All aboard! We are going to be taken for a ride on the Diversity Express.

Our engineer is Dr. Cornel West, professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University . Brother West, as he is known,  likes to break bread with Reverend Al Sharpton.

He guarantees us a smooth ride on this gravy train. Why, he knew

when to apply the brakes when Lawrence H. Summers – newbie president of Harvard University –  chided him, at a fall meeting, about his lax grading methods and his lightweight scholarship. How unfair of the prez!

Brother West is such a heavy thinker that he’s on the fast track to unintelligibility. His academic philosophy is described as a “polemical weapon that attempts to transform linguistic, social, cultural, and political tradition to increase the scope of individual development and democratic actions.”

President Summers wasn’t exactly hip hopping to laud Brother West’s “rap” CD.

The Fresh Prince of Cam Bridge ? No, siree. The New York Times dubs “Sketches of My Culture” as “a spoken-word album that infuses poetry with rap, jazz, and blues.” Brother West’s web site describes the album as “a watershed moment in musical history.”

Watershed? That’s true. It’s not every day that a listener can relax to in-your-face lines like, “From the heights of rich African humanity. To the depths of sick American barbarity. In the whirlwinds of white supremacy. Black people preserved their sanity and dignity.”

An entertaining ride, this is. But sit tight, because we are going to make an unexpected whistle stop to accommodate a special passenger – Jesse Jackson! Please give the Reverend a berth in the first-class section.

Reverend Jackson jumped on the Diversity Express as soon as he heard that Brother West was being disrespected by President Summers and that the misunderstanding was causing West, as well as some of the other brethren of Harvard’s Afro-American Studies department, to ponder purchasing one-way tickets to Princeton . The Washington Post reported that the Reverend “called Harvard’s uncertainty about affirmative action ‘disturbing.’”

No need to worry, Reverend Jackson, no need. The president has spoken. This train is not going to be derailed.

“I take pride in Harvard’s longstanding commitment to diversity. I believe it is essential for us to maintain that commitment, working to create an ever more open and inclusive environment that draws on the widest possible range of talents,” opined Summers in a statement to the Harvard Crimson.

He also praised the black studies professors. “We would very much like to see the current faculty stay at Harvard and will compete vigorously to make this an attractive environment.”

Sounds like the accommodations on the Diversity Express just got finer. Stay aboard!

Wait, Mr. Engineer, the conductor says one more passenger wants to embark.

Why, it’s David Horowitz, the white-bread agitator/author. Horowitz is telling President Summers that there is an emergency that could affect the destination of the Diversity Express. He wants to inform the prez about a poll that the Center for the Study of Popular Culture has released. It reveals the attitudes of professors on the social science and liberal arts faculties at elite schools.

Allright, Allright. You can speak, man, but keep it brief.

“For all the Ivy League’s talk of diversity, it is painfully evident from this survey that there is no real diversity when it comes to the political attitudes and social values of Ivy League professors,” said Horowitz. “Only 3% of Ivy League professors identify themselves as Republicans.”

Three percent? Sounds like very few right-wing tokens have been issued to board the Diversity Express. There’s that Horowitz again.

He continues, “While 70% of Americans told Gallup in October that the government should spend the money necessary to build an anti-missile defense system, only 14% of Ivy League professors agree ...” Hold on, the speech patrol are escorting Horowitz out of the station. Almost all aboard!

That dude is a pest, but he did raise some red flags.

Brother West, why is the Ivy League discriminating against conservatives of all colors in their hiring practices? Reverend Jackson, don’t powerful academic institutions that take federal tax dollars have a moral obligation to end the bigotry? Gentlemen, the Diversity Express isn’t in danger of being hijacked by left-wing fundamentalists, is it?

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