As regular readers (poor souls!) know all too well, I have been ranting of late about how “diversity” has come to mean anything but. Maybe it’s starting to get to me. Maybe I need to take a break, or apply a brake, or something, because I’m finding it increasingly difficult to poke fun at the current crop of “diversity” programs. Not, I hasten to add, because they don’t deserve it, but because so many of these programs already seem to be hilarious, if unwitting, parodies of themselves.
Take the “Passport” program at the University of Virginia. (No, you take it. Also see, if you’re up to it, Passport Program Conversations and a sample of Passport experiences.)
A Cavalier Daily article today made the mistake, I think, of taking Passport seriously.
Last night marked the third in a series of six information sessions for the University’s fledgling Passport Program, a joint initiative of students, faculty and administrators designed to encourage student participation in diverse programming and events….
“The program gives people the opportunity to attend events that they would normally not go to and to get a better sense of the diversity within our community,” Embrace Diversity President Barrie Leigh Moorman said.
Passport, of course, does not at all provide “diverse programming.” It attempts to provide programs about, or exemplifying, “diversity.” This distinction is rapidly becoming lost.
Nor has it been explained why students would go to these programs, unless they are later required, since they are the sort of events “that they would not normally go to.” One answer is … they don’t.
During its inaugural year, the program drew about 100 interested participants, a number that program coordinators said they hope to increase this year through organizational and publicity changes.
“Close to 100 people expressed interest in joining, probably about 50 or so completed some parts of the program and something like a dozen completed it entirely,” said former Asst. Dean of Students Pablo Davis, who was involved in the program’s launching. “We felt it was a great start, because even one passport experience could change people for the better.”
What exactly are these events, and how do they work?
The “border crossing” events encourage participants to engage in a broad range of cultural, academic or social programs that they would normally not attend. Events range from panel discussions to cultural presentations, though participants are ultimately allowed to decide for themselves.
“We want students to self-select what a border crossing event would be for them specifically,” Rodriguez said. [“Rodriguez” was not previously identified in the article. Perhaps he was across the border when his name was called.] “We don’t define what diversity means or what a cultural event is — it’s important for students to explore these things.”
In addition to the four “border crossing” events, participants must attend two “passport conversation” sessions during which they share their experiences with other participants. Involved students must also write two responses for the program’s Web site.
Query: If a black student attends a “passport conversation” about black concerns, does that count as a “border crossing”? Oh never mind.
Why would busy students attend these events? Good question. Perhaps concerned about this, the sponsors have initiated at least one good reason: bribery Passport Rewards.
Let’s hope these passports expire soon.
UPDATE – The more I think about a major university suggesting, even metaphorically, that domestic racial and ethnic groups are like separate countries, walled off from each other with borders that it is necessary to bribe students to cross, the more obnoxious it seems.
But as long as we’ve been forced to think in these terms, it may be worth noting — at least, it has been noted — that the nation-state analogy may not be altogether alien to campus life these days. This from an article in the American Enterprise Institute magazine of September 2002:
Today’s colleges and universities are not, to use the current
buzzword, “diverse” places. Quite the opposite: They are virtual
one-party states, ideological monopolies, badly unbalanced ecosystems.
They are utterly flightless birds with only one wing to flap. They do
not, when it comes to political and cultural ideas, look like America.
This is the article that listed the lopsided partisan affiliations of professors at a dozen or so leading universities.
If it really becomes necessary for students to get their diversity passports stamped, I might consider suggesting that they be encouraged to take a class from a professor known to have ideological leanings they do not share. This would work easily for conservative or libertarian students, but I’m afraid the liberals and lefties wouldn’t have enough (if any) choices. Perhaps university immigration officers administrators could issue temporary work permits for foreign “guest worker” conservative professors to meet the seasonal demands.
Hey look, here’s a diversified investment portfolio:
MG2, ROFL.
You know, I’m interested in other cultures and things, and what I typically do is read about them at the library, or pay attention to the people around me. I don’t need no stinking Passport, and neither does anyone else who is truly interested in actual diversity.
A group of students in my Calculus class have formed a casual study group. We meet most days an hour before class and people show up as they can or wish to. Neither the instructor nor the university have anything to do with it. Our core ‘founding group’ consists of: me (non-traditional: old) two disabled peeps, one male, one female, one 23 yr old Serbian immigrant, one degreed Black woman, one Hipanic woman, a curmudgeon, and a painfully shy geek. We have as many radically different political viewpoints as numerically possible. This just happened naturally. We had a common interest/goal and things just went from there. We have a blast together. This is the only kind ‘diversity’ that works. Leave people alone, for gosh sakes!