LiberalArtsOnline Volume 6, Number 3
March 2006
At liberal arts colleges, we try to achieve a rich diversity on our campuses. As we work to promote the cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity of our institutions, it is important to keep in mind other forms of diversity that will serve liberal arts education. In this month's essay, Richard Gunderman, associate professor at Indiana University, discusses the role diversity plays in our institutions and our lives, and suggests that intellectual diversity is a key component. He explores ways to bring a stimulating mix of multiple perspectives, spirited dialogue, and active questioning into our classrooms.
--Kathleen S. Wise, Editor
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The Quest for Diversity
by Richard Gunderman
Associate Professor
Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy
Indiana University
In contemporary academic circles, diversity is a contentious topic. On the one hand, proponents of affirmative action in higher education admissions argue that sexual, racial, and ethnic preferences are necessary to remedy past injustices and achieve a more balanced and representative student body. Opponents counter that merit is the only just basis for selecting one candidate over another, claiming that any system of preferences only perpetuates discrimination. The debate extends beyond admissions to athletic programs, faculty hiring and promotion policies, and even decisions about how to invest endowment funds.
What is the proper role of diversity in our colleges and universities? Legislatures and courts have issued mandates, but we need to reflect on this question for ourselves. Before doing so, we should ponder some fundamental questions. What is diversity? What happens to an organization or a community when diversity is lacking, and what does diversity offer in the way of benefits? If diversity is worth pursuing, what should we do to promote it in our classrooms and on our campuses?
We can distinguish between at least two dimensions of diversity. Its fixed dimension is comprised of attributes over which we have no control, such as our age, sex, skin color, and innate abilities. The open dimension is made up of elements that are at least partly subject to choice, including educational background, marital status, religious beliefs, and work experience. As we increase the diversity of a system, we move from simplicity to complexity, from homogeneity to heterogeneity, and from the monotonous to the polyphonic.
What happens to an organization or a community when diversity is lacking? Ignorance and complacency rank among the most important barriers to discovery and innovation. As Socrates repeatedly argued, the last people to embark on a search for understanding are those who believe they already know everything. He regarded the presumption of omniscience as the worst form of ignorance.
Such intellectual blinders may be self-imposed or externally imposed. When they are self-imposed, we take our narrow horizons for granted, believing that things could not be otherwise. We suppose that ours is the only valid point of view and regard talking with others as a waste of time. When the blinders are externally imposed, they represent a form of totalitarianism. This is the sort of thought control, terrifyingly envisioned by C. S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man and George Orwell in 1984, which threatens the death of conscience. When forbidden to think differently, we never reexamine our assumptions or explain ourselves, and our moral growth and development are arrested.
Consider the impact of diversity in the history of human cultures. The genius of the ancient Athenians sprang in part from their sea-faring economy, which put them in constant contact with other peoples who worshipped and acted differently. At the opening of Plato’s Republic, Socrates is just returning from the Piraeus, the Athenian port and site of outlandish religious festivals. It is this contact with other cultures that provokes his penetrating inquiry into the nature of piety and justice. Indeed, the moral bounty of diversity can be immense. Only when we realize that our way of thinking and doing is not the sole option do we examine our own way of life and gain true insight into others.
During the Western medieval era, China represented perhaps the most advanced civilization in the world. But then it turned inward, isolating itself from contact with other cultures and becoming increasingly ossified. Totalitarian regimes such as the former Soviet Union were doomed not only by their dilapidated economic systems, but also by their success at suppressing diversity of thought and, with it, innovation.
In the world of biology, diversity of species is a vital ingredient in a recipe for a robust and resilient habitat. Rich variety is a sign of a thriving ecosystem, while ailing environments are characterized by relative uniformity. Genetically speaking, inbreeding fosters biological brittleness, while diverse systems are much better equipped to adapt and rebound from stresses.
Human communities, too, are enriched by diversity. Groups composed of a diverse membership enjoy a competitive advantage over homogeneous ones, because they bring more points of view to the table. The very activity of working together, recognizing and appreciating the distinctive contributions of different perspectives, helps build a sense of community. It encourages respect and mutual understanding.
Former US President Jimmy Carter once suggested that the most appropriate image of our nation is not a melting pot out of which we pour a single alloy, but a rich mosaic made up of many diverse elements, each of which remains true to itself. So long as the differences between us do not incite strife, our communities are not weakened. On the contrary, those differences comprise one of our greatest sources of strength.
True, conventional aspects of diversity such as race and gender are very important at colleges and universities. Yet we must not ignore another type of diversity that often tends to get overlooked—intellectual diversity. We need to continue to promote equality of opportunity in the fixed dimensions of diversity, but we must also attend to its open, voluntary aspects, including diversity among the disciplines. We need to seek not mere tolerance or peaceful coexistence, but rich dialogue. Communication and the sharing of knowledge are key.
What are our colleagues in other disciplines working on? What are our students learning in their classrooms and laboratories? How can we bring into conversation the natural sciences and the humanities, our reading of Darwin and Dostoyevsky? What light do the Bible, The Iliad, the Koran, the I Ching, and the Bhagavad Gita shed on humanity’s place in the universe?
If we want our students to realize their full potential, it is vital that we nurture their ability to look at questions from multiple points of view. Homogeneity pacifies our curiosity and puts us to sleep, while diversity prods us, stretches us, and invites us to reexamine and reformulate what matters most to us. We need to welcome not only dull harmony but also dynamic tension. If our interactions do not from time to time make us uneasy, then we are probably not trying hard enough.
A relish for spirited dialogue is crucial. Instead of rewarding students for merely memorizing answers, we need to encourage them to explore questions. Our mission is to cultivate the discovery that questions can be posed in multiple ways. The best students should set their sights not on imitating the faculty but on challenging and surpassing us.
Recombination and mutation are the engines of intellectual creativity. Hence, our classrooms should have porous walls. We need to foster an intercourse of diverse perspectives between students, faculty members, courses, and disciplines. If we understand diversity deeply, we can uncover many opportunities to combine and recombine ideas and life experiences and promote new forms of hybrid vigor.
What practical steps can we take to promote intellectual diversity? There are numerous options, the appropriateness of which will vary from institution to institution. Examples include encouraging faculty members to team teach interdisciplinary courses or to teach introductory courses outside their disciplines, recruiting faculty with interdisciplinary scholarly interests, enabling students to choose or even create interdisciplinary majors and minors, developing course assignments that challenge students to integrate learning from two or more disciplines, and holding regular interdisciplinary colloquia featuring outside speakers.
A campus composed of castles and fiefdoms is not an intellectually fertile environment. We cannot achieve true diversity merely by arranging different disciplines or intellectual points of view side by side. To achieve genuine diversity, different perspectives need to be engaged with one another in meaningful dialogue.
Castles and fiefdoms are not only less interesting, they are also less secure. We should regard the boundaries between us not as invisible fences that we dare not transgress, but as frontiers that beckon us to mutual exploration. It is not by isolating but by interweaving ourselves that each of us becomes a truly distinctive yet integral thread in the tapestry of higher learning.
For liberal arts institutions, intellectual diversity is not an option but a necessity. One of the distinguishing features of a liberal education is its multidisciplinary nature. The best liberal arts curricula immerse students in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and steer them away from premature and excessive specialization. Students learn the benefits of looking at life’s problems and opportunities from multiple perspectives, and develop a broad intellectual foundation on which to build their lives.
To be liberally educated is to be free. A liberal education is one that prepares students to make their own informed judgments, and to choose freely for themselves. They are no longer slaves to the past, simply parroting what they have been told, but can now truly think and speak for themselves. Moreover, their deepened understanding and compassion prepare them to give of themselves for the benefit of others, the excellence of character we call liberality.
Without diversity, it is impossible to achieve the aims of liberal education. These include nurturing intellectual and moral discernment, helping students situate their lives in the context of a wider world, and preparing them to lead responsible lives as human beings and citizens. Such capacities can only develop in a diverse environment. No silo or even array of silos will ever suffice. Only by fostering such diversity will the education we offer be truly liberal.
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