Seeing no evil - Dr Shelby Steele's speech on race-conscious affirmative action policies at the National Assn of Scholars conference in New Orleans - Cover Story

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 8, 1998 by Ronald Roach

Glazer, who is widely known as a neoconservative on public policy issues, told the NAS audience that he supported race-conscious admissions policies because he feared that without them the resulting drop among African American enrollment at elite institutions would be a devastating blow to African American social progress. He predicted that if race were eliminated as a positive factor for Blacks in admissions to elite institutions, the 7-percent average enrollment of Blacks at such schools would fall to one or two percent.

However, the University of Michigan's Cohen argued that African Americans would be better served at second-tier institutions where, he said, their abilities based on standardized test scores and past education would be better matched.

"I don't think it so terrible" a situation if Black enrollment at elite institutions dropped substantially as long as Black students found worthy alternatives, Cohen said.

Attempts at a Balanced Dialogue

During the conference, panel members offered a wide variety of opinions on and definitions of multiculturalism. A few panelists admitted to being multiculturalists to the extent that it represented for them an appreciation for and desire to learn about other cultures. One scholar claimed that Western societies can themselves be described as multicultural because, he alleged, they have nurtured an openness to non-Western ideas and traditions.

A literary scholar, Dr. Paul Cantor of the University of Virginia, cited Indian writer Salman Rushdie and Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe as examples of non-Western authors whose English language books have earned them widespread acclaim in the West. The scholar said the non-Western authors and thinkers who have earned critical acclaim from Western scholars have often been shunned by multiculturalists because they have been deemed as too enamored of Western literary styles and techniques.

Dr. Eugene Genovese, who acted as a moderator in a discussion about the roots of multiculturalism, urged NAS members to support the scholars in fields such as those in Afro-American studies and women's studies who are conducting rigorous academic research and serious scholarship. He said that despite the politicalization of such departments on certain campuses, there are scholars who are doing valuable work that was once ignored by the academy.

"We're going to have to face facts that there were real crimes committed in the past. Black history and women's history were shamefully treated by the academy," said Genovese, a historian who is widely regarded for his writings on American slavery.

Dr. Gerald Early, an African and Afro-American studies professor at Washington University, told the NAS audience that Afro-American studies had a long and storied tradition among prominent scholars, such as W.E.B DuBois, at historically Black institutions. And, he noted, that tradition predates its arrival on the heated campus environments of the sixties and early seventies.

However, Early also said that the era of student unrest and campus turmoil contributed to the founding of Afro-American studies programs that lacked rigorous discipline and serious scholarship.