Has the title alone caught your attention? Like all good, progressive-thinking people, we’ve absorbed the notion that “diversity” is inherently a good thing. The trouble must be with people who can’t handle diversity, or with not enough diversity. Right? Not so fast, says University of Illinois-Chicago professor Walter Benn Michaels, author of Our America: Nativism, Modernism and Pluralism.

In a Bastian Foundation Lecture Series entry at Westminster College, Dr. Michaels will argue that we have learned “to love identity and ignore inequality.” Are we serious about showing “respect” for other cultures and values, or are we serious about addressing the structural causes of classism? Tonight, shake up your assumptions about what we mean by “diversity”—and add to the diversity of the discussion by participating in the post-lecture conversation. (Scott Renshaw)

Dr. Walter Benn Michaels: The Trouble With Diversity @ Westminster College Gore Concert Hall, 1840 S. 1300 East, 801- 484-7651, Thursday, March 12, 7:30 p.m. WestminsterCollege.edu/Cultural_Events