This brings to mind the old but wise joke: the liberal view of diversity is a room filled with white, black, brown, yellow, red, and gay men and women who all think exactly the same way.

That said, upon reflection, I agree with that belief: I *too* want a nation filled with white, black, brown, yellow, red and gay men and women who all think exactly the same way-- *as Americans*, first, foremost, and above all else.

Hey, don't knock the Diversity racket. With the collapse of the Church of the Anthropogenic Global Warmingness, it's the only jobs program we got right now.

Derb:

While good intentions might be at play with most of the diversity-endorsing crowd, the Diversity Cult thrives out of fear: fear of being labeled as racist; fear of being sued for discrimination; fear of losing funding for discrimination/lack of diversity; fear of not being eligible for funding because of a lack of diversity.

I agree with your partial point about the U.S.A. being diverse all long. Which didn't mean that the Irish and Italians and Jews and Catholics did not have it rough at certain points. And, of course, ill-will toward black Americans did not disappear with emancipation. But we used to call diversity "The Melting Pot," which implied a coming together of people, each new person adding to the color of society while simultaneously becoming part of it. That seems like a great concept. But, in part because it didn't "work" fast enough or efficiently enough, some misguided souls (and worse!) decided we can no longer use that term. Those same misguided souls (and worse!) argued that the term "Melting Pot" implies a forced abandonment of ones culture; assimilation is a no-no term on campuses and we the left for the same reason.

Of course, all of that is idiocy and drivel, and it in no way is bringing people together.

Derb, our son will be attending BYU Idaho in the fall. You can visit their website at www.byui.edu. Not much discussion of diversity on their website. And they offer a combination degree in auto mechanics and business, which I think is great (can't get the son interested, yet). Do you think a graduate of such a program would find work over, say, someone graduating in Diversity Studies?

All school housing is strictly gender segregated. Quick expulsion guaranteed for breaking the rules against smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.

There are pockets of relative sanity in the USA.

It is worth commenting on BYU Hawaii and diversity. The two BYU mainland campuses (Utah and Idaho) are not ethnically or religiously diverse. However BYU Hawaii is a true melting pot, with students from all over the world, especially from the Pac Rim. But you still get booted quick for disrespecting the rules.

Nice. Given their focus on diversity, one might expect a healthy representation of conservative profs. Sounds like a winner!

When we chose a Catholic high school for our oldest daughter friends castigated us because she would be missing out on "diversity." I reminded them that, unlike their west county neighborhood, we had whites, blacks, hispanics, fillipinos and vietnamese all living on our block. The economic curve here runs from bankers to welfare mothers. Hence, excellence is what we were looking for in a school, not "diversity." People who live in urban neighborhoods like ours don't find much opportunity to even use the word "diversity." Maybe in discussing the local grocery's beer selection but not much else.

I truly don't get why you give this person the time of day. She thinks it's a problem that you are "all white and believe the same things in [your] house"?!

My husband and I are die-hard liberal Democrats and long-time inhabitants of academia, and we both find the diversity stuff unbearable. We are ardently in favor of inclusion and all that, and find assertions that prejudice based on various personal characteristics no longer exists wishful thinking. But these "diversity" campaigns are simply vapid feel-good gestures that are supposed to demonstrate the broad-mindedness of the institution. It's as if they think that chanting the word diversity and showing the requisite one-of-each-race photos somehow accomplishes something. Excellence is, in fact, the goal of any research university (trust me, we only hire faculty we think will publish lots of papers and haul in the grant money), while the diversity campaigns are pointless p.r. exercises.