Diversity Is As Diversity Does (Or Is It?)

One of the burdens placed on the shoulders of those defending diversity in court is to establish that it is not simply “diversity for diversity’s sake.” This burden is made heavier by the increasingly widespread use of the word “diversity” as a virtual synonym of minority, and interesting example of which appears in today’s Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Virginia.

“Coalition Proposes Diversity Center,” reads the headline.

A coalition of the five largest minority advocacy groups at the University proposed plans to University officials for a Diversity Resource Center last Friday, Jan. 24….

The center would serve as a “physical space embodying the University’s commitment to diversity,” Coalition president Ryan McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he envisions a space with multiple uses, explaining that the center would provide office space for the Coalition’s organizations, which include the Asian Student Union, the Latino Student Union, the National Organization for Women, the Black Student Alliance and the Queer Student Union….

McCarthy said he hoped that by providing a “safe, embracing, space for minority students,” and continuing to serve as an informal gathering space for the entire University community, the “space would serve a unifying function.”

Despite some nasty hate crimes last year (though not so classified by the Charlottesville police), the Grounds (not campus) and other lounges of the University of Virginia are not notoriously unsafe for minorities. Perhaps a nice university space, renovated and handed over explicitly to minority, women, and queer students can somehow serve a “unifying function,” but it might be hard to persuade straight white males of that. They seem to be the only excluded group.

Say What?