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ADE kicks off diversity rally

Advocates for Diversity in Education kicked off their "October Camp" yesterday with a highly visible display of their support for maintaining race as a factor in admission to the University.

Organizers set up about 15 tents on the lower Lawn for participants of the group's "teach-in," which was scheduled to continue overnight and conclude early this afternoon. About 30 to 50 supporters at a time came and went throughout the day to attend speeches, performances and discussion groups.

The activities were designed to foster a dialogue about whether the University should keep its current admissions policy of using race as a factor in admissions, October Camp organizers said.

ADE members said they did not know how many people to expect, but said they were pleased with the turnout and hoped that more people would join their camp later in the evening.

"Visually, looking around here and seeing all the tents is very beautiful," said Jenny Johnson, a third-year Education student and event organizer.

Asst. Dean of Students Pablo Davis, who addressed the group in the afternoon, praised students for taking a stand on "one of the great issues of the day.

"This is a great occasion and well worth remembering and building on for the rest of the year and rest of your studies here, and indeed for the rest of your life," Davis said.

Speakers repeatedly stressed the importance of the event as a way to show continued support for using race as a factor in admissions at the University.

"Our [University's] reputation has increased since our diversity has increased," said Karen Holt, director for Equal Opportunity Programs, in her speech last night. "When you attend a university as a diverse student your education is strengthened."

Several speakers also pointed to the University's past, urging supporters to fight to maintain current admissions policies because the University needs to overcome its historic reputation as a school that did not welcome minorities.

"We won't go back, we won't go back [to a race-neutral admissions policy]... We should support affirmative action out of self-interest no less than out of justice," said Women's Studies Prof. Eileen Boris, who spoke in the morning.

Boris and others also responded to recent statements from University President John T. Casteen III and University Rector John P. Ackerly III, who have both said the University's admissions policy most likely will not change within the next year.

But "such a display of diversity [at October Camp] is still necessary," Boris said. "The statements are one thing, and the decision the Board of Visitors engages in is another thing."

Speakers also addressed the concerns of opponents of affirmative action.

Holt urged participants to "understand where [the opposition is] coming from," noting that affirmative action supporters should try to "outsmart and out-strategize" people who want to eliminate race as a factor in admissions.

Other speakers took an even stronger stand.

English Prof. Deborah McDowell dedicated a large portion of her speech to what she described as the underlying prejudices of opposing affirmative action.

"Anti-affirmative action sentiment, in its most vocal guises, is anti-African-American sentiment, in that we are wrongly seen to benefit more richly than any other category of the population in proportions unequal to our so-called 'natural' gifts," McDowell said.

Some people who did not support using race as a factor in admissions also visited the Camp in passing. Some stopped to address the group.

"It's allowed us to have dialogue that has strengthened our discussions after the speeches," third-year College student Molly Minturn said, who planned to spend the night on the Lawn.

College Republicans Chairman John Blair said he was not in favor of the policies advocated by the October Camp, but "respects their right to organize on the Lawn.

"I still feel race-based admissions are a policy of the past, and that the courts will send racial preferences in the direction they sent segregation in the Brown case," Blair said.

(Cavalier Daily Staff Writers Rakesh Gopalan, Edward Hock and Lindsay Wise contributed to this report.)

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