“Jewish” is a “new minority label” at New York City’s university system, the New York Post reported on June 3, almost accurately. CUNY recently completed a “faculty diversity action plan” that included among the usual identity-based focus groups along with a Caucasian/White/Jewish group, created in response to complaints that Caucasian/White/Jews were “not as monolithic as some believe and this lack of understanding is reflected in subtle stereotyping,” the National Journal reports. Stop and think about this: Stereotyping attributes to individuals the presumed characteristics of their demographic groups. Stereotypes treat people as members of groups instead of individuals. So do diversity initiatives that organize people into identity groups. Logic suggests that CUNY faculty who feel victimized by stereotypes imposed on Caucasian/White/Jews should probably avoid Caucasian/White/Jewish groups (although by creating this group to fight stereotypes, they may have inadvertently undermined the stereotypical assumption that all Jews are smart)…
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