"Diversity"/"University"

       I'm recalling an art work, a photograph.  The photo centers on many hands, at least ten with a variety of skin colors, resting on top of one another above the word "DIVERSITY."   Beneath that, these words:

                "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."
                                      Joseph Campbell

       I am proud that higher education during my active years honored diversity, espoused multi-cultural values, encouraged giving voice to the voiceless.

       It strikes me now as an irony that a "UNIVERSity" should be valuing "DIVERSity," that is...by derivation...that "turning toward oneness" would place value on "turning toward difference."

       But then oneness: wholeness or completeness implies making room for the multiple strains within it.