Source: Chicago museum fires all of its white female, financially well off docents for lack of diversity
Originally posted on Quora October 18, 2021
The Art Institute of Chicago fired all 100 of their docents, who are trained volunteer tour guides for the museum, for the crime of being white. Contrary to bad faith arguments on the left these white women were not simply given these positions on the basis of their race or class. These volunteers were required to continually undergo extensive training and education for the privilege leading tours and teaching without pay.
"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
These volunteers had to undergo 18 months of training, twice-a-week, to even qualify for this unpaid job. In addition they had to do five years of continual research to meet a minimum criteria of 13 museum content areas and attend monthly and bi-weekly training to educate themselves on the materials, processes, and cultural context of the museums exhibits. The Art Institute of Chicago should be grateful they found anyone to do this shit for free. The fact that only affluent white women do this shouldn’t surprise anyone with half a brain; who the fuck else would have the time, money, and commitment to do this crap. Perhaps if they want a more diverse docent staff they should pay their docents a salary. If I had a construction company and fired all my male employees because there aren’t enough female workers I would no longer have a construction company. Different people gravitate towards different jobs and hobbies based on their skills and interests. The fact that it often separates along demographic lines should not be anathema.