Diversifying the Faculty

A metaphor.

My first Google Images hit for “Diversity”

American universities have a serious optics problem, in the arena of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity. Their faculty are far less diverse than their student populations, and far, far less diverse than the United States as a whole. This gave rise, at points throughout my career, to pious diversifying initiatives driven by zealous upper administrators. They would pound the table at meetings and demand that you Diversify the Faculty, they would approve or deny lines on the basis of whether they were thought likely to Diversify the Faculty, things we weren’t allowed to do in other contexts – hire spouses, for example – were totally fine as long as they were in service of Diversifying the Faculty.