The Trouble with Diversity

On November 1, 2006, Walter Benn Michael, professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago appeared at the Cambridge Forum to discuss his new book, The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality.
In his book, Benn argues that Americans’ preoccupation with celebrating “diversity” masks growing economic inequality for marginalized society groups.

As Benn noted, the Harvard campus may indeed be diverse and colorful... but our pride for that “accomplishment” should not blind us to the fact that most Harvard students come from a relatively uniform—and unrepresentative—socioeconomic background.