Some Diversity Doesn't Count

Insight on the News, Nov 10, 2003

Byline: Jennifer G. Hickey, INSIGHT

Almost a decade ago Vice President Al Gore heaped praise upon the United States for its ethnic diversity, displaying his command of language by invoking the national motto: "E pluribus unum Out of one, many." The sentiment was of course laudable, but his translation from the Latin should have been, "Out of many, one." Gore's mistake may have been one of inadvertence or ignorance, but it underscored efforts to insist upon "diversity" on every occasion and to the exclusion of every other possibility.

From the magazine racks (e.g., DiversityInc.) to the boardrooms (in which many businesses now have diversity councils) to the platform of Miss America Ericka Dunlap, diversity is everywhere politically correct. And it also is all things to all men (and women, gays, transsexuals and transgendered). Except, of course, diversity of political philosophy among Ivy League faculties and network-TV news anchors.

Disaffected with the popularity of conservatives on talk radio, who proliferated in the wake of the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, and the inability of the political elevator music on National Public Radio to raise audiences from their seats like the conservative rock 'n' rollers, liberals have decried a claimed lack of diversity on radio and doubly decried the ascension of Fox News Channel to the apex of the cable-TV news ratings.

Fox may ruffle the feathers of the henpecked diversity doyens of the liberal elite, but according to a report released Oct. 13 by the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition, the major networks, including Fox, all made gains in featuring minorities onscreen as well as in their procurement policies. Fox was ahead of its competitors with a B-plus grade in the eyes of the National Latino Council, but all fell behind in ratings from the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition. These evaluations, however, do not factor cable networks or the WB and UPN channels into the mix and therefore ignored a large swath of programming. Nor do they gauge diversity in terms of religion, economic background or political ideology.

Today's diversity seems limited by political and cultural forces to discussions of race, ethnicity and gender. "That wasn't the case 25 years ago. That wasn't the case when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 or the Voting Rights Act in 1965," asserts Boston University journalism professor Robert Zelnick. The cultural, rather than the linguistic, evolution of the term is fairly simple to document, says Zelnick, a former Capitol Hill correspondent for ABC News and author of Backfire: A Reporter's Look at Affirmative Action.

"I think it has occurred because the late Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell in the [1978 Supreme Court case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke] essentially invented it or at least borrowed Harvard University's invention and indeed attached Harvard's admission criteria to his opinion. And that gave birth to 'diversity.' Diversity wasn't argued in the lower courts or in the state Supreme Court of California in that case. This is a creature of judicial opinions. It is not a creature of scholastic necessity or even academic value," he adds.

Although few would argue against encouraging inclusiveness, there is considerable argument about the role of government in achieving it. As the public witnessed the corporate perp walks by mostly white males, Wall Street and the Fortune 500 companies set diversity goals as one way to repair damaged reputations and an opportunity to infuse their businesses with newer and less-blue blood.

Led by one-time Qwest executive Jane Evans, a group of women and minority business leaders announced formation of the Directors' Council, a company aimed at encouraging selection of more corporate directors from the ranks of minorities and women. While some groups have threatened boycotts to press for more minority recruitment, others have adopted a hands-on strategy.

Westina Matthews Shatteen, first vice president of community leadership at Merrill Lynch, found this point driven home when she decided to gather a few Wall Street colleagues to exchange ideas and experiences. Expecting a handful of responses, her small group grew to 250 black female executives in a short time. "We were having to turn people away," said the 18-year veteran of Merrill Lynch, who added that the meetings had the benefit of showcasing role models for those women getting their feet wet on Wall Street.

The "Black Women on Wall Street" forum led to a gathering of Hispanic women executives earlier this year and an Oct. 21-22 Black Women and Finance forum in Washington, cohosted by the White House Office of Public Liaison, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit corporation providing networking and educational opportunities for black executives. While noting it remains a relatively small number, Shatteen says the more than 300 black women executives in Fortune 500 companies are a positive sign that will improve as networking opportunities expand.