In this essay, I explore the relationship between the politics of the production of knowledge and partisan attempts to interfere with it. I argue that, despite changing historical contexts, the line between this politics (understood as contests about meaning and power) and partisanship has never been secured. That is because there is a tension inherent in knowledge production that cannot be resolved by legislation, administrative fiat, or academic punditry. Academic freedom mediates the tension but does not resolve it because knowledge production is inherently critical of prevailing norms (whether in the sciences, social sciences, or humanities)—norms whose partisans seek to defend their integrity and their truth. The tension between politics and partisanship is the state (or the fate) of democratic higher education in America.

Recent projections indicate that by the year 2050, racial minorities will comprise more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. That is, the United States is expected to become a “majority-minority” nation. This essay adopts a social psychological approach to consider how these dramatic demographic changes may affect both racial minorities and white Americans.