Is Diversity Overrated? (NY Times Column--NO BARF!)

NY Times Op-Ed ^ | 3-29-03 | STANLEY ROTHMAN

[Pharmboy]

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. The Supreme Court hears arguments next week in the cases that may determine whether racial and ethnic preferences in higher education admissions and hiring are preserved or discarded. Whatever it decides, the court should be skeptical of one of the most popular justifications for preferential treatment of minority applicants: that a diverse student body necessarily improves the quality of education for everyone.

One of the most comprehensive studies ever undertaken of diversity in higher education indicates that this contention is at least questionable. The study's findings show that college diversity programs fail to raise standards, and that a majority of faculty members and administrators recognize this when speaking anonymously.

With my colleagues, Seymour Martin Lipset and Neil Nevitte, I measured views of the educational benefit of diversity as it is now incorporated in higher education policy. We wanted to know this: Is diversity truly seen, as the former president of the University of Michigan has said, "as essential as the study of the Middle Ages, of international politics and of Shakespeare" to a well-rounded education?

To find out, in 1999 we surveyed a random sample of more than 1,600 students and 2,400 faculty members and administrators at 140 American colleges and universities, asking them to evaluate the quality of education at their institution, the academic preparation and work habits of the student body, the state of race relations on campus and their own experiences of discrimination. Then we correlated their responses with the proportion of black students attending each institution, based on government statistics.

If diversity works as advertised, we surmised, then those at institutions with higher proportions of black enrollment should rate their educational and racial milieus more favorably than their peers at institutions with lower proportions.

The results contradict almost every benefit claimed for campus diversity. Students, faculty members and administrators all responded to increasing racial diversity by registering increased dissatisfaction with the quality of education and the work ethic of their peers. Students also increasingly complained about discrimination.

Moreover, diversity fails to deliver even when all else is equal. When we controlled for other demographic and institutional factors like the respondent's race, gender, economic background and religion, or an institution's public or private status, selectivity and whether it offers an ethnic or racial studies program, the results were surprising. A higher level of diversity is associated with somewhat less educational satisfaction and worse race relations among students.

We also tested for the effects of higher Hispanic and Asian enrollment. Hispanic enrollment has little effect on any group's ratings of the educational or racial climate. As the proportion of Asian students increased, however, faculty members and administrators perceived an improvement in the academic quality of their students. Thus support for the diversity argument comes with respect to a minority often excluded from preferential admissions programs.

We also asked students about policies used to increase diversity. Three out of four oppose "relaxing academic standards" to increase minority representation, as do a majority of faculty members. And an overwhelming 85 percent of students specifically reject the use of racial or ethnic "preferences"— along with a majority of faculty members. More telling, 62 percent of minority students oppose relaxing standards, and 71 percent oppose preferences.

Among the most striking findings is the silent opposition of so many who administer these programs — yet must publicly support them. Although a small majority of administrators support admissions preferences, 47.7 percent oppose them. In addition, when asked to estimate the impact of preferential admissions on university academic standards, about two-thirds say there is none. Most dismaying, of those who think that preferences have some impact on academic standards, those believing it negative exceed those believing it positive by 15 to 1.

One cannot help but wonder why the public and private views of higher education's leadership differ so greatly. It would be useful to have some good studies of that question.

Stanley Rothman, professor emeritus of government at Smith College, is director of the Center for the Study of Social and Political Change.

[Pharmboy]

A rare moment of clarity and truth from the Paper of Record's Op-Ed liberal steamroller. Good info here for Freepers.

[jamndad5]

Diversity is Perversity!

[motzman]

One cannot help but wonder why the public and private views of higher education's leadership differ so greatly. It would be useful to have some good studies of that question.

C'mon Stanley, you know the answer...

Say it!

SAY IT!

/samkinnison

[JeeperFreeper]

One of the editorial board's kids must have been rejected by a school. Still I'll be on the lookout for pigs in the sky today.

[Drango]

One cannot help but wonder why the public and private views of higher education's leadership differ so greatly.

One cannot help but wonder why the NY Times views of higher education's leadership differ so greatly from the rest of the country.

[Domestic Church]

Diversity is enhanced stress in the classroom to assist in the dumbing down of the population.

[Pharmboy]

Nice one, motz...I could hear Sam's voice.

[Cicero]

For the record, I believe that Stanley Rothman is one of the good guys, a puncturer of the windbags of political correctness.

Here's the title of one of his latest books, which attacks the judicial activism of the liberal courts:

The Least Dangerous Branch? Consequences of Judicial Activism, by Stephen P. Powers and Stanley Rothman. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002.

[dufekin]

In my experience, racial diversity in higher education should reflect equitable quality of instruction in elementary and secondary education. Many young people of color today unfortunately live in areas, most notably inner cities á la DC, where education is almost nonexistent. In these areas, the teachers' unions put their own well-being over their responsibility, the latter of which is ignored by liberal Democratic demagogues. Diversity represents a noble goal for the higher-education establishement, but the methods to achieve it should emphasize equality of education on lower levels, still unfortunately lacking almost a half-century after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954).

[FITZ]

The study's findings show that college diversity programs fail to raise standards,

Diversity programs intentionally lower standards.

[Hacksaw]

Diversity is almost becoming like 1984's INGSOC. Nobody can be against it, but to intelectually think about it leads to thoughtcrime.

[FITZ]

equality of education on lower levels

When you start looking at quality of education on the lower levels, you come back to the quality of the family. Kids growing up on welfare watching parents lay around all day, drink, use drugs, etc cannot be forced to be equal to those learning from hard-working responsible parents.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

For me, diversity is practised in the west, a tool of the socialists and UN

Whereas, on every other continent, the nation state rules supreme.

A "white" african or Asian.......

No way.

I'm Korean. (I believe rightly so)

I'm Japanese (I believe rightly so)

I'm British (RACIST PIG)

[Spyder]

My daughter (who has the highest GPA in her private school junior class) has been getting at least daily mailings from well-known colleges as well as many we haven't heard of. We immediately toss the ones that emphasize diversity over learning - I think the Wellesley (sp?) one was the worst. It's almost like looking at an Onion satire some are so bad - the aforementioned Wellesley flyer had photos of just about every "type" except blondes, though it was hard to tell if the crew-cutted dyke type had blonde hair or not.

We were hoping to find a West Coast school for her (cheaper flights home at least) but so far her searches for architecture programs on that coast are way left of anything we'd consider (one school, UCLA I think, emphasized their bringing a "political" view to the field, and I don't think they meant our brand of politics).

[Nick Danger]

One cannot help but wonder why the public and private views of higher education's leadership differ so greatly.

Quite obviously they are living in an environment where they feel intimidated. They do not believe that it is safe to express their actual views. It is the same thing we see in Basra, where the effect is caused by armed thugs who will publicly execute anyone who speaks truth to Saddam.

There is a dictatorship in place in academia. It is as ruthless and destructive as Saddam Hussein. It should be; both are Stalinist in origin and composition. Both students and faculty are afraid of it. It enforces its dictates with economic violence, public humiliation, and menacing mobs.

This is called "academic freedom." It is not any kind of freedom the rest of us would want. But it is a foretaste of what will happen to all of us if the grip of the cultural left is not removed from our institutions.

[isthisnickcool]

Nice one, motz...I could hear Sam's voice.

Sam was a character. We used to go see him on Houston before he got famous. One night we were sitting by the stage and he said something to one of my buddies. Before I knew it I was pulling them apart as they rolled around on the floor punching each other.

Once Sam was banned from one club. He went across the street to the 7-11 that was there, climbed up on their sign and "crucified" himself.

He died too young.

[Consort]

In Diversity there is stench.

[McGavin999]

Forty years after we decided that the content of a persons character is more important than the color of a persons skin, we are still discussing this. Preferrences and set asides have not helped, they've hurt.

Look at the difference in the level of achievement of black conservatives as opposed to black liberals. Black conservatives consider themselves Americans first and are systematically working and achieving the American dream. Black liberals are demanding special favors, government handouts and preferrences and (except for the poverty pimps) are still locked in want.

That should tell us all we need to know.

[LiteKeeper]

bump