The Diversity Myth [Paperback]

David O. Sacks (Author), Peter A. Thiel (Author), Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998

This is a powerful exploration of the debilitating impact that politically-correct “multiculturalism” has had upon higher education and academic freedom in the United States. In the name of diversity, many leading academic and cultural institutions are working to silence dissent and stifle intellectual life. This book exposes the real impact of multiculturalism on the institution most closely identified with the politically correct decline of higher education—Stanford University. Authored by two Stanford graduates, this book is a compelling insider’s tour of a world of speech codes, “dumbed-down” admissions standards and curricula, campus witch hunts, and anti-Western zealotry that masquerades as legitimate scholarly inquiry. Sacks and Thiel use numerous primary sources—the Stanford Daily, class readings, official university publications—to reveal a pattern of politicized classes, housing, budget priorities, and more. They trace the connections between such disparate trends as political correctness, the gender wars, Generation X nihilism, and culture wars, showing how these have played a role in shaping multiculturalism at institutions like Stanford. The authors convincingly show that multiculturalism is not about learning more; it is actually about learning less. They end their comprehensive study by detailing the changes necessary to reverse the tragic disintegration of American universities and restore true academic excellence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This engaging saga of Stanford’s experiment in multiculturalism compellingly draws readers into the nightmare world of social engineering in practice."  —Elizabeth Fox-Geovese, professor of humanities, Emory University

About the Author

David O. Sacks is a research fellow at The Independent Institute and is vice president of product strategy at PayPal, Inc. He has worked as a legislative aide to U. S. Representative Christopher Cox and received his A.B. in economics (1994) from Stanford University. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Policy Review, and Academic Questions. Peter A. Thiel is a research fellow at The Independent Institute and is chairman andCEO at PayPal, Inc. He has worked as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse Financial Products, a securities lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell, and a speechwriter for former Education Secretary William J. Bennett. He received his A.B. in philosophy (1989) and J.D. (1992) from Stanford University. They both live in Palo Alto, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Independent Institute (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945999763
• ISBN-13: 978-0945999768
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A timely, accurate report of multicultural excess, July 7, 2000

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This review is from: The Diversity Myth (Paperback)

Finally, a book that accurately reveals the tyrannical dictatorship of the multicultural ideologues on American campuses. As a college philosophy instructor, the predicament portrayed by the authors of this excellent book strikes home all too accurately for me. This volume should be required reading on every campus that has a "Multicultural Day," as does mine. If anything, the authors understate the case against the academic despotism of race, class, gender and sexual orientation preferences. Clearly, those "tenured radicals" who protest too much only prove the point further. Buy several copies of this book: keep one, donate one to your college and local library, and give one to a friend. Congratulations to Sacks and Thiel for having the courage to swim against the ideologically polluted academic current of today's campuses.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Informative, Passionate and Thoughtful, August 18, 2011

By 

Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Diversity Myth (Paperback)

This is an interesting and informative book on an important subject. It concerns multiculturalism and political intolerance at Stanford in the 1980's. The authors (both now lawyers/businessmen/non-academics) were Stanford undergraduates. Thiel took his J.D. at Stanford; Sacks took his at the University of Chicago. If nothing else, the book demonstrates the quality of the Stanford experience and/or the ability of the admissions office to select students of quality because the book is well-researched, well-argued and well-written.

It is a partisan book in the sense that it adduces evidence to support a particular point of view, one wholly inimical to the multiculture (as they term it). It is not, however, a flailing, mindless screed. It points to a multiplicity of events, interactions and facts. It names names and it provides a great many of the specifics germane to the case(s). Its arguments and narratives cannot simply be dismissed as reactionary or studiedly partial. If the authors have misused evidence or conveniently forgotten counter examples they should be challenged on the facts, not criticized, e.g., because of their later business success or their extensive use of campus journalistic records. Their frame of reference is far broader than that. To say that they were too involved in the issues and those issues' initial reportage is also to acknowledge that they were involved, personally and directly. Reporters are among our society's most notable writers of `instant history'. The degree to which that instant history will stand the test of time will ultimately be decided on the actual facts of the case(s).

There is a great deal of analysis in addition to the reportage. They examine, e.g., the contradictions of the multiculture. For example, if that multiculture turns on the notion of victimology and individuals take their identity from their oppression, what happens when they are vindicated or receive power? Do they lose their identity? If that identity is dependent on their victimhood, what happens when that victimhood is ameliorated or even reversed? Are they dependent on the sustained allegations of oppression because its absence or mitigation would reduce their claims to moral authority?

Their final argument is thoughtful and interesting. Essentially it is something like the following: the multiculture's grievances are with bad elements of European/American cultureS. In addition to those separate cultures (with both good and bad elements) there is something that is better termed `civilization'--the distillation of the positive elements of those separate cultures, best encapsulated in our country's founding documents in the phrase `natural rights.' (We would now say `human rights.') Those rights focus upon the individual. They privilege the individual over the desires of the collective. They are principles rather than shifting cultural practices. Sometimes we are faithful to them and sometimes not. They are a product of the enlightenment, but purged of some of the enlightenment's more negative impulses. Those principles should transcend the urgings of partial cultures, including the multiculture.

All in all, this is a very engaging book. It is not one that will be enjoyed by former Stanford president, Donald Kennedy. In addition to looking at cultural/political issues the book offers a mini- case study that highlights some of the problems with contemporary higher education. In support of the multiculture, Kennedy expanded dramatically the administration and staff of Stanford (though not the faculty) and then fell victim to a financial scandal/fiasco. Using an indirect cost recovery rate far higher than, e.g., Berkeley's (which also does very big science in an expensive geographical area), it was discovered that a number of inappropriate items were funded through the overhead on federal grants (university yacht maintenance, antique furniture for the president's house, a wedding reception for the president and his new wife--an attorney working at the university, who replaced his wife of 34 years a scant 2 months after the divorce, and so on). The inference, of course, is that utopian collectivism often fails to live up to its promises, but the elites always manage to acquire an impressive number of perquisites and benefits along the way.

The bottom line: this is a passionately argued book, replete with facts and incidents. The authors do infer that Stanford represents something of a special case here and that the majority of higher education institutions have not suffered from the extremes visited upon it. That is hopeful.

20 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overblown, May 8, 2008

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S. Ferguson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Diversity Myth (Paperback)

This book came out in the early 90's and attempts to shed light on the goings-on at Standford at the time. The authors express dismay at what they argue was the dumbing down of Stanford curricula, attacks on Western civilization, and a powerful multicultural ideology that permeated every aspect of the campus bringing it to its intellectual and social knees.

The book details a number of admittedly ridiculous events that occured on campus (although sources are questionable), while others were quite serious. The authors often have an inverted or biased interpretation of the events which becomes clear to the objective reader. Greedy and corrupt campus officials are not individuals making bad choices - they're people who are part and parcel of a so called multicultural movement/ideology/culture that gives them carte blanche to do what they want. Racial identity politics is said to be a dangerous offshoot of the new ideology yet this is something that has been with us for centuries, long before 'multiculturalism' got started. American slavery based on racial affiliation is a stark example of racial identity politics.

The book overemphasizes problems on the campus and links these problems to the presence of a multiculural ideology. The same problems would be found in any era at any time for any cross section of society. It is not necessarily the sign of a radically new trend. The school campuses that I attended nearly a decade after this book was written didn't resemble anything contained in it.

For what it's worth, it does offers fantastic insights into the significant and distinguishing features of Western Civilization (not to be confused with Western cultures) and its place in society.

As an interesting aside, one of the authors is now a billionaire (co-founder of Paypal and investor for Facebook). He's also a libertarian. If you find libertarianism lacking in fundamental ways, you'll notice those things lacking in this book. Like libertarian philosophy, the book is deeply and richly analytical, yet too often simultaneously misses the boat completely.