Letter: University's focus on diversity dilutes quality

Several weeks ago The Chronicle reported that, "In his annual state of Arts and Sciences' address, [Dean of Arts and Sciences William] Chafe stressed the need to develop a broader definition of diversity. He said although racial diversity in the undergraduate population will not be significantly altered, the University is working to increase faculty diversity, student economic diversity and diversity in its course offerings."

This is now to be seen, from The Chronicle's reports last week, in the context of severe budget problems likely to appear over the next few years in Arts and Sciences.

Any college has a limited resource of not only money but administrative energy. Duke's Arts and Sciences has, with the president's and Board of Trustees' direction, chosen to spend its money and energy on increasing diversity.

There is, of course, an alternative choice seen in the past to be appropriate for the unique institution that is a university and that is the development of an ever-more distinguished faculty. I note in this regard, with respect to those Universities--Cornell, Pennsylvania, Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, etc.--with which Duke competes for faculty and students, the record of Nobel Prizes, memberships in the National Academy of Science, Pulitzer Prizes, Fields Medals, John Bates Clark Medals, etc. is unflattering to the faculty of Duke's Arts and Sciences.

Fundraising campaigns for Duke have not affected these metrics even as we are more diverse than we were in 1992. Duke makes choices at the margin in every resource allocation decision and every programmatic expenditure. Have we chosen to settle for using our resources to achieve a more diverse faculty instead of a more intellectually distinguished one? The record of the past decade seems to indicate that the answer is "yes."