Diversity University
Every year when I apply for jobs I come across a couple of religious institutions that require of me to write a statement confirming the
orthodoxy of my beliefs - Christians schools of Christian faith, and state schools of my commitment to "campus diversity." (On what happened to the "wall of separation," I may have to opine some other time.) I was just reminded a few weeks back by one state school that they had not received my all too important diversity statement and asking me to e-mail it to them ASAP. Instead of being cynical and appealing to all of the faddish PC gibberish, I decided to write about how I really felt about the whole diversity thingy. My musings can be found in bellow.
Now it could be that the Physics department really doesn't give a hoot about diversity but they are forced by the higher-ups to request a statement about it. But it could also be that there is a dean or someone else over there with a power of veto on all the hiring decisions. In which case they may hold my statement against me, and it could potentially cost me the job. But if that is the case, then the main points of the statement itself would be proven right.
Statement on Campus Diversity
The core purpose of any institution of higher education is providing an intellectually stimulating environment in which students can develop their intellectual abilities to their full extent. In an increasingly diverse world, filled with a wide range of values and ideals, it is important to adequately equip young men and women with the full scope of intellectual tools to deal with the novel challenges that they may encounter. It is my firm belief that the best way of preparing students for such a world is to expose them to as wide a scope of ideas and opinions as possible. An institution that provides only a limited range of such ideas quickly becomes an echo chamber and a parody of itself. With that in mind I have consistently striven to provide students with alternative viewpoints to those of the rest of the academic community. On most campuses a substantial number of students are of a conservative political persuasion, while that political orientation is frequently rare among the faculty. In my few years as an educator I have encouraged students to be open and honest about their political beliefs and be vocal in expressing their opinions. It is important that students feel that their voices are being heard, and that the faculty are not discriminating against them in any way. Only in a truly intellectually diverse environment are all of the students able to thrive.