The academic world attracts people who want to indulge in social engineering. It makes them feel good and the costs are borne by others.

As an illustration, consider University of Denver chancellor Rebecca Chopp’s statement, “I don’t think it is enough to leave new relationships to chance….Let’s cultivate practices in which students make friends not by chance but because we are cultivating friendships around community values.” Adam Kissel has a nice piece on Minding the Campus on this.

Imagine the consequences if Chopp’s idea were to be taken seriously.

Assistant Director of Friendship Inclusion: “Sorry, Mr. Smith, but we have determined that your friendship list has too many ______ and not enough ______. If you want to remain a student here, you will have to reduce your friendship gap either by unfriending some people in the former group or making enough new friends in your underrepresented groups so that you are in compliance.”

Smith: “I’m sorry, Assistant Director. I guess I was just leaving it to chance, but I see that’s not working and I need to be mindful of the university’s community values.”

ADFI: “We’ll let it go with a warning, but you have only one month.”