UCLA Prof Unravels Diversity Sham

In the latest issue of The Chronicle Review, UCLA historian Russell Jacoby offers some insights into the campus diversity craze that are actually refreshing.

Jacoby asks, “Should all quarters of society demographically reflect all other quarters?”

“Why? Should there be more pacifists in the military? Fewer Indian motel owners?”

As well, Jacoby notes: “Inasmuch as academic leftists champion diversity, a certain irony must be signaled. For decades they have poured scorn on ‘essentialism’ and posited that all identity is ‘constructed.’ After years of postmodern guff, the arguers reverse themselves: You are your group identity, essentialism, pure and simple.”

Of course, he does not let conservatives off the hook, although even here, he does make an interesting point. “Conservatives say they are underrepresented among college professors,” he writes. “Oddly they, or the researchers who support their argument, do not target student populations for disparities, where the issue first arose.”

Of course, he dismisses attempts to track the imbalance on the faculty of those to the right of center: “What’s next? A study showing English professors prefer shopping at Whole Foods to Walmart?”

Nevertheless, he notes an interesting trend documented in a study last year: The “ratio of Democrats to Republicans or Liberals to Conservatives” went from 1:1 in the 1920s to 2:1 in the 1950s to 14:1 in 2010.

Photo by mil8

Photo by mil8

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