New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Mar 8, 2026 David B. Oppenheimer is Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is author of The Ubiquity of Positive Measures for Addressing Systemic Discrimination and Inequality: A Comparative Global Perspective. He is coauthor of the book, Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society. His newest book is The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea. Here he describes the principle that diverse groups of people are more effective at creative problem solving than homogenous groups. This idea has been recognized since the founding of the University of Berlin in 1810 by Wilhelm Von Humboldt. Over the last thirty years it has been confirmed in over a thousand scientific studies. He contests the claim that diversity represents discrimination against the majority group of, typically, white males. 00:00 Introduction: science and the war against diversity 03:05 From skepticism to evidence in diversity research 06:18 Diversity as many sides not two sides 07:13 Supreme court rulings and political backlash 13:42 Historical roots of diversity in universities 15:18 Why homogeneous groups underperform 16:33 SAT testing and structural bias 20:31 Diversity science and measurable results 29:43 Power fear economics and modern resistance 52:09 Conclusion New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on Sunday February 22, 2026)
