Affirmative Action Debated

A panel of student leaders debated the merits of affirmative action at a forum at the Kennedy School of Government last night.

Speaking before an audience of approximately 35 students, the six participants in the Institute of Politics forum "Affirmative Action: A Program Whose Time Has Passed?" focused on the validity of preferential admissions of minorities at Harvard.

Proponents said that if affirmative action is eliminated there is no way to assure minority rights.

"Those who oppose affirmative action will not stop at just affirmative action," said Royce Lin~ '96~~~ who is co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association.

Lin held a middle-ground position and in the course of the debate supported many of the arguments of both sides. "We should provide a framework in which we provide a degree of neutrality," he said.

Brian E. Malone '96, vice president of the Harvard Republican club, said that proponents of affirmative action weigh factors such as race too heavily in decisions such as college admissions or job allocations.

"Why is being Black as special a quality to bring to this college as being as cellist is?" Malone said.

Malone also said that preferential admissions for Blacks and other minorities have harmed whites and Asians. "Two wrongs don't make a right, and have whites and Asians really had it that good?"

Historian for the Black Student Association Dave W. Brown '97 said, "Even if you are from a high socio-economic class, you have a completely different mindset."

Malone responded, "The notion that Blacks have a different mindset, that's a kind of disgusting stereotype."

Panelist Virginia S. Loo '95-96, chair of the committee for women and minority faculty hiring, said that race cannot be discounted as being "just another attribute."

"Race, sexual orientation and gender need to be given more weight because they infiltrate an individual's lifestyle," Loo said.

Some audience members felt the dynamics which persisted between the two sides.

"I think Malone tried to deny the extent of discrimination in America today. I think you can't deny the past. Brown was very eloquent in articulating why the Black experience in America is unique due to the history of chattel slavery, lynching, and the system of Jim Crow segregation," said Seth D. Hanlon '98.

Derek T. Ho '96, president of the Harvard College Democrats, also participated in the debate, which was moderated by E. Michele Drake, chair of the Harvard Political Union and a Crimson editor.