Until the happenings of the past couple of weeks brought Vice Provost Katrice Albert to the front page of The Daily Reveille, most LSU students were probably unaware that we even had a vice provost for equity and diversity. Nearly two years ago, I received a press release announcing Albert as the Interim Vice Provost for Equity and Diversity. Not believing that my university had strayed so far down the road of political correctness and multiculturalism that it felt necessary to name a “diversity” officer, I saved the e-mail awaiting a day when the timing was right to attack the issue.
According to the press release, the vice provost for equity and diversity acts as the “chief diversity officer” of the University. The duties of the “chief diversity officer” include representing the provost, advising the chancellor and provost on academic policies relating to faculty hires, promotion and tenure, strategic planning and budgets. Also, the vice provost is expected to work with University administrators to employ policies that increase the diversity of their respective units in accordance with LSU’s strategic plan.
This position seems to offer little functional benefit besides creating an administrative office specifically dedicated for a minority. When needed, LSU can trump out the vice provost to demonstrate its commitment to political correctness, multiculturalism and “diversity.”
No doubt, this vice provost position was created in reaction to the ever-growing force of multiculturalism. Those espousing multiculturalism push the belief that all cultures are equal in value regardless of the inherent moral shortcomings within many cultures. Ascribing to this belief, University administrators proclaim that diversity is the essential element to higher education. If only they can assemble a campus community of different races, cultures and even sexual preferences, students will be freed of their ignorance and obtain a complete education.
Assembling these “diverse” communities requires administrators to embrace the same basic tenet of racists, the belief that one’s race defines the person. Pigmentation defines identity, not character, accomplishments, ideas or beliefs. This is also the fundamental belief of members of racist groups. The qualities of the individual don’t matter, just the bloodline. Simply, “diversity” and racism both value human beings on the basis of factors over which a person has little or no control.
Ironically the people who promote diversity and multiculturalism hail Martin Luther King Jr. as a hero and are quick to quote him. Yet by obsessing over ethnic identities, they act in complete contradiction with his hope that one day people will only judge one another by the quality of one’s character.
True, the idea of diversity has grown beyond racial lines. It now incorporates the sexual preference, religion and gender of an individual. Dividing people along these lines also devalues the worth of an individual. Certainly all lesbians aren’t the same. While preaching against stereotypes, multiculturalists are obsessed with classifying people by them.
Is it any wonder that our campuses are still functionally segregated? From the day students arrive on campus, they are taught that their value is derived from their group classification.
LSU should take the opportunity presented to them through the inappropriate actions of Albert, dismiss her and abolish the position of vice provost for equity and diversity. According to the LSU Office of Human Resources, Albert earns a salary of $125,000 a year. In the post-Katrina age of budget cuts, LSU could find many better uses for the money than promoting the trumped-up idea of diversity.
This would be a positive step toward better race relations at LSU. It is beyond time to stop dividing people upon the basis of race, gender, sexual preference and religion.
As long as University administrators remain committed to the faulty doctrines of “diversity” and multiculturalism, the racial rifts on campus will continue to grow. Once students begin looking at people as individuals instead of as members of a self-defining group, the campus community will integrate, and injustices will fade away.
 
Jason is a second year law student. Contact him at [email protected]