That’s what Peter Wood has to say about “diversity” in this wonderful essay on the current accreditation troubles of Roger Williams University.
Part of RWU’s difficulty with its accrediting association (Northeastern States) is that it just doesn’t have enough “diversity” on its board. In academia, as in so much of the rest of America, it is always assumed that more diversity is a good thing. About ten years ago, the same kind of dispute arose when T.J. Rodgers, the founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor (and a recent addition to the Dartmouth board) was told by a crusading nun that he needed to appoint more women and persons of color to the board of Cypress. Rodgers refused to be pressured, saying that he wanted people on his board who knew enough about the chip business to tell him when he was making a mistake.
That ought to be the chief criterion for membership on a college board too. Not whether your ancestors were victimized in some way, but whether you know and care enough about higher education to know when the school’s president is making a mistake.
