ABSTRACT
The impact of multiculturalism on the academy has been pervasive, profound, and continuing. One significant factor affecting the expanding influence of the proponents of multiculturalism is the changing demographics of both faculties and student populations. Numerous writers have charted, for example, the growing number of women and minorities in higher education; these new constituents, quite simply, bring new sets of institutional demands. Many writers contend that multiculturalism is the wedge for opening higher education to a much needed breath of intellectual fresh air. They argue that opposition to thoughtful, reasoned change is smug, and contradictory to the notion of expansive academic freedom that is the superstructure of the academy. Discussions of rationale often are clearly dichotomous. Many of those who support the educational mandates of multiculturalism assert that American higher education is too slow to change, too imbued with the influence of the existing power structure and the weight of ingrained traditionalism.
