‘Diversity’: The Idol of Academia

DictDiversity“Diversity” is not just a good in the academic world. It is the supreme good, the one good before which all other considerations must yield.

Recently, a colleague expressed a preference for a certain Northeastern city university over a certain Midwestern Christian college because, he said, the former has more “diversity” than the latter.

All that this means, though, is that because this big city university in the Northeast is a racial, ethnic, and socio-economic polyglot and its Midwestern Christian counterpart is just too white, the former is preferable as an educational institution to the latter.

That this god of “diversity” is as educationally invidious as it is false can be seen easily enough.

First, the only diversity that should be of any concern at an institution of higher learning is intellectual diversity.   “Diversity” of the sort—what we may call “cultural diversity”—that is all too typical at places like that big city university for which my colleague pines, need not and, in fact, does not give rise to any more intellectual diversity than can be found at less culturally heterogeneous institutions.

This brings us to the next point: “cultural diversity” not only doesn’t correspond to a rise in intellectual diversity; it invariably corresponds to a rise in political uniformity. This is crucial, for the promotion of “cultural diversity” is nothing more or less than the promotion of a left-wing ideological agenda.

While academics, like my colleague, look upon predominantly white colleges as insufficiently “diverse,” they wouldn’t even think to level this same criticism against “historically black colleges.” They cannot, however, have it both ways: if a predominantly white Christian school is educationally inferior because of its mono-racial character, then, mutatis mutandis, black schools must also be educationally inferior because of their racially homogenous character.

Moreover, for all of their clamoring over the need for greater “diversity,” academics don’t want things so diverse that politically incorrect perspectives are permitted a hearing on campus. Representation of fundamentalist Christians, moral traditionalists, conservatives, libertarians, anarchists, is not only never in demand; its anathema.

Thirdly, the idea that a predominantly, or even exclusively, white student body somehow militates against a quality education is offensive. But it’s offensive only because the history of Western civilization exposes just how patently absurd is the idea that racial homogeneity precludes intellectual richness.

The ideas that have composed the West’s consciousness from at least the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans over 2500 years ago through to the present day have derived, overwhelmingly, from white men. It isn’t that others haven’t made lasting contributions, of course. But even and especially in the eyes of its staunchest critics, Western civilization has always been identified with the civilization of European—i.e. Caucasian—peoples.

This is fact. It is equally a fact that it is only either a paralyzing ignorance of reality or incorrigible dishonesty that could prompt anyone to deny with a straight face that the Western tradition is the most intellectually heterogeneous—the most philosophically and theologically diverse—tradition in all of human history. The contemporary academic fiction that Western civilization, by virtue of the “dead white males” that historically shaped it, is somehow an intellectually stagnant monolith is worse than nonsense; to borrow a line from one of those dead white males, the 18th century English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, it is “nonsense on stilts.”

A profound sense of individuality spawned both the passion and daring of those legions of dead white males from throughout the last nearly three millennia to whom we owe our civilization. That “diversity”—or, more accurately, “Diversity”—has become the new deity of, of all places, academia, is among the most sobering, most tragic, of commentaries on our age, for it proves that if the spirit of the Western mind hasn’t evaporated, it is beyond the academic world that it is to be found.

  • Judahlevi

    Diversity, as practiced and preached by academia, has always been a false concept. Academia thinks of diversity as a racist does. They say because someone has a different skin color or gender that this is what makes them diverse.

    Nonsense.

    Give me any two people of any skin color, gender, or any other arbitrary grouping identifier and they are diverse. Why? Because the body does not determine your diversity, the mind does. Everyone is diverse.

    Can your skin color define you? Racists and academics say, “yes.” Why? Because they think the same way. Individualists would say, “no.” Why? Because Individualists think differently. The same applies to gender.

    Steve Jobs was the most diverse person at Apple. Not because of his skin color or gender – but because of his creative mind. Only racists, sexists and academia would disagree.

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    • fiddler

      Yes. “Academics” engage in group-think. Words like “diversity” are part of a cultist mantra. These people cook up this language, broadcast it to their colleges and in the media and: voila, you have new maxims that everyone (except knuckle-dragging neanderthals) are supposed to adhere to. Stoke the guilt long enough, ridicule enough until you get conformance.

  • Isracampus

    The totalitarian Left favors diversity in all things EXCEPT in ideas! All acceptable ideas are those of the far Left. No other ideas may be aired.

  • http://americansforpetraeus2012.org JohnnyAngel Advocacy Group

    And…it doesn’t take a college education to realize this.

  • Paul Austin Murphy

    “Diversity”, “community cohesion”, “far right”, “bigot”, “hate crimes”, “Israeli apartheid”, “Israeli ethnic cleansing”, etc. – all buzzwords or soundbites with zero content. All designed to either achieve some specific Leftist end or defame all those who dare to disagree with the Leftist/”progressive” agenda…

    Or as the US State Department once put is about the phrase “Islamic terrorism”.. It said: “Words that work and words that don’t work.” Cleary it believed that “Islamic terrorism” doesn’t work; but, presumably, “hate crime”, “diversity”, etc. do work.

  • fiddler

    Diversity: The lever one pulls when a class is “under-represented”.

  • fiddler

    “While academics, like my colleague, look upon predominantly white colleges as insufficiently “diverse,” they wouldn’t even think to level this same criticism against “historically black colleges.” They cannot, however, have it both ways: if a predominantly white Christian school is educationally inferior because of its mono-racial character, then, mutatis mutandis, black schools must also be educationally inferior because of their racially homogenous character.”

    First mistake in trying to figure these people out: applying logic.

  • fiddler

    Diversity is the default club with which to exact revenge on those you envy. If you grow up with a poor self-image, instead of believing the truth about yourself, you project blame on someone else. For someone like Dr. Ben Carson, who didn’t have an ideal childhood by any means, he chose to believe in himself. The result of all of his discipline and hard work is admiration by others. That’s the non-blame way of getting somewhere and it is genuine, owned and utterly deserved. Perhaps the way to “feel” better about yourself is to first believe in yourself.

  • REM

    Intellectual Diversity is a false god.

    There is no diversity in mathematics. There are only thing you can prove or not prove.

    You can call different theories on archeology or paleontology diversity. At some point theories that are wrong are discarded. It may take a long time, but it is so. The give and take in arguing the strengths and weaknesses of different theories may be called diversity. But why call it diversity. Another word would be better and the LEFT has so disgraced and abused the word diversity.

    What did they call the different theories in and the comcommitant debates in archeology or paleontology before the word diversity was coined or given it present meaning? That is the word we should use.

  • US Army (retired)

    A person’s commitment to diversity is inversely related to their commitment to competence.

  • marlene

    diversity perversity

  • David

    Ah, but it is not only in academia that diversity is worshiped, it is our entire society, the federal government, corporations, churches, etc. It is a cancer that has metastasized!

  • Demo P. Seal; PouponMarks

    “Diversity” is an Alinsky tactic that has its only value to accumulation of power for a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, i.e., the governance of the many by the few. It dilutes the most productive and moral majority or plurality by artificially elevation the lesser members of a society, macro or micro. It offers an artificial promotion for abdication of moral sense, intellectual curiosity-in effect a mandatory assimilation into the “Borg” Collective, where independent, non-approved, contra-doctrine THOUGHT is forbidden.

    That’s why the deliberate changing of the Immigration Quota Law in 1965, and the successive waves of invasions by low IQ, low education, low info, and low ability illegal aliens.

  • Sniper’s Virtue

    “The Progressive Virus” supports “Diversity” Good Article! On point.

  • Mo86

    Thank you! I am sick to death of this “diversity” nonsense. What does anyone’s race have to do with education or anything else?

    Liberals are obsessed with race – as long as it’s not whites. What does that make them, but RACISTS?

  • elise

    Diversity is divisive, assimilation brings people together. Intelligent and responsible people diversify their investments. It would seem that academics aren’t intelligent enough to understand that people divided by different cultures, classes, religions, ethnicity are easily conquered. Divide and conquer, the perfect way to take control. The people are so busy fighting each other that they don’t see the enemy coming.

  • Alexbensky

    Someone I know teaches at the sort of college most Americans go to–a second tier but perfectly respectable school, basically unheard of outside the state but where a student who wants to learn can do so (full disclosure: my B.A. and M.A. are from exactly that sort of school, Oakland U. in Michigan and the U. of Missouri-St Louis). The school is in a southern state and big on diversity.

    Nursing is a wonderful profession, one where the money is OK and one of the “helping professions” where you actually can help people. The nursing school at this university has twenty-six faculty members, all women. I couldn’t find figures on the student body but judging from pictures it’s about ninety percent women, as well. And until someone starts making real efforts, including goals to be met, to change that, I will continue to believe that “diversity” is not really what the campuses want.

  • Libslayer

    Diversity in American colleges:
    Male Marxists
    Female Marxists
    Hispanic Marxists
    Black Marxists
    Lesbian Marxists
    Transgender Marxists
    Antisemitic Marxists.