Universities “changing their racial makeup” doesn’t address the problem I’m talking about. At the end of the day, any diverse faculty and students will have been selected by the overwhelmingly white faculty, based on traits that appeal to elite whites. Those elite whites are much more likely to select say an Islamic studies professor that agrees with elite whites on gender roles than one that agrees with other Muslims on gender roles.

That means that you can’t point to diversity in the ranks of elite universities to justify those institutions taking the lead on discussions of issues affecting minorities. The people who get into those positions do so because they appeal to whites, not because they represent their communities.

That doesn’t address the problem I’m talking about, since the process of “changing the racial makeup” of these institutions is going to be done by existing white faculty and administration hand picking the minorities that appeal to elite whites.

As they say, you can’t dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools. We shouldn’t be looking to academics hand picked by white elites to figure out how to police minority communities, or what words to use or not use with respect to minorities, etc. Elite universities are inherently bad vehicles for leading the discourse on those issues.

Your conception of how academic hiring works is wrong. Even if it started as you describe, the new minority hires will have a vote on the next hire equal to than of the more senior faculty. If they find themselves on the hiring committee, they have even more power to shape the hiring process. Hiring committees also include a member outside of the department, so there is external input as well.

This system has shown to increase diversity in academic departments, and it’s not something the white faculty can conspire to keep under control. The issue is that progress is slow for two reasons: 1) positions open up rarely and 2) the hiring pool is limited. These are issues that are being worked on, but progress is being made.

> This system has shown to increase diversity in academic departments

The fact that Harvard hires some minorities doesn’t change the fact that those minorities were hand picked by white elites and operate within an institution dominated by elite whites.

Now, that doesn’t mean those minorities can’t be great professors, as individuals. But it does mean that their views on minority issues shouldn’t be give any more weight than those of the elite whites that selected them and on whom they depend for their position and status. Leadership on those issues must instead come from people who are put in positions of leadership by minority groups themselves.

Sure, "white elites". It's comparable to the USSR imo. Universities are heavily politicized because the university has a privileged role in society and is therefore subject to party politics. Diversity does not mean what you think it means. You might as well complain about the left more broadly because they have an agenda which is not "we want equality and to help all people regardless of race". It's not that at all.

> The fact that Harvard hires some minorities doesn’t change the fact that those minorities were hand picked by white elites and operate within an institution dominated by elite whites.

But it does change the makeup of who gets to make future decisions. I also feel like you're doing here what you often decry when white liberals do it: infantilizing minorities. You're discounting and minimizing the people who are not white elites, who do have a voice in making such decisions, as if they are completely invisible or beholden to other forces.

For instance, our faculty search committee had 1 white male on it. The first round interviews were done by the committee, final selection of candidates was done by the whole faculty, and the vote on who to hire was unanimous. The chair, who is not a minority transmitted the decision to the dean, who is a minority, and the candidate was hired. This person will be serving on the hiring committee next semester. I'm failing to see the invisible hand of the white elites here, who have somehow masterminded this turn of events.

And even if they did, why should we assume that minorities who are hired by white elites are somehow beholden or deferential to them? These faculty have their own agency and are highly educated in their own right. They can make up their own minds.