In his examination of modern day collegiate education, Richard Redding, a dean and professor at Chapman University School of Law, noticed that the present emphasis on diversity has had an unforeseen impact on higher education today.

In his article, “It’s Diverse if You’re Liberal,” published in the Los Angeles Times in late October, he stated that, “rather than being a marketplace of political ideas, intellectual diversity is what schools value least. Instead, it is only diversity of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation — all of which are very desirable, to be sure — that rules the day in higher education.” This elevation of diversity without its accompanying intellectual diversity has some very serious repercussions on today’s educational system.

Race not the only kind of diversity needed

Redding argued that while colleges have a great forced diversity — affirmative action — they lack diversity, rather, in freedom of political, religious, and other ideals in staff, students, and administration. I would argue further that in universities’ pursuits to be diverse and open minded they are closing themselves off from the very root of diversity — freedom of individual thought.

Redding also points to a 2009 study by professors Matthew Woessner and April Kelly-Woessner when he states, “Conservatives and libertarians are becoming increasingly rare in academia, outnumbered by liberals by three to one even in fields known to be relatively conservative, such as economics; by more than five to one in moderate fields such as political science; and by 20 to one or more in many fields, such as sociology and anthropology. Studies of professors' party affiliations and self-reported political views show that, on average, liberal professors outnumber conservatives and libertarians by about eight to one, with the imbalance being much greater at elite institutions.”

Conservative students lack educational role models, and are often more distant from their professors, which, in turn, leads to fewer opportunities to research with these professors. Their liberal diversity is limiting the “equal rights” of conservative students.

Diversity of belief should be encouraged

They could cultivate people of every race, gender, and nationality and yet if they all believed the same things, they are not diverse. What differentiates people is not our physical appearance or even personal experience, because we are all branded together in human experience and personhood. But where truth is discovered, where true diversity is found, is through our debates, our intellectual discrepancies and our thoughtful disagreements. Only then are we different. Diversity in beliefs is diversity in people. We are what we believe. We live out what we believe, or we don’t really believe what we say we do.

Today, college campuses believe that diversity is found on the external labeling of a person and not their inward belief system, political opinion, and worldview. Can colleges force this sort of diversity on campus? Perhaps not, since as I said, one’s internal person is only known by their outward life and colleges certainly cannot monitor every personal life that applies to them. However, perhaps by creating an environment where education is, as Socrates once said, “the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel,” free thought might be restored. Maybe then true diversity will actually emerge on college campuses.

Picturing a different model

Imagine, students deciding for themselves what they will believe without oppression of being frowned upon if his or her view counters the norm. Imagine administrations realizing the dogmatism of liberal views in academia. Imagine affirmative action counting in differing views and perspectives instead of allowing the bias towards minority groups to continue.

What if college really was a place where ideas could be chased down to logical conclusions, even if those conclusions are a stark contrast to what everyone else believes? What if people actually wanted to pursue truth, challenge each other, and learn profoundly from people who are different from them? Maybe then, only then, would students and teachers of differing opinions come together in higher education. Then, perhaps, diversity would be based on the character and intellect of a person rather than on the title and position of their outward appearance. Colleges want to look diverse. They just don’t actually want to be diverse.