So far we have heard from two advocates for universities discriminating on the basis of race for sake of diversity and three critics of the lack of intellectual diversity in universities. We are soon to hear from an advocate and a critic of discrimination by race for the sake of diversity in law schools. At lunch we will hear from from Ward Connerly, a well-known advocate for moving the academy past race-based preferences in admissions. After lunch we will hear a discussion between two panelists who oppose race-based discrimination for sake of diversity and two panelists who favor it.
I would further note that differences of opinion over these issues exist within each “group” “represented” here: male, female, white, black. That is to say, the Pope Center’s job does a very good job of illustrating the kind of academic diversity it has always favored.
This is in stark contrast with a recent University of North Carolina conference on the “politics of inclusion” in higher education ? which was an by-invitation-only conference in which participants overwhelmingly favored the premise of the conference. But that, too, did a good job of illustrating the sponsoring institution’s approach to the issue of diversity.
