Description

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This is a powerful exploration of the debilitating impact that politically-correct “multiculturalism” has had upon higher education and academic freedom in the United States. In the name of diversity, many leading academic and cultural institutions are working to silence dissent and stifle intellectual life. This book exposes the real impact of multiculturalism on the institution most closely identified with the politically correct decline of higher education—Stanford University. Authored by two Stanford graduates, this book is a compelling insider’s tour of a world of speech codes, “dumbed-down” admissions standards and curricula, campus witch hunts, and anti-Western zealotry that masquerades as legitimate scholarly inquiry. Sacks and Thiel use numerous primary sources—the Stanford Daily, class readings, official university publications—to reveal a pattern of politicized classes, housing, budget priorities, and more. They trace the connections between such disparate trends as political correctness, the gender wars, Generation X nihilism, and culture wars, showing how these have played a role in shaping multiculturalism at institutions like Stanford. The authors convincingly show that multiculturalism is not about learning more; it is actually about learning less. They end their comprehensive study by detailing the changes necessary to reverse the tragic disintegration of American universities and restore true academic excellence.

About the Author

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David O. Sacks is a research fellow at The Independent Institute and is vice president of product strategy at PayPal, Inc. He has worked as a legislative aide to U. S. Representative Christopher Cox and received his A.B. in economics (1994) from Stanford University. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Policy Review, and Academic Questions. Peter A. Thiel is a research fellow at The Independent Institute and is chairman andCEO at PayPal, Inc. He has worked as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse Financial Products, a securities lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell, and a speechwriter for former Education Secretary William J. Bennett. He received his A.B. in philosophy (1989) and J.D. (1992) from Stanford University. They both live in Palo Alto, California.

Praise For…

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"This engaging saga of Stanford’s experiment in multiculturalism compellingly draws readers into the nightmare world of social engineering in practice."  —Elizabeth Fox-Geovese, professor of humanities, Emory University

" . . . . [A]uthors David Sacks and Peter Thiel show how Stanford University has incorporated the multicultural agenda into its undergraduate curriculum. The authors note that Stanford’s undergraduates can now get credit for such courses as ‘Creation/Procreation,’ which looks into ‘the gendered aspects of cosmological or religious systems,’ and ’Gender and Science,’ which purports to study science free of outdated assumptions. There is also a feminist studies course titled ‘How Tasty Were my French Sisters,’ about which I dare not speculate." —Wall Street Journal

"The Diversity Myth is a carefully documented and sensitively recorded historical account of the whole tragic saga, together with keen analysis of how all this could have happened. Future historians will find this book indispensable." —National Review

"A great read and an important story, this book will not just cause alarm about our educational institutions. It will inspire renewal." —William Kristol, editor and publisher, the Weekly Standard

"There is no higher duty for intellectuals than to denounce incipient totalitarianism wherever they observe it. Some of its symptoms are present at Stanford. In The Diversity Myth, two recent Stanford graduates document the situation there with a thoroughness and depth of analysis that should help stiffen the spine of university administrators." —René N. T. Girard, Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French Language, Literature, and Civilization, Stanford University

"If you want to find out what went wrong at Stanford University, read The Diversity Myth. There’s hardly a better source than this book for learning why multiculturalism on campus cannot work." —Linda L. Chavez, former Director, U. S. Commission on Civil Rights; Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity 

"Written by two recent Stanford Graduates, The Diversity Myth says the campus was divided, and the curriculum destroyed, by the multicultural movement. The authors, David O. Sacks and Peter A. Thiel, bemoan the offering of a history course in the spring of 1992 that focused entirely on black hair styles as a political and cultural statement . . . . Their book also discusses censorship, speech codes, and date rape." —the Chronicle of Higher Education 

"Two former Stanford students, who lived through the 'culture wars' there, have written the most thorough and detailed account yet available of what 'multiculturalism' has meant at a major American university. With fascinating and often disheartening detail, The Diversity Myth will certainly lead readers to question what is happening today in American higher education." —Nathan Glazer, Professor of Education and Social Structure, Emeritus, Harvard University

"The Diversity Myth charges that ‘politicized’ classes and student activities have led to an ironic intolerance on campus—intolerance of all things Western." —Newsweek