ABSTRACT
In typical paranoid fashion, the leaders of the campaign against change in the universities have labeled all critics and advocates of change "thought police." One of the tricks of the publicists has been to conflate serious criticism and intolerant dogmatism under the label of "political correctness" and thereby discredit all critical efforts. The cry that politics has invaded the university is an example of the defense of orthodoxy; it is itself a political attempt to distract attention from the fact that there are serious issues at stake and more than one valid side to the story in the debates about knowledge. An examination of deep tendency provides perspective on the appeal that the paranoids, fetishists, and imposters seem to be having these days. The nature of the university's accommodation to diversity can be seen in the words used to describe campuses and curricula: "diversity," "multiculturalism," "pluralism."
