Alert and loyal reader Fred Ray sends word of this article about a Duke psychology professor who questions the finding of Michigan psychologist Patricial Gurin on the benefits of diversity.
Some excerpts:
Q.You contend that there is no compelling interest to warrant the consideration of race to promote enrollment diversity. Why is that?
A.It isn’t clear that there is any strong correlation between diversity and an improved education for African- American students. The report that directly addresses the educational benefit in the University of Michigan case is by Dr. Patricia Gurin [chairwoman of Michigan’s psychology department].
But in fact, the correlations she cited are weak and contradictory.
[….]
Q.How would ending affirmative action improve the university’s ability to provide education?
A.The real evil of affirmative action is that it encourages people to think primarily about themselves and their group. It has become a blight for minority groups. They are encouraged to think of themselves as minorities first, not a part of a community striving for understanding. It is the general social changes that came along with affirmative action that have fostered this kind of thing.
The limit of this, I guess, is a Balkanization in which different interest groups compete by any means necessary, a kind of academic Northern Ireland. It would basically be the end of the university as a place for the disinterested pursuit of truth.
