By: Trevor Drummond
February 24th, 2010

Diversity is a word with dichotomous meaning, based on the individuals engaged. In the specter of life, as it should be – that is, true to meaning, diversity refers to the inclusion and accepting of difference, be it ideological, physical, sexual, racial, religious or otherwise. I truly do not believe that Lehigh harbors many, if any students who would oppose this point of view; those who grew up in circumstances much like mine have not been lacquered with a veneer of intrinsic hate – we do not relegate individuals to inferior positions based solely on any of the stated criteria above.

Sadly, in the academic landscape – a sea, awash with hard-line “social justice” mavericks, burned-out activists and agenda-driven administrators engaged in a perpetual pissing contest against the elite Ivy 7, diversity has taken on a very different meaning. In my four years working for The Patriot, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and engaging a diverse (in the former sense of the word) group of individuals: administrators, students, and faculty – with questions pertaining to their motives, ways and means. What I’ve uncovered has tainted the stated cases that key people will make to you in the coming days. As Lehigh’s premiere state-run media outlet, The Brown & White will report in a chipper piece cobbled together by a sophomore writer in the coming months, Lehigh will very likely hire a Chief Diversity Officer, and leverage the dichotomous nature of the word to guilt those who raise opposition.

My opposition to the very nature of a CDO was forged in the bowels of Lehigh’s administrative organization chart – the findings of which I will present shortly. However, a good deal of tangent information came to light in my fact-finding, which has acted to galvanize the core thesis of this text. Whatever your position may be on a CDO, I believe that any high-dollar change to Lehigh (be it a person, building, or other noun) deserves scrutiny. College costs have placed the yearly average burden of a Lehigh education at $50,050, and I believe that students should make themselves aware of where every penny of that pot goes. For many students, myself included, a Lehigh education is a privilege, and it would be foolish for any enterprise to squander the hard-earned dollar of any student without understanding the full picture. The case for a CDO has been summarily rammed down our throats through Alice’s emails and subsequent media coverage of alleged “hateful incidents” and “bias-related crimes” – this is the rest of that story.

A Recent Fad

Having read through Lehigh’s Vice President for Equity & Community (VPEC) Benchmarking Report, the interested student will learn that Lehigh is penis-measuring against other schools to assess the so-called “need” for what has been referred to colloquially as a Chief Diversity Officer. The report essentially boils down to three key arguments: (1), other colleges are doing it, (2) Lehigh is an isolate among elite universities for our lack of a CDO, and (3) Lehigh should basically capitulate and cop Tufts University’s plan, at an approximate cost of $1-2MM, so that we can play, too. Yes – the report really is that simple, and I encourage all those reading to read the full report online, as well, and see for themselves.

On December 1st, a group of cowardly individuals calling themselves “concerned students” emailed a vintage club officers’ distribution list noting that the university still has not capitulated with their request (set forth at the infamous CEC Town Halls last year) for a CDO, who is “…someone who can act as a liaison between students and the president’s cabinet and can effectively dedicate their time to the betterment of the University.” Yes – that’s the entire job description. Never mind the fact that Lehigh presently has 107 key contact people in the event of a “bias-related incident,” with more than 40 individuals under “Student Affairs” with the title of “administrator,” “coordinator” or “leader” – all who liaison with students on a daily basis. Of those, 8 are core positions dedicated to diversity.

Reviewing the VPEC report, Lehigh plans on spending between $250,000 and $450,000 on this position for salary alone.

Unless we’re planning to sack a considerable amount of the existing special interest diversity defense positions, I cannot see from a business standpoint what one more administrator will do to improve student/administrative liaison, which the VPEC report directly demonstrates a preexisting competency by its very existence.

Additionally, while researching the institutions that have adopted some flavor of a CDO, it is apparent through press release dates that more than 50% have added their CDO position within the past four years alone.

The argument has been made that Lehigh must implement this position in order to stay competitive within the academic landscape; I believe we could do just as well by using that same pool of money for additional scholarships and faculty reinvestment.

Not So Diverse

One of the secret ironies about the CDO position concerns, ironically enough, diversity. Of the universities against which Lehigh has chosen to benchmark, more than 67% of CDOs are black. 16.5% are Hispanic,
the remainder being white or Asian. Lehigh has often been cited for a supposed lack of diversity in the context of ethnicity, with 74% of students being “white, non-Hispanic”; if this constitutes a lack of ethnic diversity, than America’s top colleges have obviously failed in the vetting of CDO candidates.

“Academic Culture”

If one factor pervades truth and openness from entering the discussion about diversity and the present state of academic culture, it is academic culture itself. In academia, there is no award for bringing in the most international students, and few are concerned about political and socio-economic diversity in the thought patterns of their students. Based on the nature of the dialogue, the characterization of the CDOs studied for this article (and the departments from which they came), in addition to an interview I held with Lehigh’s own former Joint Multicultural Program head, it would seem that the gold standard for diversity at college is really the black standard.

There exists an overt fixation on black – in particular, African-American students. This is a fact, reinforced by the considerable conscription of CDOs from Africana Studies departments, the makeup of CDOs profiled for Lehigh’s VPEC report, and the fact that almost all of Lehigh’s
“concerned students,” in addition to the loudest of the diversity noisemakers and mouthpieces on campus are African-American. Not African nationals, not Caribbean refugees – African-Americans. They’re like Pokémon cards for admissions – you’ve gotta catch ‘em all.

In the reading circles of higher-ed, where publications like The Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed prevail, a landmark 2006 article authored by U-Virgina’s own CDO, Damon Williams sheds some light onto just how vague this position really is. Among the key tenets listed for a good CDO, #7: Understanding the Culture of Higher Education is listed. Never mind the fact that I, in addition to most Lehigh students could fill the shoes of a CDO based on Mr. Williams’ description (“Team-building” and “charisma”? Please…); the CDO is a loaded weapon for the American university to forward its bureaucratically dominated agenda of thought-control through administrative expansion (or bloat, as the case may be), and the splintering of students through special interest defense groups.

Academic culture likes code-words – women’s studies is a crude extension of NARAL, LGBTQIA services is destined to put someone of the wrong gender into my bathroom, “social justice” means equity on an East Germany shades-of-gray level, and Africana Studies really only graduates people who will go on to teach Africana Studies and eventually get promoted to Chief Diversity Officer. It’s a vicious cycle.

Recently, an insider at Kutztown University who did not wish to be named gave me an inside look at higher education wielding the newly minted tool of CDO. “You can’t do anything without passing it through the Equity chair,” said my source. “No question may be asked, no candidate may be considered for a job until the Equity chair gets its review.” Looking at higher education’s track record of incoherent ideological suppression, with universities concocting free speech gazebos, freshman first-year student indoctrination with invasive programs about sexual identity and environmentalism, and asinine questions requesting one’s definition of equity and community (an easy opportunity to profile candidates’ ideological characteristics), it is clear that CDOs will likely have extensive reach within an organization, be it a university or place of business.

Conclusion

If one singular fact should strike you, dear reader, with any sense of urgency, it should be the lack of definition that has accompanied Lehigh’s push for a CDO. Hiring a CDO, at the very least, is a significant financial commitment for a school with an extensive preexisting diversity structure of administrators and their staffs. Coupling this with the nature of academia, and its radically skewed vision of diversity and what it means, (deifying degenerate culture and offering it as a class, while using terms like “bias related incident” to silence critics), the magnitude of what’s at stake should be clear.

Lehigh should absolutely be committed to diversity – authentic diversity. Students, be it a pro-life female, or underprivileged African-American male should feel comfortable and welcome on Lehigh’s campus. Good learning, like good business, requires honest criticism and having one’s ideas challenged – something that may be novel or uncomfortable to students and professors. However, adding a nanny position with far-reaching power to silence some while enabling others, particularly with historical precedent in mind, is a grave mistake.