<p>Thank you, fretfulmother, for your thoughtful, eloquent post.<br>
We all need to try harder. To so many, even the well-intended, diversity is thought to be reachable simply through practicing passive tolerance. Active efforts and attitudes focused on acceptance as a key ingredient in a lively and dynamic world are not on everyone’s radar. The passive approach seems to result in a sort of inoffensive detente provided the noise level does not reach the “tipping point” to which you refer. As you note in your post, at that tipping point the entrenched majority start feeling uncomfortable as the assumed universality of their beliefs is disproven and those beliefs themselves become the subject of reflection and probing questions, maybe for the first time.<br>
On another thread, a parent (whose son is considering a transfer from Wash U) is concerned that Wash U may not be truly diverse. The source of this concern is not that the son is not being taught to appreciate minority cultures at WUSTL, nor is it that he is a minority student feeling excluded there. No, the parent’s concern derives from the observation that there is a relatively small practicing Christian population on campus compared to the 75%+ Christian majority in the U.S. and that as a result “religious tolerance is also narrow”. If I interpret that correctly, the parent is saying that Wash U is so diverse, her son’s majority beliefs are being marginalized. To many, diversity is a good thing, up to a point.
We can do so much better. If diversity, as Malcolm Forbes states, “is the art of thinking independently together,” mere tolerance will never be enough. </p>
<p>:) Thank you, @foursite!</p>