As the diversity of people in higher education grows, universities are struggling to provide inclusive environments that nurture the spirit of free inquiry in the presence of these differences. Throughout my career as an astronomer, I have witnessed these struggles first-hand. Exclusive cultures result in unfulfilled potential of all members of the institution — students, administrators and faculty alike. This Perspective draws on insights from dynamical systems descriptions of conflict developed in the social and behavioural sciences to present a model that captures the convoluted, interacting challenges that stifle progress on this problem. This description of complexity explains the persistence of exclusive cultures and the inadequacy of simple fixes. It also motivates the necessity of prolonged and multifaceted approaches to solutions. It is incumbent on our faculties to recognize the complexities in both problems and solutions, and persevere in responding to these intractable dynamics, on our administrations to provide the consistent structure that supports these tasks, and on all of our constituents to be cognizant of and responsive to these efforts.

随着高等教育中人的多样性的增长，大学正在努力提供包容性的环境，以在存在这些差异的情况下培养免费探究的精神。在我作为天文学家的整个职业生涯中，我亲眼目睹了这些斗争。独特的文化导致该机构所有成员（学生，行政管理人员和教职员工都无法发挥潜力）。该观点从社会和行为科学中对冲突的动力学系统描述中汲取了深刻见解，从而提出了一个模型，该模型捕获了困扰该问题进展的复杂且相互作用的挑战。这种对复杂性的描述解释了专有文化的持续存在和简单修复的不足。这也激发了采取长期，多方面的解决方案的必要性。