ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how different universities both individually and as members of a generic group (such as 'new' or collegiate) are often far from secular. Even those that have adopted a radically secular approach tend to privilege some faiths rather than others, or allow religion into university life in ways that conform to a definition of religion held by a dominant power-holding minority. Some universities, and especially some of those with shorter histories as universities, have begun to espouse a 'secular' stance which, rather than being hostile to religion, or relegating religious matters to the private realm, have tried to constructively engage with diversity on campus. Theirs is a more pragmatically secular approach, and it again finds a parallel more generally. This exploration of the situation points to a number of considerations about the way in which organisations might change – for the better – in relation to diversity: 'diversity theorists concur that effective management of diversity requires organisational change.
