ABSTRACT
The term “diversity” as it relates to higher education became very popular after the publication of the 1987 Hudson Institute’s seminal study Workforce 2000 in which Johnson and Packer outlined imperatives they thought necessary to maintain a competitive workforce during the twenty-first century. Recruitment seminars, programs, discussions and in some cases conflict arose on campuses as diversity became a lightning rod for both supporters and detractors. It is important to note that the nation’s views of diversity became conflated relative to traditionally white institutions (TWIs) and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Diversity at HBCUs meant something totally different from that of TWIs. It meant the wholesale elimination of indigenous African American culture and life. It meant court-ordered “duhversity” rather than optional diversity. Universities need to discuss the truth about race on their campuses so that they can arrive at what Tutu calls “true racial reconciliation”.
