'Diversity and excellence go hand in hand'

Lockhart Hall at Princeton University

(Image credit: Loop Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

published February 13, 2024

'Elite universities have not sacrificed excellence for diversity'

Christopher L. Eisgruber in The Atlantic

The claim that pursuing diversity at "elite universities" has set back "scholarly excellence" is "a noxious and surprisingly commonplace myth," says Christopher L. Eisgruber, Princeton University's president. "Much the reverse is true." Embracing diversity has made the nation's great research universities better. They haven't "forsaken merit" but found it in more places. "If you want excellence, you need to find, attract, and support talent from every sector of society, not just from privileged groups and social classes."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.