Visiting lecturer explores diversity

Peter Schuck, Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law at Yale University Law School: “Diversity is immense in the United States, but the process of integration needs to be accelerated.”

2:43 p.m., Oct. 5, 2005--Peter H. Schuck, Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law at Yale University Law School, outlined ideas from his book, Diversity in America: Keeping Government at a Safe Distance, in an afternoon lecture, Sept. 29 at the Trabant University Center.

Cosponsored by the University’s Legal Studies Program and UD’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Schuck’s lecture focused on the role diversity plays in American society and outlined the federal government’s diversity management policies.

“The study of diversity seems especially urgent to our society right now for a number of reasons,” Schuck said. “Chief among those is that the United States is as diverse a society as can be found anywhere in the world.”

Differentiating between the concepts of “diversity in fact” and “diversity in the ideal,” Schuck traced the origin of both demographic diversity and tolerance for this diversity since the mid-1700s.

“Diversity in fact--the existence of different races, cultures, religions and beliefs--has been remarkable in the United States, even in Puritan times,” Schuck said. “But, the idea that society is much better off for diversity is relatively new, and, like immigration to the United States, has expanded dramatically in recent years.”

Emphasizing that governmental policies and strategies for managing diversity haven’t kept pace with the steadily shifting demographics in America, Schuck outlined the different types of diversity that get overlooked in the United States, including economic, linguistic and political diversity.

“If you included all legal and illegal immigrants in the United States today, we’re experiencing the highest level of immigration ever,” Schuck said. “The government defines diversity as a difference in groups of people that the established society views as salient to their social status and behavior. But, there are many different views of diversity, and there is one area in which the United States is not as diverse as other countries, and that’s politically.

“There has never been a powerful socialist or labor or secession party in the United States, and this lack of political diversity is striking,” Schuck said.

“In my book, I identify four different political theories and make the case that liberalism is the only political environment that is highly congenial to diversity,” Schuck said. “It is the only environment that encourages people to define themselves as diverse.”

Before concluding his lecture, Schuck outlined the management strategies currently used in the United States, including immigration caps and mandates such as affirmative action. He explained that while some policies are functional, none are perfect, and some are ineffective.

“My claim is that the United States government does some things well and some very badly,” Schuck said.

“Diversity is immense in the United States, but the process of integration needs to be accelerated,” he added. “Management of diversity is not best done by government and should be done by society, if we are to succeed.”

Schuck ended his lecture with an informal discussion with members of the audience.

Schuck received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and master’s and law degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Law School.

He is the author of several books, including Citizenship Without Consent: Illegal Aliens in the American Polity, (Yale University Press, 1985); The Limits of Law: Essays on Democratic Governance, (Westview Press, 2000); Diversity in America: Keeping Government at a Safe Distance, (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003); and Meditations of a Militant Moderate: Cool Views on Hot Topics, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005). His essays and commentaries have appeared widely in scholarly and popular journals, including The American Lawyer, The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Political Science Quarterly.

Schuck joined the faculty of the Harvard University Law School in 1979, after working in Washington, D.C., under the Carter administration and practicing international law with a private firm for three years.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Sarah Simon, AS ’06

E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.