Debating P.C.: The Controversy over Political Correctness on College Campuses

The debate over "P.C." at America's universities is the most important discussion in American education today and has grown into a major national controversy raging on the covers of our top magazines and news shows. This provocative anthology gives voice to the top thinkers of our time, liberal and conservative, as they tackle the question. From the multicultural perspective of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who argues passionately for more diversity, to the erudition of Irving Howe, who stresses the profound value of the literary canon, this exciting collection is required reading for thinking Americans . . . and for everyone concerned with the future of higher education and the shaping of young minds.

Contents include:

The Big Chill? Interview with Dinesh D Souza by Robert MacNeil
On Differences: Modern Language Association Presidential Address 1990 by Catharine R. Stimpson
The Periphery v. the Center: The MLA in Chicago by Roger Kimball
The Storm over the University by John Searle
Public Imaged Limited: Political Correctness and the Media s Big Lie by Michael Berub
The Value of the Canon by Irving Howe
The Politics of Knowledge by Edward W. Said
Whose Canon Is It, Anyway? by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Why Do We Read? by Katha Pollitt
Speech Codes on the Campus and Problems of Free Speech by Nat Hentoff
Freedom of Hate Speech by Richard Perry and Patricia Williams
There s No Such Thing as Free Speech and It s a Good Thing, Too by Stanley Fish
The Statement of the Black Faculty Caucus by Ted Gordon and Wahneema Lubiano
Radical English by George F. Will
Critics of Attempts to Democratize the Curriculum Are Waging a Campaign to Misrepresent the Work of Responsible Professors by Paula Rothenberg
Multiculturalism: E Pluribus Plures by Diane Ravitch
Multiculturalism: An Exchange by Molefi Kete Asante
The Prospect Before Us by Hilton Kramer
P.C. Rider by Enrique Fern ndez
Diverse New World by Cornel West
The Challenge for the Left by Barbara Ehrenreich