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Morehouse And The Myth Of ?Diversity?

Morehouse College in Atlanta, alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. and widely regarded as one of the top colleges in the country, and the best for black men, has just made the news by graduating the first white valedictorian in its 141 year history. (HatTip to reader Fred Ray)

I?m not sure how many non-black students were enrolled at Morehouse this year, but I?m sure there weren?t many. Back in 1998 an article mentioned that a freshman from Indianapolis ?was one of two white full-time students at Morehouse this year,? and added:

Enrollment of white students at Morehouse, founded in 1867, varies from none some years to two or three in a year, said a spokesman.

But wait. Haven?t we loudly, insistently, and incessantly been told that without pigmentary ?diversity? there can be no real education? How can ?segregated? Morehouse be so successful?

By 1998, it?s clear, Morehouse was clearly feeling a bit defensive about its absence of ?diversity.?

?Morehouse has always had a diverse, international faculty and staff,? college president Walter E. Massey. ?For years ... the school maintained an interracial vision and hosted interracial conferences in defiance of Georgia?s Jim Crow laws.?

So can we assume that if an institution has an ?interracial vision? it doesn?t have to actually be interracial?

This sounds like ?diversity for thee, but not for me.? Not at all, says Sterling Hudson, currently dean of admissions at Morehouse.

I think some of our alumni are a little nervous about a white student graduating from Morehouse with all of its rich history for producing African-American male leaders. But I don't think it's contradictory at all....

?We?re not aggressively pursuing white students,? says Hudson. ?But like every other college, we?re interested in diversity. So, if a white student becomes interested in Morehouse ? of course we are going to treat him like any other student.?

Of course in this regard Morehouse is not at all like ? it?s more like the polar opposite of ? every other selective college in the country, all of whom, in the name of ?diversity,? are aggressively competing for and courting the unfortunately small pool of highly qualified minority students. ?Of course? those other colleges do anything but ?threat [minority applicants] like any other student[s].?

But that?s not all Hudson said. He continued:

?The interesting thing about [valedictorian] Josh [Packwood]?s experience is that he had a full Morehouse experience,? says Hudson. ?When he marches across the stage on May 18 and receives his diploma, he?s going to be a Morehouse Man in every way ? except ethnicity.?

?I don?t think ethnicity makes the difference; it?s what?s in his heart.?

Perhaps the rest of selective higher education in this country should follow the lead laid out by Morehouse and its valedictorian.

?What Morehouse stands for at the end of the day, and what Dr. King epitomized, it?s not about black or white, it?s about the content of [a person?s] character,? says Packwood. ?It?s about me, representing Morehouse in that light -- not as a white man or a black man.?

I suppose there?s nothing ironic about Martin Luther King?s vision being, even if somewhat awkardly, alive and well at his alma mater while the remainder of selective higher education institutions in the country trip over themselves and each other in their racial classifying and their frantic attempts to produce racial balancing.

It?s not ironic; it?s worse.

Full post as published by Discriminations on May 18, 2008 (boomark / email).