Last week, we posted John Rosenberg's piece commenting on the first full-time "diversity officer," one William B. Harvey, who was interviewed in CHE, and who is now dean of the education school at North Carolina A & T University. For his relentless bean-counting efforts, Harvey got pretty handsomely remunerated at 315K per annum.
Today, over at Minding the Campus, Mark Bauerlein follows up with some observations on the sheer animosity and resentment that emerges from Harvey's CHE interview: at the "European" orientation of a curriculum that "completely ignores the contributions of people of color," to the "quiet resisitance" in some quarters to "diversity" initiatives, even to the widespread institutionalization of "diversity" officers for which Harvey was the inspiration. Apparently, such hires unwittingly provide a smokescreen that lets institutions off the hook. See? They never get around to achieveing "real diversity," since having an "officer" lulls them into complacencey. Not very much "diversity" anywhere that pleases Mr. Harvey.
And as Bauerlein notes, it doesn't seem to occur to anyone to ask whether there might actually anything amiss with "diversity" policies, such as those promoted by Harvey. No, the toughest question - as always - asks only what else we need to do if we're ever going to achieve "success." Obla dee, obla da, "diversity" gets a pass, once again.
