A
common feature of our time is the extent to which many in our nation have
become preoccupied with diversity. But true diversity obsession, almost a
mania, is found at our institutions of higher learning. Rather than have a
knee-jerk response for or against diversity, I think we should ask just what is
diversity and whether it’s a good thing. How do we tell whether a college, a
department or another unit within a college is diverse or not? What exemptions
from diversity are permitted?
Seeing as college presidents
and provosts are the main diversity pushers, we might start with their vision
of diversity. Ask your average college president or provost whether he even
bothers promoting political diversity among faculty. I’ll guarantee that if he
is honest — and even bothers to answer the question — he will say no. According
to a recent study, professors who are registered Democrats outnumber their
Republican counterparts by a 12-1 ratio (http://tinyurl.com/gpp4svq).
In some departments, such as history, Democratic professors outnumber their
Republican counterparts by a 33-1 ratio.
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There
is one area of college life where administrators demonstrate utter contempt for
diversity, and that’s in sports. It is by no means unusual to watch a Saturday
afternoon college basketball game and see that the starting five on both teams
are black. White players, not to mention Asian players, are underrepresented.
Similar underrepresentation is practiced in college football. Where you find
whites overrepresented in both sports is on the cheerleading squads, which are
mostly composed of white women. If you were to explore this lack of racial
diversity in sports with a college president, he might answer, “We look for the
best players, and it so happens that blacks dominate.” I would totally agree
but ask him whether the same policy of choosing the best applies to the
college’s admissions policy. Of course, the honest answer would be a flat-out
no.
The most important issue
related to college diversity obsession is what happens to black students. Black
parents should not allow their sons and daughters to fall victim to the
diversity hustle, even if the diversity hustler is a black official of the
college. Black parents should not allow their sons and daughters to attend a
college where they would not be admitted if they were white. A good rule of
thumb is not to allow your children to attend a college where their SAT score
is 200 or more points below the average of that college. Keep in mind that
students are not qualified or unqualified in any absolute sense. There are more
than 4,800 colleges — a college for most anybody. The bottom-line question for
black parents and black people in general is: Which is better, a black
student’s being admitted to an elite college and winding up in the bottom of
his class or flunking out or being admitted to a less prestigious college and
performing just as well as his white peers and graduating? I would opt for the
latter. You might ask, “Williams, but how will the nation’s elite colleges
fulfill their racial diversity needs?” My answer is that’s their problem.
Walter E. Williams is the John
M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University, and a
nationally syndicated columnist. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and
read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit
the Creators
Syndicate web page.
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