Does diversity tolerate disagreement?

Wish I'd said that!

[Reprinted from Issues & Views March 25, 2002]

Diversity implies toleration of differences among people no matter what that difference might be, including those differences that are racial, sexual, ideological or political. Diversity also implies a willingness to permit others who disagree with you to go their separate ways, and form institutions and groups among like-minded friends and associates. In the political arena, diversity implies decentralized decision-making power that in turn requires limited government.

What's called for and practiced by college administrators, courts and administrative agencies is anything but a defense of individual rights, freedom from conformity and a doctrine of live-and-let-live. Instead, diversity is an increasingly popular catchword for all kinds of conformity--conformity in ideas, actions and speech. It calls for re-education programs where diversity managers indoctrinate students, faculty members, employees, managers and executives on what's politically correct thinking.

At colleges, diversity doesn't mean political diversity. It is by no means unusual to find colleges where the bulk of the faculty--sometimes 80 percent or 90 percent -- is registered Democrat. In some academic departments, such as philosophy, history and political science, it is by no means rare to find 100 percent of the faculty is registered Democrat.

What might true diversity look like on college campuses? Different colleges might pursue different policies with regard to race and sex. Some might have color- and sex-blind admittance and hiring policies, while others, at least at private colleges, might be race- and sex-conscious. Some colleges would have faculty members who are mostly liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans, as opposed to the current domination by liberal Democrats. There'd be free speech rather than speech codes.

-- Walter Williams, syndicated columnist and Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. He is author of The State Against Blacks, (McGraw-Hill), and several anthologies of his syndicated columns, which include: Do The Right Thing: The People's Economist Speaks (Hoover), All It Takes Is Guts: A Minority View (Regnery), and More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well (Hoover).
(Creators Syndicate)

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