The OrgSync Blog

DIVERSITY: A CONVERSATION

Welcome to the beginning of Diversity: A Conversation, dedicated to this subject of profound importance to our nation and certainly to higher education.  I hope this can become the site of a calm, civil, contemplative conversation about diversity, an exploration of its complexities and ambiguities, and an examination of its real-world consequences, challenges, and opportunities.

I’ll pose ideas and issues.

• You’ll respond and raise other issues.
• I’ll respond to your responses.
• We’ll talk, not shout.

Our conversation will take us in many directions.  We shall:

• explore diversity, the idea.
• consider its real-world applications.
• examine controversial issues and dilemmas.
• express alternative views while seeking common ground.
• and, of course, discuss the intersection of diversity with higher education, particularly student affairs.

But why now?  And why a conversation?  Let’s start with the first question.  Why?  Quite simply, because OrgSync asked me to write this column.

This past November I gave the closing keynote address at the western regional conference of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.  In attendance was an OrgSync representative, who involved me in conversations with other OrgSync members.  This led to an invitation to write a regular diversity column for the OrgSync blog.

The offer came at a serendipitous moment.  I had just finished the manuscript of my autobiography and had begun working on a book on diversity.  The book will bring together ideas based on my four decades of dealing with diversity issues — as a history professor at the University of California, Riverside and, since early retirement in 1994, as an independent diversity lecturer, writer, consultant, workshop presenter, and futurist.

In working with more than 1,000 institutions and organizations, I’ve grappled with the myriad diversity-related complications that arise:

• when perspectives clash.
• when theory collides with practice.
• when bigotry erupts and discrimination persists.
• when attempts at solving problems generate perplexing unintended consequences.
• when history invades contemporary life.
• when the future becomes now.

Why do I want this to be a conversation?  Because we need one.

Not a debate, not an irate exchange, not a rant, not a stream of hyperbolic accusations and criticisms, not obdurate defensiveness, not an erecting of ideological ramparts.  We’ve had plenty of that.  Rather a simple conversation, honestly and seriously addressing tough issues and perplexing dilemmas with civility and without vitriol.

The kind of conversation I’ve been having around the country at colleges, universities, school districts, independent schools, government agencies, businesses, national organizations, religious institutions, and community groups.  The kind of conversation I’ve been having each summer during my two decades of teaching about diversity for the Harvard Institute for Higher Education’s Management and Leadership in Education (MLE) and Management Development Program (MDP).

I envision a conversation that:

• seeks thoughtful approaches to old challenges and contemplative responses to emerging issues.
• leads to greater intergroup understanding and deeper insight into culture, institutions, social structures, and societal practices.
• moves us toward common ground while recognizing that differing positions will remain.
• recognizes similarities while also enabling us to live more constructively with differences.
• considers ways to work toward both excellence and equity.
• enables us to create a more constructive and less strident engagement with diversity.
• helps us become more reflective in our own lives, more capable in our careers, and more effective on our own campuses.

We can all benefit from such a conversation.  I hope you’ll join me in making that conversation a reality.

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