Berkley Center

American civil religion places a significant emphasis on pluralism. Every Fourth of July picnic I have ever been to extols the merits of America as the great melting pot. This rhetoric carries over onto to our college campuses. Diversity is touted as essential to an enriching classroom environment. As a nation of immigrants of an immense variety of cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, an appreciation for heterogeneity is critical to our success. Yet for all our parades and college seminars, I am not entirely convinced diversity is something we routinely value with our actions.

The University of California has recently been at the center of a media storm in response to the College Republicans' satirical bake sale at UC Berkeley. The stunt intended to protest the passage of a law that would allow the University of California to take into consideration factors such as race in their admissions decisions. The bake sale introduced a price structure based on race and gender analogous to the new law. The event and following controversy exposed an underlying truth about diversity and the American psyche. We can promote diversity, talk about diversity, and take pictures for promotional pamphlets featuring diversity, but when it comes to changing the structures that keep races and nationalities separate many Americans become uncomfortable.

Some have called the College Republicans racists and even bigots. I doubt that is entirely true. Affirmative Action is a complicated issue, not strictly about race. The bake sale and many of the comments on the Internet and in the press do however clearly delineate many Americans’ priorities. Despite its centerpiece in American rhetoric, diversity is something that is easily superseded by other central American values, including fairness, independence, and a general commandment to pull oneself up by his or her bootstraps.

If this is the case, as a society we should be honest about these values. Issues of race and diversity and what it means to be an American are incredibly emotionally charged. Hiding beyond a façade of vague cultural awareness and inter-ethnic acceptance, instead of recognizing underlying disparities between what we say and what we do, damages interracial relationships. As students on a college campus we live in a concentrated microcosm of American society. We have a responsibility to bring the issues out to the forefront. While the College Republicans acted rather crudely, their actions made a statement that spawned important conversations about how we value diversity not just with words, but with actions.