Students and administrators convened in Old Cabell Hall auditorium Friday to discuss diversity in an attempt to bring new perspectives to an issue that has created much debate at the University over the last year.
The objective of "Charting Diversity: Commitment, Honor, Challenge" was to identify problems with current University policies regarding diversity and - with guidance from other universities - formulate a plan to foster increased diversity and interaction between cultural groups.
The conference kicked off a year-long series of roundtable discussions of current University practices and ways to encourage diversity at the University.
University President John T. Casteen III urged conference participants to consider new perspectives on such issues such as race as a factor in admissions.
Participants from outside the University community dominated the majority of Friday discussion.
"A greater investment of time and thinking and creativity" is needed for the University to maintain a diverse environment in the face of heightened opposition to race-based admissions policies, said Angela E. Oh, attorney and member of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission.
"Our media is not particularly bright on issues of education," Oh said, criticizing the way admissions policies are portrayed in mainstream media.
She also said that economic disparities along racial lines indicate the need for the use of race as a factor in admissions.
"Is it fair to expect students who don't have access to [Advanced Placement classes] to compete in the admissions process? Of course not," she added.
"Test scores are not going to give you any information about leadership capabilities," Oh said.
Michael T. Nettles, professor of education at the University of Michigan, also argued for race-based admissions policies.
He said 80 percent of black students score below 1000 on the SAT, and almost 50 percent of teachers in predominantly minority high schools did not major or minor in the subject they are teaching.
Nettles also said a strong correlation exists between family income and performance on the SAT, another factor that may hinder the test scores of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Gene Lowe, assistant to the president of Northwestern University, stressed the need to involve all factions of the University community in fostering diversity - including faculty members as well as administrators and students.
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