In their Anti-Affirmative Action Campaign but Plenty of It in Multiculturalism
NEW ORLEANS
Although academics who criticize multiculturalismoften gripe about research or activism they contend represents nothingmore than ideology masquerading as serious scholarly activity, a groupof conservative scholars found several things to cheer about when theNational Association of Scholars (NAS) honored the authors ofCalifornia’s Proposition 209 and heard Dr. Shelby Steele deliver awithering critique of affirmative action.
Known as a leading critic of multiculturalism, the NAS also providesa haven for many of academia’s most ardent foes of affirmative actionpolicies in American higher education. At the organization’s annualconference in New Orleans, NAS opposition to race-conscious affirmativeaction remedies was on full display, although most of the conferencecentered on attacking multiculturalism.
Dr. Glynn Custred and Dr. Thomas E. Wood, authors of the CaliforniaCivil Rights Initiative, received the Barry R. Gross Memorial Awardfrom the NAS for their leadership in the passage of Proposition 209.Additionally, Steele, who was the conference’s keynote speaker, Dr.Abigail Thernstrom, and Dr. Carl Cohen argued stridently against theuse of race-conscious affirmative action policies during theirpresentations.
Much of the discussion on racial preferences focused on the academicperformance of African Americans in relation to other racial and ethnicgroups. Steele, who is a research fellow at Stanford University’sHoover Institute, drew a standing ovation for his criticism ofaffirmative action and explanation of its roots. He contended thataffirmative action has failed Black Americans because it was neverintended to ensure Black uplift. Instead, he said it was directed moreat helping Whites to overcome the guilt of being stigmatized for thisnation’s history of White racism.
The speech brought NAS audience members, who were mostly middle-agedWhite males, to their feet with applause in what appeared to be themost moving occasion for conference attendees during the two-and-a-halfday event.
According to Dr. Bradford Wilson, executive director of the NAS, thefocus on race-conscious affirmative action policies fits naturally intoa discussion of multiculturalism because such policies substitutenonintellectual criteria – race and ethnicity – for intellectualcriteria – standardized test scores, grades, and scholarship – in theway that multiculturalism uses group identity to justify curriculumupheaval and faculty hiring decisions.
