Last night's USG Minority Issues forum brought together 10 panelists for a discussion on racial self-segregation.
A crowd of approximately 100 students and several administrators filled the area in front of the display wall, with audience members trickling in throughout the course of the discussion.
Diverse audience
The Frist Campus Center was chosen for its accessibility and ability to draw passersby, said organizers Sam Todd '04 and Olivier Kamanda '03.
The audience, of which more than half belonged to minority groups, was active in the debate and often expressed loud disapprovals of panelists' opinions. A few unpopular members of the panel took the brunt of the criticism from the audience.
Color-blind
The views that drew the most controversy may have been those expressed by panelist Eric Wang '02, who argued that race should not be a defining characteristic.
"There shouldn't be this notion of race. Skin color is irrelevant," Wang said. "We should move toward a new age when there should not be these disparities, these conditions broken down along racial lines."
Wang's opinions were echoed by Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky '04, who warned of the dangers of identity politics.
"To base your politics on your culture is almost always dangerous," Ramos-Mrosovsky said.
Race as an identity
Jose Juan Melendez '04 responded: "I think that skin color, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation as part of our identity is not a fallacy. I think it's a necessary thing.
"I tend to associate with people who share my same beliefs," he added. "It's not because I want to exclude myself from the mainstream, but it's because I share something with those people and it's natural for me to seek those people."
The controversy over self-segregation may have been just what the organizers were looking for.
"[The topic of self-segregation] is something that will bring many people out, and it'll open a lot of discussion," Todd said. "We feel that it's a problem that encompasses so many issues on campus."
On the other hand, some may have felt the controversy to be a negative outcome.
"I think this sort of event may be self-defeating because everyone ends up walking away more angry than they were," panelist Jamie Chan '03 said.
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