This publication includes six essays that were presented at the first of three tri-national seminars on diversity issues in higher education. The seminars brought together representatives and observers of higher education from India, South Africa, and the United States to explore the role of higher education in promoting understanding of human differences and challenges and the opportunities it presents to democratic societies. The first three chapters provide an overview of the historical context in which diversity issues are embedded in South Africa, the United States, and India. The next three discuss issues of special relevance to each country: higher education governance in South Africa, faculty development in the United States, and affirmative action in India. Chapters are: (1) "South African Higher Education: Diversity Overview" (Nasima Badsha and Ann Harper); (2) "A Brief Sociohistorical Odyssey of the American University through a Lens of Cultural Diversity" (Troy Duster); (3) "The Dynamics of Diversity and Higher Education: Initiatives and Challenges in the Indian Context" (Jayalakshmi Indiresan); (4) "Governance Arrangements in South African Higher Education" (Rahmat Omar and Brian Figaji); (5) "Faculty Development and Democratic Spaces of Possibility: Building Communities of Knowledge, Inclusion, and Commitment" (Caryn McTighe Musil); and (6) "Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education: The Indian Experience" (Mool Chand Sharma). (All chapters contain references and/or endnotes.) (SM)