This article examines the underlying logic behind what I call the new civic rationale for
university diversity. I draw on a diverse literature to explore the varying ways in which diversity
could be connected to democratic participation. I argue that the prevailing conception of
diversity, what I call the contact thesis is inadequate preparation for democratic participation in a
diverse society because it does not challenge the “underlying liberal architecture” that shapes
both the practice and scholarship of college diversity. I make the case for emphasizing a
participatory culture that favors multiple and intersectional identities over fixed identities, public
work over dialogue, and participatory democracy over pluralist democracy. The challenge for
colleges and universities in the coming years is to design curriculum and pedagogy that
emphasizes diversity as a fluid, adaptable and emerging phenomenon while simultaneously
grounding it within fixed ethnic and cultural identities.
The Paradox of Diversity and Civic Engagement
The five-decade journey of university diversity policy in the United States has taken a
number of rhetorical turns. During its onset in the 1960’s, the rationale for greater, primarily
race-based, access to higher education had an explicit political component in that it called for
rectifying past race-based inequalities (Skrenty 2002). However, a mixture of pragmatic political
and legal calculation and changing attitudes towards the benefits of multiculturalism led to a shift
in the diversity rationale away from an overtly political rationale to one that favors the
educational benefits of diversity (Guinier 2003, Moses and Chang 2006, Hurtado 2006).
This rhetorical shift has been substantiated by scholarship. An overwhelming body of
evidence confirms the educational benefits to diversity in higher education. Exposure to
diversity serves to enhance cognitive complexity among those exposed to “diverse courses”
(Antonio et. al. 2004), increase levels of empathy and openness to other views (Astin 1993), and
increase satisfaction with college (Tanaka 1996), and provide students with the cultural
competency needed to function in a diverse workforce (Carnevale 1999).
However the 2003 Michigan affirmative action cases (Gratz vs. Bollinger (02-516) 539
U.S. 244 (2003); Grutter vs. Bollinger (02-241) 539 U.S. 306) reintroduced a political element to
the diversity rationale. This new civic rationale emphasized the relationship between exposure
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Convention