Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
reflection and discussion within a profession struggling to find a
better public ethic.” 24
A final important development in the 1980s and 1990s was
work that capitalized on diversity as an asset. Indeed, the first two
editions of HEX were mainly devoted to the controversy over diversity,
multiculturalism, and “political correctness” versus some notion
of a Western educational canon. For instance, on the first page of
the very first HEX article, Carlos E. Cortés observed that the “United
States has been wracked by a History War” since the 1960s. Struggles
over the past had grown increasingly contentious, he argued,
because the country had undergone a “Diversity Revolution.” He
noted that “multicultural research, teaching, and engagement” had
“moved from the margins to center stage” during the previous
decade, provoking a powerful reaction. 25 In the same issue, Eric
Liu (then in his early 20s) observed that his own generation had:
assiduously read the signals sent out by our public institutions.
Be separate. Ask for more. Classify yourselves
and stand in line for what is rightly yours.… On the other
side of the spectrum, young neoconservatives have delighted
in exposing the follies of the politically correct. 26
Liu’s generational interpretation rings true for me, and I would
cite a particular event as formative. In 1978, four members of the
Supreme Court had ruled that affirmative action was unconstitutional.
Four members had supported it as a way to address discrimination
and reallocate scarce goods (such as places in college) to disadvantaged
groups. The swing vote was Justice Powell’s; he argued that
affirmative action was permissible only to promote diversity, which
in turn could enhance the “robust exchange of ideas,” which was a
goal “of paramount importance in the fulfillment of [a university’s]
mission.” 27
24 David Brown, “Public Scholarship: An interview with Jay Rosen,” Higher Education
Exchange (1996): 30.
25 Carlos E. Cortés, “Backing into the Future: Columbus, Cleopatra, Custer & the
Diversity Revolution,” Higher Education Exchange (1994): 6-8.
26 Eric Liu, “Shredding the Race Card,” Higher Education Exchange (1994): 21.
27 University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).
24