Does Diversity Mean Assimilation?

Abstract

This article examines attitudes toward diversity at an academic institution. Research participants indicated their support for various forms of diversity in response to closed-ended questions and then described what the word ‘diversity’ meant to them. By comparing numerical data with open-ended definitions, we highlight the particulars of how our respondents interpret diversity. Specifically, we show that for about one-third of our sample, diversity programs are equated with ‘oneness’, ‘equality’, and ‘color-blindness’. We analyze this interpretation of diversity as a discursive construction that enables respondents to profess progressive views while at the same time upholding traditional American values of assimilation. We end the article with a critique of this emerging diversity regime and consider alternative models of promoting diversity.