Panel debates diversity issues

Due to a pending Supreme Court case involving University of Michigan's admission standards, the affirmative action debate is on the rise nationwide. \nA goal of IU's Office of Academic Support and Diversity is to "work collaboratively with student organizations, faculty, and administrative units to educate them on the value of diversity." This is exactly what CommUNITY Educator sophomore Crystal Brown intended for her affirmative action discussion that took place in Forest Quad Thursday night.\nStudents listened to a panel of three distinguished members from IU: School of Law Professor Kevin Brown, Director of the Office of Affirmative Action Julie Knost and Diversity Educator Mark Bryson. \nThe diversity issues discussed hit home with audience members, as people from many different backgrounds attended the program.\nProfessor Brown discussed diversity from his own perspective. Brown said it baffles him when his "white colleagues" in the School of Law say they rarely think about their race.\nBryson said the affirmative action process is highly misunderstood by a lot of folks.\n"Quotas are not affirmative action," Bryson said. "Women have been the greatest benefactors of affirmative action -- not African-Americans."\nBryson went on to discuss the University of Michigan Supreme Court case. \n"I don't think the Michigan case is an affirmative active case," Bryson said. "I think it's an education issue."\nWhether or not the Michigan case involves affirmative action, the outcome of the case will affect IU, Knost said.\nShe said the current Michigan case will affect all students, and not just in selective situations. "We have the largest number of freshman that there has ever been at IU and some discussion has gone on about whether or not to have an admissions cap," Knost said. "And if that happens, we may then change our selection process at the undergraduate level."\nKnost also said 70 to 73 percent of all undergraduates at IU are Indiana residents, and that this poses a problem because "we are not a particularly diverse state."\nKnost noted that the percentage of minorities on the Bloomington campus generally reflects the demographics of the entire state.\nSophomore Rahsaan Bartet thought the program helped clear up a lot of misconceptions about affirmative action.\n"I came here tonight because I wanted to hear officials from IU talk about affirmative action," Bartet said. "I thought it was a great program on affirmative action and how it reflects not just blacks, but everyone."\nCrystal Brown agrees with Bartet on the success of the discussion. \n"I think it was very informative," she said. "I sponsored the program because I wanted people to get the truth"