From N.C. State’s Technician today:
N.C. State will host the third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration today at 11 a.m. in Stewart Theatre.
Sponsored by the Office of Diversity and African American Affairs, the event will feature keynote speaker Donna Brazile.
A distinguished political veteran, Brazile has achieved notoriety as a Democratic Party insider serving in various capacities on presidential campaigns.
Provost of the Office of Diversity and African American Affairs Jose Picart encouraged all students to attend, citing their impact on the future.
“Students have a special responsibility to leverage their education and become leaders,” Picart said. “I hope a broad representation of students attend and that they’re inspired by his legacy and his commitment to civil rights and social justice and that they themselves are moved to be advocates for civil rights and social justice.”
Why would an office of “diversity” commemorate a national holiday with a speaker known for her “notoriety” as a partisan? Why would an officer of “diversity” openly discuss what politics that he hopes students will advocate? Oh, that’s right, it’s because it’s campus diversity ? ideas aren’t included among diversity factors.
The real shame of it is, for a brief time, N.C. State’s tellingly named “Office of Diversity and African-American Affairs” actually did cherish ideas as part of diversity; in fact, during this refreshing albeit short dalliance with academic sensibility, the office stated: “In the University, diversity exists when the mix of people from a variety of niches of society is such that the occurrence of a conflict of ideas is inescapable.”
That was two leaders ago, before Jose Picart took the position of Diversity “Czar” and proceeded to announce that “professors should integrate diversity into the classroom of every discipline, no matter how technical.”
Return to the Locker Room.
