Introduction

Throughout its history, America's task has been the exhilarating one of forging community from multiplicity. From the beginning, the indigenous American population was augmented primarily by northern European settlers, black slaves, and later by immigrants from all the European nations. At the same time that the United States (US) is becoming ethnically more diverse, those who have historically been marginalized in US society are making broader claims for equality and power. With the opening of higher education to women, members of ethnic minorities, and those who could not have afforded it, issues of race, sex, and class have taken on a new urgency both as academic issues and in the day-to-day life of the university. In the final selection, "An Interview About Sex and Date Rape," Camille Paglia argues that feminism's concern about date rape reflects a naive and unrealistic vision of male sexuality.