This monograph examines and discusses the context for diversity leadership roles and practices in higher education by using research and theoretical and applied literatures from a variety of fields, including the social sciences, business, and higher education. Framing the discussion on leadership in this monograph is the perspective that American organizations respond to changes in their environment by seeking to co-opt features of that environment. Regarding diversity, the argument is advanced in this monograph that guided by the core value of efficiency, organizations respond to a changing environment by employing co-optive approaches rather than transforming themselves to fit the new environment. In this monograph, the authors argue that co-optive versus transformational organizational responses result in different forms of leadership in higher education regarding diversity. They also argue that institutions of higher education have responded to diversity by developing and promoting initiatives that seek only to window dress diversity or to create token opportunities for the expression of diversity. To enhance one's understanding of how institutions of higher education respond to diversity, especially initiatives that focus on leadership, each chapter in this monograph is designed to serve as a window for observing how diversity is shaped and promoted in different contexts in American higher education. The first chapter provides an overview of the persistent challenges faced by diversity rationales in higher education, using Justice Powell's decision in "Bakke" as an illustration. The following chapter discusses issues and concerns regarding the organizational culture for leadership that focuses on diversity issues and concerns in U.S higher education. The purpose of chapter three is to discuss and examine leadership models associated with diversity initiatives in higher education to assess the relative effectiveness of organizational strategies focused on diversity. The final chapter uses the conceptual framework for organizational strategies focused on diversity leadership developed in the previous chapter to discuss the effect of diversity leadership on the organizational culture and institutional climate in higher education, especially its effect in target areas such as student recruitment, curriculum reform, academic support, faculty recruitment, administrator recruitment, and institutional mission and vision. This monograph is intended to serve as a primer on organizational theory regarding the association between leadership and diversity in higher education. (Contains 1 table and 4 exhibits.)