STILL LITTLE DIVERSITY ON CAMPUS
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is demonstrating, once again, that it lacks any real intellectual diversity in its faculty ranks, otherwise it's summer reading assignment wouldn't continue to be taken from the recommended reading lists of The Nation or The American Prospect (not exactly leading journals of conservative thought). This year's choice, to follow up on last year's strange selection of a study of a religious text (the Qur'an -- formerly, the Koran -- of course), is Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, an activist with the Democratic Socialists of America and "a well-known leftist social critic". That characterization of her is backed up by her interviews that are linked on UNC's website. A sampling of her quotes

I was a strong opponent of the Gulf War. I'm an opponent of war in general. The Gulf war was unnecessarily brutal. We still don't know how many tens or hundreds of thousands or Iraqi's died in the war or because of it. So I was drawing a kind of comparison. What made Colin Powell so famous was that war. What made OJ megafamous as opposed to merely famous, was the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, regardless of who committed those murders. The reason I made this point is that we've forgetten the Gulf War. We look at Colin Powell., We see this nice cuddly fellow and I think we forget the thousands of men who died unnecessarily, I think, with sand in their nostrils in the desert, because of the unnecessary brutality of that war.

The Republicans' major economic concern has been to lower taxes for the rich.

For me, number one is undoing welfare reform or ending welfare reform as we know it.

I am increasingly dismayed by the nasty rhetoric deployed by some feminists against Ralph Nader and his supporters, of whom I am one.

It was not until some time in the 1970s that capitalism decided to take "The Communist Manifesto" as its personal self-improvement guide -- going global with a vengeance, treating the workers (including increasing numbers of doctors, teachers, scientists and writers as well as the old-fashioned heavy-lifting and lug-turning proles) like so many disposable "factors of production."

Who knows, her tome may be worth reading and have some interesting insights amid her lamentations about class and dreams for a more state mandated equality of result. But why can't the professors at UNC select something by someone on the right? A couple of suggestions concern the college experience itself and would certainly aid the school's goal of using the summer reading program to "stimlulate discussion and critical thinking around a current topic."

Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus by Dinesh D'Souza

Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX by Jessica Gavora

Don't hold your breath, though. In 1985, UNC's summer reading program was only for students admitted to the honors program, where I had the joy of reading The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Schell. A lot has changed in Chapel Hill, but the indoctrination program has only expanded to all students.

Now, let's see if student group Committee for a Better Carolina has any luck influencing the debate.