THE DIVERSITY THAT WAS PROMISED: A SONG OF CULTURE AND DIFFERENCE ABSTRACT Diversity in higher education discourse is largely presented as a problem of proportions and a domain for categoric difference. Often, diversity functions as a way to talk about racial inequality without explicitly evoking systems of privilege and oppression. As a consequence, the capacity for diversity to effect institutional change and minimize inequality is severely limited. This paper problematizes as a concept and examines who, exactly, is framed as the “diversity” principle beneficiaries of campus diversity. It looks at the University of California, Riverside in particular, a campus that has received attention for its diverse student population. However, a preliminary examination of UCR’s promotional statistics suggests that black, Latino/a, and Asian students are not adequately represented at the graduate and faculty levels. This paper concludes with a short list of recommendations for UCR. PROBLEMATIZING DIVERSITY In the winter of the 2015, I was granted the opportunity to participate in a quarter-long research seminar as part of a broader two-year project at the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside. The project was titled Intercultural Studies: A “Advancing Seminar Series,” and was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The research seminar in which I participated was called Diversity: Are We There Yet?” and “Beyond while the original funding proposal conceptualized diversity as something that is both expansive and processual, I found myself troubled this notion that diversity is something that we are on a path to get This is for several reasons. First, despite the argument (evident in the “beyond.”
THE DIVERSITY THAT WAS PROMISED: A SONG OF CULTURE AND DIFFERENCE ABSTRACT Diversity in higher education discourse is largely presented as a problem of proportions and a domain for categoric difference. Often, diversity functions as a way to talk about racial inequality without explicitly evoking systems of privilege and oppression. As a consequence, the capacity for diversity to effect institutional change and minimize inequality is severely limited. This paper problematizes “diversity” as a concept and examines who, exactly, is framed as the principle beneficiaries of campus diversity. It looks at the University of California, Riverside in particular, a campus that has received attention for its diverse student population. However, a preliminary examination of UCR’s promotional statistics suggests that black, Latino/a, and Asian students are not adequately represented at the graduate and faculty levels. This paper concludes with a short list of recommendations for UCR. PROBLEMATIZING DIVERSITY In the winter of the 2015, I was granted the opportunity to participate in a quarter-long research seminar as part of a broader two-year project at the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside. The project was titled “Advancing Intercultural Studies: A Seminar Series,” and was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The research seminar in which I participated was called “Beyond Diversity: Are We There Yet?” and while the original funding proposal conceptualized diversity as something that is both expansive and processual, I found myself troubled this notion that diversity is something that we are on a path to get “beyond.” This is for several reasons. First, despite the argument (evident in the
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