Political
Correctness: The Truth About Diversity
and Tolerance in Higher Education
by Debra Humphreys, AAC&U,
for the Ford Foundation Campus Diversity
Initiative
What is "Political Correctness?"
The term "political correctness" was
originally a "self-mocking" term used
by liberals and leftists to criticize
extremist or intolerant tendencies within
their own political groups. It eventually
was appropriated by conservative activists
seeking to attack and focus negative
attention on a variety of higher education
reforms.
Using the term "political correctness,"
critics have attacked an array of reforms
in higher education designed to increase
tolerance for diversity on campus, increase
access to higher education among previously
excluded groups of students, and transform
college curricula to better account
for the diversity of American history,
culture and society.
Critics allege a "liberal conspiracy"
to stifle academic freedom and subvert
standards. They claim that conservative
faculty members and students are being
persecuted for their beliefs on college
campuses. They allege that efforts to
diversify the campus and improve the
accuracy of what is being taught are
really part of a "conspiracy" to fracture
the country and undermine basic American
and Western values. Finally, they allege
that efforts to address diversity and
intolerance result in more rather than
less tension on college campuses. These
attacks do not reflect the reality of
life on college campuses today.
Intolerance on Campus: Who
is Really Being Victimized?
Contrary to claims that white male students
tend to be unfairly attacked solely
because of their gender, race, or political
views, white women and students of color
are much more frequently the victims
of discrimination and sometimes violent
acts of intolerance. Bigotry on college
campuses is still commonplace.
- A 1991 survey by the American Council
on Education found that "36 percent
of all institutions „ and 74 percent
of the research institutions „ reported
incidents of intolerance involving
race, gender, or sexual orientation."1
- According to the Anti-Defamation
League, anti-Semitic incidents on
college campuses have risen sharply
in recent years, from 54 in 1988 to
114 in 1992.2
There is also considerable evidence
to suggest that women and students of
color are treated unfairly not only
by peers, but also within many college
classrooms. Ruth Sidel's recent book,
Battling Bias: The Struggle for Identity
and Community on College Campuses,
documents scores of cases of bias against
white women and students of color on
campuses across the country. In summarizing
their impact on student learning and
academic success, she asks, "How do
you cope psychologically with being
called a 'nigger bitch' your first day
at college, with repeated anti-Asian
slurs, with the assumption that your
academic ability is inferior simply
because your skin, hair, and eyes are
of a darker hue, or with being treated
with suspicion as a potentially dangerous
black man on your own college campus?
How can students avoid internalizing
these negative messages and develop
or preserve their sense of self-worth?"3
Women's educational opportunities also
are affected by sexual harassment on
college campuses, which evidence suggests
is pervasive.
- "A study of women seniors at Berkeley
found that 29.7 percent had experienced
some kind of sexual harassment from
male instructors during college .
. . A 1983 study at Harvard discovered
that harassment was pervasive: 34
percent of female undergraduates,
41 percent of female graduate students,
and 49 percent of female untenured
faculty reported being harassed. A
1987 study of 356 female graduate
students found that 60 percent had
experienced sexual harassment, and
nine percent reported pressure to
date or have sex with a faculty member."4
A few campuses have attempted to combat
these increasingly frequent incidents
of harassment by revising or creating
new codes of conduct for students. However,
contrary to some high-profile critiques,
there is no evidence of a censorship
crisis on campus.
- "A 1992 Chronicle of Higher Education
investigation found that 'campus codes
that ban hate speech are rarely used
to penalize students.' Administrators
reported that 'few students have used
the codes to lodge complaints against
others,' and punishments, when meted
out, are rarely harsh."5
- "A 1994 study of speech codes at
America's 20 largest public universities
found that only half have policies
of any kind regulating 'hostile or
harassing speech or conduct,' and
even these are rarely enforced. The
researchers concluded that 'despite
increasing "hate speech" incidents,
the policies go relatively unused.'"6
What is Really Being Taught
and is Anyone Being Silenced?
While critics often claim that a new,
more narrow "orthodoxy" is being imposed
on students, in fact, reform efforts
have opened the curriculum to
perspectives and intellectual traditions
that had been ignored in the past. They
are creating more respectful dialogue
in college classrooms. These efforts
do not result in a silencing of voices,
but instead have triggered an explosion
of new scholarship and newly energized
debate in college classrooms.
In the past, the voices of white women
and people of color were, in fact, largely
absent from the college curriculum.
Students today are being exposed to
a much richer and more intellectually
comprehensive education based on scholarly
research that has uncovered and interpreted
texts by white women and people of color,
and has explored the historical and
cultural experiences of a wide variety
of groups throughout history.
This new scholarship has been accompanied
by a newly invigorated commitment to
classroom teaching designed to provide
students with skills they will need
in today's diverse and increasingly
interconnected global society. New college
courses, like one at the University
of Michigan on "Intergroup Relations,
Conflict and Community," are teaching
students valuable skills in intercultural
communication, conflict resolution and
collaborative problem solving. Rather
than having an unexamined ideology imposed
on them, as some critics contend, students
are being encouraged to critically analyze
texts and social and political problems.
New service learning programs across
the country are fostering a sense of
civic commitment among students as they
work to solve problems in diverse communities.
The new curricular options are not
pushing traditional canonical texts
out of college classrooms. Faculty are
teaching traditional texts within a
fuller historical context. They are
providing students with a deeper understanding
of our nation's and the world's history
and cultures.
- Daniel Gordon, a professor who
taught in the frequently-attacked
"Cultures, Ideas, and Values" general
education program at Stanford University,
reports, "'I was not given a political
agenda . . . I often formulated arguments
in favor of absolute monarchy, aristocracy,
male-dominance, and slavery.' Gordon
also notes that 'the students themselves
do not feel that they are being pressured
to adopt a "correct" ideology.' Instead,
the students describe the course favorably
in their evaluations, writing that
'homogenous thought is not what this
class is all about. We were expected
to challenge ourselves and others.'"7
Further, students who are given the
opportunity to learn about and discuss
topics like racial prejudice and anti-Semitism
in the controlled environment of a college
classroom report that it becomes easier
for them to discuss these kinds of issues
in mixed student groups outside the
classroom.
- Students taking a required course
at SUNY-Buffalo, "American Pluralism
and The Search for Equality," consistently
report that the course allows them
to consider issues they have little
experience discussing in public settings.
In the midst of a heated campus debate
in which race figured prominently,
it was students from this course who
were most informed about the issues.
- Students taking a required course
at Olivet College in Michigan, "Self
and Community," also report that studying
and engaging in classroom dialogue
about sensitive issues like racial
discrimination has made it easier
to bridge racial lines in social settings
on campus. One white student quoted
in a report on curricular changes
at Olivet "believed that the course
had helped her develop deeper relationships
with students of color."8
An African American student leader
was quoted in the Detroit Free
Press describing what she gained
from this new course and other diversity
programs at Olivet: "I had some white
students who had never experienced
prejudice, who came to me in my dorm
and said, 'Can you explain this to
us?' and I had no problem explaining
it."9
These types of courses are increasing
dialogue and decreasing the natural
tendency of students to avoid intercultural
contact. Courses that deal directly
with bias and discrimination may make
some students uncomfortable at the time,
but they are preparing students to function
effectively in a diverse society. There
is far more open debate on college campuses
about important social issues than ever
before.
Are Faculty Members Silenced
By "Political Correctness?"
Reports that faculty members feel silenced
by some "political correctness" campaigns
on college campuses also have been greatly
exaggerated.
- "A survey of 210 faculty by Lionel
Lewis and Philip Altbach found that
'political correctness had relatively
little salience among our respondents.'
More than two-thirds of the professors
felt 'vulnerable and buffeted,' but
the cause was budget cuts, not political
correctness."10 A 1991
survey by the American Council on
Education also concluded that "reports
of widespread efforts to impose politically
correct thinking on college students
and faculty appear to be overblown."11
If anything, academic freedom has become
more protected over the past few decades.
- An American Association of University
Professors (AAUP) investigation "found
that in the 1970s, fifty-five faculty
were involved in civil liberties or
political ideology cases, compared
with only two in the 1980s „ and in
almost every case it was leftist faculty
whose rights were violated . . . the
AAUP has reported virtually no attacks
on the academic freedom of conservatives."12
An examination of the evidence finds
that charges of widespread "political
correctness" are misleading. As John
Wilson states in his recent book:
- Though imperfect, universities
are at the center of intellectual
debate in America . . . American universities
are the freest places on earth, freer
than they have ever been. The main
flaw with American higher education
is not that colleges and universities
are too egalitarian, but that they
remain places of privilege. . . .
Despite all the complaints that the
Western tradition is being discarded,
the curriculum at American colleges
remains dominated by traditional Western
works. Despite all the complaints
about conservatives being censored
by intolerant minorities, the average
female, black, Hispanic, gay, or lesbian
student is far more likely to face
harassment and abuse than the average
white male conservative. Despite all
the complaints about "political correctness,"
the truth is that radical students
and faculty face much more discrimination
and oppression on campus.13
Notes
1. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 29.
2. Sidel, Ruth. Battling Bias:
The Struggle for Identity and Community
on College Campuses. New York:
Penguin, 1994: 87.
3. Sidel, Ruth. Battling Bias:
The Struggle for Identity and Community
on College Campuses. New York:
Penguin, 1994: 126.
4. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 121.
5. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 95.
6. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 95.
7. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 69.
8. Evaluation Report for "American
Commitments: Diversity, Democracy
and Liberal Learning." Washington,
D.C.: AAC&U, 1997.
9. Walsh-Sarnecki, Peggy. "Diversity
Plan Helps Olivet College Bridge Racial
Gap." Detroit Free Press January
20, 1997: 1-2A.
10. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 29.
11. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 30.
12. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 30.
13. Wilson, John K. The Myth of
Political Correctness: The Conservative
Attack on Higher Education. Durham:
Duke UP, 1995: 164.
Additional Resources on "Political
Correctness"
Aufderheide, Patricia, ed. Beyond
PC: Toward a Politics of Understanding.
St. Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1992.
Berman, Paul, ed. Debating PC:
The Controversy over Political Correctness
on College Campuses. Laureleaf,
1995
B³rub³, Michael. Public Access:
Literary Theory and American Cultural
Politics. London: Verso, 1994.
B³rub³, Michael and Cary Nelson,
eds. Higher Education Under Fire:
Politics, Economics, and the Crisis
of the Humanities. London: Routledge,
1995.
National Council for Research on
Women. "To Reclaim a Legacy of Diversity:
Analyzing the 'Political Correctness'
Debates in Higher Education." New
York: National Council for Research
on Women, 1993.
Sidel, Ruth. Battling Bias: The
Struggle for Identity and Community
on College Campuses. New York:
Penguin, 1994.
Wilson, John K. The Myth of Political
Correctness: The Conservative Attack
on Higher Education. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press, 1995.
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