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If they truly wanted diversity, they would target diversity of thought. As it is, whether a professor is white, black, Asian, Hispanic, man or woman, they are predominately of one political view.
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<p>Makes for a nice soundbyte. But, can you cite one single example of a professor being asked his or her political party affiliation before being hired?</p>
<p>I think Swarthmore history professor Tim Burke puts the issue in perspective with his "village idiot" comment:</p>
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No one is ever asked, bluntly, in the humanities what their political affiliation is at the time of hiring. The discussion of the politics of a candidate in history or anthropology has never, in my own experience, involved any speculation about political affiliation. If there is a conversation about politics, it is likely to be about much more arcane, disciplinary arguments, about what specialization or methodology a person uses. Ive occasionally heard someone pronounce this or that methodology or form of scholarship reactionary, but thats a highly mobile epithet and can be applied to almost anything, including ideas and forms of practice that are highly, intensely leftist on the general map of American political life. To ask whether someone was a Democrat or even a leftist or liberal (or conservative) in a discussion of hiring would be like confessing that youre the village idiotit would seem a hopelessly unsophisticated way of thinking.
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