Campus Wars: Multiculturalism and the Politics of Difference.

Abstract

Campus Wars: and the Politics of Difference, edited by John Arthur and Amy Shapiro. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. 279 pp. $17.95, paper. Reviewed by Cynthia Lopez Elwell, Center for Educational Studies, The Claremont Graduate School. The unfolding evolution of America's colleges and universities is an important and controversial process, and it is taking place before our very eyes. Depending on one's attachment to the academy in its current stage of mutation, the inevitability of this change is seen as an affront or an exciting challenge. Having assembled on the ideological battlefield an army of essayists who add their own volleys to the skirmishes surrounding this evolution, Arthur and Shapiro's Campus Wars: and the Politics of Difference evokes the sense of an impending Armageddon. In their introduction, the editors do a competent job of articulating the aims of their book and defining the issues they have chosen to address as particularly relevant to campus life. As they indicate, the five topics selected are drawn from the many complex issues confront university faculty, administrators, and students. The first of these, Multiculturalism and the College Curriculum, is discussed in the lead section, which presents essays by Allan Bloom, Barry Sarchett, John Searle, Stanley Fish, and Amy Gutman, who examine the issues surrounding the expansion of the traditional university curriculum, specifically the Western literary canon. As might be expected, Bloom and Searle view the changing curriculum as an attack on and rejection of the truths they view as the cornerstone of Western rationalistic tradition. Fish and Sarchett counter with personal accounts of the inevitable and positive aspects represented by the evolving curriculum. Though these four essays are related because they speak to the nature of change, they do not knit together as a coherent discourse. Instead, they loosely jibe as a collection of op-ed pieces on a common topic. Gutman's article, which closes this section, thus appears an effort to reach middle ground. Her essay provides an able overview of the positions and pedagogical perspectives of both sides of the debate. Further, it brings to the table a view reflective of the depth and experience of one who daily engages in the struggles and challenges of life in the evolving academic environment. Parts two through five contain likewise well-written, thought-provoking, and insightful pieces by controversial and respected voices, but each of these sections suffers a similar fate-that is, they never seem to gel into a coherent and focused examination of the issues at hand. Although the individual essays stand well on their own and as such contribute to an important dialogue, as a collection they again leave readers wanting. For instance, in part two, Sex on Campus: Sexual Harassment and Date Rape, Catherine MacKinnon and Lois Pineau provide powerful analyses of the development of sexuality and the convoluted nature of the contemporary debate surrounding sexual consent and date rape. Unfortunately, these articles never bring the issue home to the campus level. MacKinnon and Pineau are followed by Camille Paglia, featured in an utterly irrelevant excerpt from an interview (previously published in Spin magazine) in which she maintains, among other opinions, that date rape is the sexual equivalent of a bar brawl between boys and therefore not to be taken seriously. Though this interview is the only piece in this section that directly refers to university campuses and students, Paglia's often incoherent and trite comments serve only to dwarf the significance of the preceding essays. Indeed, they distract from the scholarship and thoughtfulness exhibited in the rest of the book. …

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