Do as I say

Most university students can tell you that academia has a problem with conservative researchers in social psychology. Despite countless studies showing how hiring diverse groups of thinkers leads to more quality research, hiring trends in academia still favor white liberal researchers. I always thought it would be funny to preface every major science paper from major universities with the adjectives "the mostly white liberal authors" somewhere in the abstract, the way news organizations describe tea party rallies. Mentioning the race and politically affiliation of citizens involved has a way of discrediting the whole effort in a backhanded sort of way. It is nice to see a New York Times Op-Ed contributor link recognizing the problem involved with long term academic papers coming out of groups that act and think alike. It is an honest assessment of why it needs to change if not how. The private sector could certainly be accused of this as well; how much diversity of ideas are there among day traders or cattle ranchers? The problem is most Americans are well aware of how 'un-equal' and 'un-diverse' our society is, it might be all we know. Almost every day brings a news story regarding another industry caught red-handed mistreating an economic, religious or ethnic minority. How do we know so much about American injustice? Academia told us so.