The University of Nebraska is making progress in increasing the racial and gender diversity of its faculty, according to a hiring report released Monday.

But one campus leader fears a proposed race- and gender-based affirmative action ban could foster a “chillier” recruiting environment as NU works to continue that progress.

Nearly one-quarter — 24.1 percent — of NU’s full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty hires in the past year were racial minorities, the report says. That brings NU’s total percentage of minority faculty to 14.5 percent, below its peer average of 16.6 percent.

And 39.9 percent of hires were women, bringing NU’s percentage of female faculty to 33.1 percent. That’s above NU’s peer average of 31.9 percent.

The figures reflect a campuswide commitment to diversity, said Linda Pratt, NU’s executive vice president and provost.

“I attribute it to hard work,” Pratt said. “We advertise (open positions) more widely than ever before, and we track down possible leads on outstanding candidates and encourage them to apply. And that’s for all faculty.”

In 1997, the Legislature directed NU to develop a plan to reach its peer midpoint in percentages of women and minority faculty by 2005. When that goal was not met, lawmakers extended the deadline to Friday, understanding that NU has worked hard to boost diversity, Pratt said.

She didn’t know whether NU would face repercussions by the Legislature for still lagging behind its peers in its percentage of minority faculty.

Pratt said she’s largely uncertain how a proposed ban on some forms of affirmative action might affect faculty recruitment. The ban will be on the November ballot if backers collected enough valid petition signatures.

“I think (a ban) would definitely create a chillier environment in which to do it,” Pratt said, echoing other university leaders who have said an affirmative-action ban could send a message to out-of-staters Nebraska doesn’t care about diversity.

Diversity, Pratt said, is critical in an academic environment.

“Our students are going to be making their way in a very diverse global world,” she said. “Part of what we have to do is educate them about these different cultures, about how different groups of people can view the same thing and attach very different values to it.”

Doug Tietz, executive director of the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, the group behind the affirmative-action ban, accused NU of employing “fear tactics.”

Universities in other states where similar bans have passed, such as the University of California, Los Angeles, haven’t suffered tarnished reputations, Tietz said.

“This fear tactic of our opposition is to be expected,” he said. “They say this every time. Yet some of the nation’s best universities continue to thrive in states where this has passed.”

NU must continue its push for diversity, Pratt said. Competition for all top faculty is tough, including for top women and minorities.

NU always hires the best candidates and has no quotas in place, but has worked to expand recruitment practices so hiring searches draw pools of diverse candidates from across the nation, Pratt said.

“We don’t hire anyone that we don’t think can meet the needs of the position that was described in our recruitment,” she said.

In fact, NU is competing for faculty not only with its peer institutions, but with more prestigious universities as well, she said.

“We lose some of the people we’d really love to hire, but we get a great many of the ones we’re most interested in,” she said. “That’s good news for the people of Nebraska. We’ve been hiring very, very well.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.