Racial Preferences: Doubt in the Priesthood

Although race preferences and the post-modern version of multiculturalism have triggered opposition since they were first instituted, almost none of the criticism in academia has come from “progressives” on the political left. Thus apologists for these policies have been able to dismiss critics as “conservatives” who favor the privileged and are at best insensitive to racial inequality, even though many of them are traditional liberals.

Now, however, some on the left are charging that race preferences and multiculturalism do not alleviate but exacerbate injustice. We who have always opposed racial discrimination and identity politics will welcome some conclusions of the new critics while we reject much of the reasoning used to reach them. Growing unease in the academic priesthood over preferences and multiculturalism may herald their demise, but it poses a challenge to members of the National Association of Scholars