Ethnic pluralism is not ideal

Intellectual diversity should outweigh minority quotas in enrollment decisions

By GREG PIPER, SPU alumnus

Published: November 7, 2001

SPU is a school with surprising diversity, defying its stereotype among students. SPU is a school with little diversity, a problem that needs to be remedied by the campus powers-that-be.

Which is it? I found myself musing over two impeccably timed opinion pieces in The Falcon last week that arrived at opposite conclusions. Rebecca Garrett, a self-proclaimed conservative Republican anti-feminist, marveled at the nascent diversity of SPU in ideology, theology and political affiliation. Where liberal environmentalist vegetarians (read: Kathleen Braden) live in harmony with creationist, "obey your husband and spank your brats" proselytes (Ms. Garrett). ASSP Executive Vice President Gavin Hesse, hailing from the rich white/poor Hispanic paradise of Leavenworth, criticized the campus culture for making the school unattractive to ethnic minorities and treating the few who attend here with awkwardness.

They're both right to varying degrees. Nowhere have I seen a university mix Christianity and socialism as SPU does, while maintaining traditional populations in the business and engineering departments, to name a couple. Yet even with the school's liberal enlightenment and ecumenism, SPU is still whiter than a Barry Manilow record.

Is the unfettered pursuit of diversity such a good thing?

I would argue that the answer is a qualified "yes" if the pursuit is for intellectual diversity, a crucial tenet of Western civilization and an obstacle to tyranny in a democratic society. Be very careful, though, in how far you push ethnic and cultural pluralism.

For one thing, it smacks of Old World aristocratic views of "inferior" peoples. My Mexican friend, whose true ethnicity probably goes unnoticed on campus, complained to me that Gavin's approach to ethnic understanding is itself racist. Minorities are treated like "charity cases" who need the white man's help and sympathy to attain any success or feeling of worth. Vices are defended in one group (SPU's Asian smokers) while attacked in another (ethnic German beer drinkers). Does picking out someone to sit with in Gwinn based on his or her skin color, as Gavin exhorted one do, not sound racist to you?

More fundamentally, focus on ethnicity or skin color detracts from much more relevant sources of diversity. Katuria Smith was born poor to a single, teenage mother and held a variety of unusual occupations. She worked full time on a full college load, but, according to the Center for Individual Rights, was denied acceptance to the UW law school while black students with lower marks were accepted en masse. This isn't to condemn black students, but rather to condemn a narrow view of diversity. I'm sure SPU abounds with white people as well as black, Hispanic and Asian people with fascinating stories to tell and views out of the mainstream.

Then there is the evidence that ethnic diversity has no bearing on academic performance. A study this year by the National Association of Scholars found that "racial diversity in a student body does not in itself carry educational benefits." This negates the admitted basis for aggressive preference programs at schools nationwide. Examine the study for yourself here:

http://www.nas.org/reports.html.

Of course, it would be wonderful to see more black, Asian and Arab students, as well as students of other ethnicities, attend SPU--they have unique contributions to make and could inform the enlightened whites that they can speak for themselves. SPU is doing good work here with more outreach in previously ignored areas by offering need-based financial aid, and making connections to community organizations with large minority populations. These efforts simply make up for previously overlooking certain groups by treating them like other applicants. But how far will we go to create an ethnically diverse student and faculty body?

The trend among schools is to weaken admission standards or eliminate testing measurements hoping to increase their non-white (and non-Asian) populations. Recent appeals and court decisions against universities in Michigan, Georgia, Texas and others, though, have spelled doom for the constitutionality of most preference systems. Depressingly, SPU's admission requirements are practically worthless anyway, as a former multi-cultural senator lamented to me. This school can't even fill its quotas for Free Methodist students and faculty; how can it expect to attract uninterested minority students?

Try challenging them. Improving SPU's academic reputation would likely do more to attract different groups of students not interested by SPU's bland political correctness than would dipping standards into community college territory. Kirkland writer Arthur Hu noted that throughout the state and nationwide, Asian students perform the best of any ethnic group regardless of income level or neighborhood. Non-public education can also spur excellence: Seattle's private Zion school and its largely black student body have above average test scores. Maybe we could attract more high-performing minorities in all groups by engaging their minds rather than appealing to their supposed victimhood.

Until that anticipated day comes, I hope we don't forget that differences--good differences--are more than skin deep or group-based. That's something to celebrate.

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