architect of the Capitol) at 10:00 AM. A guest speaker, Mr. John Palguta, from the Merit Systems Protection Board’s (MSPB) Office of Policy and Evaluation, discussed the Outstanding Scholar Program. Mr. Palguta stated that MSPB is questioning the wisdom of continuing the Outstanding Scholar Program appointing authority, which was created by the Luevano consent decree. He reasoned and presented agencywide statistical findings that showed other appointing authorities are equally efficient in reducing disparities in hiring African-Americans and Hispanics. Mr. Palguta posed several questions to the Council: 1) Is information available on the adverse impact that requiring a 3.45 grade point average (gpa) for former PACE positions has had on applicants?; 2) Is a 3.45 gpa a good indicator of job success? In the alternative, are academic majors relevant?; 3) If the Outstanding Scholar Program appointing authority were abolished, how will it impact federal agencies?; and, 4) Is the Outstanding Scholar Program appointing authority really being used to further the merit system?

MSPB shared some charts with the Council which showed that federal agencies have utilized the Outstanding Scholar program to hire primarily Caucasian employees. This undermines the original intent of this appointing authority, which was to remedy the underrepresentation of African-Americans and Hispanics in the federal sector.

Council members wondered whether Outstanding Scholar positions had to be announced? The answer from MSPB and the Office of Personnel Management was in the affirmative. Agencies could either have an open-continuously vacancy announcement for Outstanding Scholar positions that was also open to Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) eligibles, or they could refer to the Outstanding Scholar Program (i.e., applications from Outstanding Scholars will be considered) when advertising positions that fell under the Luevano consent decree. (The Outstanding Scholar Program can be used only for a limited number of job series and positions, per the Luevano consent decree).

Some agencies worried about the impact that the Adarand decision had on the Outstanding Scholar Program. Jorge Ponce (one of the Vice-Chairs of the Council) pointed out that the Supreme Court did not address the applicability of Adarand to court-approved consent decrees, per the February 29, 1996 guidance from the Justice Department.

The discussion ended with Mr. Palguta stating there was no definitive data on which to base a decision to eliminate the Luevano consent decree. However, according to Mr. Palguta, the position of MSPB is that: 1) statistical data shows there is no overwhelming need to continue the Luevano consent decree (the original intent of the consent decree was to provide a temporary fix); 2) governmentwide data indicates the Outstanding Scholar Program is the least successful to hire minorities; and, 3) gpa’s are not necessarily a total indicator of job success. However, Jorge Ponce indicated that rather than eliminating the Outstanding Scholar Program, federal agencies should concentrate their energies on using this authority for its court-intended purpose--to hire more Hispanics and African Americans in the federal workforce. Ponce also suggested that the qualifying grade-point average should be lowered from the current 3.45 to 3.0, which is what is used with reputable internship programs like HNIP, NAFEO, and INROADS. Finally, Ponce recommended to expand the Outstanding Scholar Program to all job series, rather than limiting it to those job series authorized by the consent decree.

Mr. Palguta told the Council that copies of various MSPB research and reports covering hiring practices and merit system are available on the MSPB homepage on the Internet: http://www.mspb.gov.

Harry Red, from MSPB, agreed to get copies of the Luevano consent decree for Council members.

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