George Neumayr of Intercollegiate Review has a new piece in which he lambasts academia’s devotion to multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism is Mediocrity

Harvard University recently gave Oprah Winfrey an honorary doctorate, a depressingly appropriate award given that her taste in literature and vapid quality of thought trump the classics on most American campuses these days. One is far more likely to hear a recent college graduate gushing about the poetry of Maya Angelou (or any of Oprah’s other favorite authors) than the works of Dante or Shakespeare.

“Oh my goodness! I’m at Haaaaaarvard,” said Oprah. “I’m going to address my remarks to anybody who’s ever felt inferior, disadvantaged or screwed by life.” Such was the scholarly tone of her address. She informed the graduates that the goal of life is to be validated: “Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said, ‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’”

The Ivory Tower with each passing year becomes more and more like a Tower of Babel in which Oprah-style trendiness, narcissism, and political correctness substitute for any real education. To those who wonder how academia sunk to this low point, the answer is largely found in multiculturalism, which remains a regnant doctrine at most American colleges and universities. Politicians, particularly ones from countries victimized by terrorism, will occasionally question the wisdom of the idea, but academics cling to it tenaciously.

By changing the end of education from wisdom to power, from intellectual quality to enforced equality, multiculturalism destroyed academic standards across the country. An education that aims at wisdom would empower students to see cultures clearly and pursue the truth wherever it leads. But that’s the last thing multiculturalists want.