It is a social problem of great magnitude when prestigious research institutions disguise advocacy of their political positions as "research." It is even more serious when such tendentious material is presented as "research" in our courts of law. The University of Michigan has done those things in connection with its admissions lawsuits.
I don't expect anyone to take my word on this subject. I've included some links here so that you can check out the University's infamous "empirical studies" for yourself and draw your own conclusion. I also include links to several critiques of those studies. Finally, there are some links here on the general subjects of diversity, affirmative action, etc.
Here are a few short articles:
Robert Zelnick: The Beginning of the End for Bakke
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/digest/022/zelnick.htmlRich Lowry: The diversity lie on campus
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/richlowry/rl20030117.shtml
Here are links for "expert testimony" submitted in connection with the University of Michigan's admissions lawsuit, along with critiques and responses to critiques:
Table of contents for Patricia Gurin's testimony:For another example of blatantly politicized "research", look at a few reports of the work of James S. Jackson, another professor at the University of Michigan, who concluded, according to an article in the University Record, that "Racial prejudice, not conservatism, is the major factor underlying white opposition to affirmative action". Here are some links:
http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/legal/expert/gurintoc.htmlTable of contents for additional testimony:
http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/legal/expert/toc.htmlHere is a long critique of Gurin's testimony put out by the National Association of Scholars. "Is Campus Racial Diversity Correlated with Educational Benefits?" by Thomas E. Wood and Malcolm J. Sherman:
http://www.nas.org/reports/umich_diversity/umich_uncorrelate.pdfThe "executive summary" of the NAS critique:
http://www.nas.org/publications/sci_newslist/6_1/m_umich_exsum.htmGurin's reply to the NAS critique:
http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/new/gurin.htmlFrom the Center for Equal Opportunity (Linda Chavez, President), there is "A Critique of the Expert Report of Patricia Gurin in Gratz v. Bollinger" by Robert Lerner and Althea K. Nagai:
http://www.ceousa.org/Gurin1.pdfGurin's reply to Lerner and Nagai:
http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/research/gurin_add.html"Have Race-Biased Admissions Improved American Education?" by John Staddon:
http://www.nas.org/reports/sup_ct_mich/staddon/staddon_gurin.pdfArchive of Gurin Science Investigation is maintained by Chetly Zarko, an Ann Arbor based freelance writer who has written extensively about Patricia Gurin's testimony and related research.
Here are my own humble contributions to this great conversation:The University Record article:
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9900/Mar06_00/14.htmA Michigan Daily article:
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/2000/feb/02-16-2000/news/06.htmlU of M Professor J. David Velleman offers interesting critical commentary on Jackson's findings:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~velleman/CriticalThinking.htmlVelleman also has a page with various letters he wrote on the subject of diversity. In one, he charges "that the University has silenced internal discussion, by issuing a barrage of what can only be called propaganda and disinformation, designed to demonize skeptics and opponents."
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~velleman/letters.html
Affirmative Action and the Degradation of Academic Integrity is my own take on Gurin's testimony.Here are a few contrarian articles on the topic of diversity, etc., which I think are especially worth reading:The Triumph of Diversity is a satirical work.
Gurin v. Powell is a discussion of how the University of Michigan's concepts of "diversity" differ from those of Justice Louis Powell when he wrote his Bakke opinion.
Science vs. Politics (17 Sep '03) A short hand-out criticizing Patricia Gurin's admissions lawsuit testimony.
University of Michigan Diversity Training, 1991 describes an amusing incident at a diversity training session in 1991.
A few web sites, of diverse perspectives, which sometimes contain articles and links about "diversity," affirmative action and related topics:For a general critique, read The Myth of Diversity by Jared Taylor
For Jared Taylor's comments on the Supreme Court decision on the U of M admissions case, read What the Supreme Court Did
For an account of "diversity" far from the breezy generalizations of academia, read American Renaissance News: Hell on Wheels by Daniel Attila.
For an account of diversity-gone-nuts in a somewhat more civilized context: The Prep-School PC Plague by Heather Mac Donald
Sometimes we can learn much from research that isn't done. Read Affirmative action myths / U-M cannot validate its claims of success by Justin Shubow.
I highly recommend the 44 page report (in PDF format) that came out in October, 2004: The Changing Shape of the River / Affirmative Action and Recent Social Science Research by Russell Nieli of the Politics Department at Princeton University. There are a few choice insights in it that I haven't seen anywhere else.
Grutter -- A Revolutionary Decision That Must Not Stand by Lawrence Auster (FrontPage magazine.com, May 5, 2005) is a major, hard-hitting critique of the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling.
Harvards Diversity Grovel by Heather Mac Donald (City Journal, June 3, 2005) offers devastating commentary on the "Report of the Task Force on Women Faculty" from Harvard University.
Some sites which are part of what Heather Mac Donald calls "the diversity industry":http://www.rightonrace.org
Run by Americans Against Discrimination and Preferences.http://www.frontpagemag.com/
FrontPage magazine.http://www.vdare.com/
VDarehttp://www.amren.com/
American Renaissancehttp://thefire.org/
FIRE / Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
http://www.hrpress-diversity.com/DiversityInc.com
If you're serious about "diversity," from any perspective, this is an excellent site. There is a free part and a pay part. I couldn't keep up with the free part!!
In his 1974 Nobel Prize lecture titled The Pretense of Knowledge, Friedrich August von Hayek said, "If we are to safeguard the reputation of science, and to prevent the arrogation of knowledge based on a superficial similarity of procedure with that of the physical sciences, much effort will have to be directed toward debunking such arrogations, some of which have by now become the vested interests of established university departments." The lecture is most relevant to the whole "diversity" issue: http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1974/hayek-lecture.html
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<a href="http://m3peeps.org/divlinks.htm">Diversity Research Links</a>