Returning to Class: Creating Opportunities for Multicultural Reform at Majority Second-Tier Schools I. hat a difference context can make in our understanding of the academic poli- tics of multiculturalism. In order to get a concrete sense of how different per- spectives can affect our understanding of the multicultural transformation of the college curriculum in general and English studies in particular, let us take a look at two representative examples of the impact of multiculturalism on higher ed- ucation. The first took place at Stanford University, a nationally known, private re- search university, a school with an international academic reputation. Led by the efforts of student activist organizations and several prominent scholars who have pub- lished widely and influentially, the university undertook a vast reorganization of their general studies program, the series of courses that all students must take and that pro- vide a common educational core before students specialize in specific majors. Previ- ously, this core program had centered on a group of texts labeled as “classic” examples of a cultural construct entitled “Western Civilization.” The reform movement ques- tioned the parochial, ethnocentric bias of this program and instead proposed a gen- eral studies program that is international in scope and that challenges students to encounter and wrestle with the diversity of the world’s cultures and their often con- flicted yet interdependent relationships. The program was introduced to great fan- fare and national media publicity. Almost immediately, forces opposed to the new program mounted an equally visible challenge. Led by wealthy conservative alumni groups and centered in a well- funded conservative think tank on campus, this reactionary countermovement also John Alberti is Associate Professor of English at Northern Kentucky University. He teaches courses in composition, American literature and culture, film studies, and critical theory, and he has served as Di- rector of the Writing Instruction Program. He has edited an essay collection on multicultural pedagogy, The Canon in the Classroom, and has published articles on teaching about race and class, American litera- ture, and rock and roll. He is currently working on a book-length study of the issues raised in this essay. 561 John Alberti College English, Volume 63, Number 5, May 2001 W Copyright © 2001 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.