Contributing Writer
Affirmative action: It's an equal opportunity for minorities. It's a quota. It's a necessary law. It's an excessive policy.
Is it based on merit or based on preference? These are just some of the topics that will be discussed at 7 p.m. tonight in 206 Student Center.
The Alliance Working to Achieve Racial Equality (AWARE) has brought together six panelists from education, business and government. The panel will be moderated by assistant professor of political science Horace Bartilow.
One of the panelists, Professor of Education Virginia Davis Nordin, will be giving an informed definition of Affirmative Action.
When asked what Affirmative Action means to them, Melanie Cruz, Dawn Crutcher and Jason McDonald, all from the AWARE Steering Committee, said that even though they know what it means, it is hard to pin down an exact meaning.
"Affirmative Action is a topic we are dealing with more because of the effects of the president vetoing California's bill to abolish Affirmative Action," Crutcher said.
Like Kentucky, she said, most states are not as diverse in minorities as California is.
"Being from California, I can see why they might abolish it," said Cruz, executive director of Campus Affairs for the Student Government Association.
"It is diverse enough in California - minorities are getting more education and better jobs."
SGA members said it's their responsibility to support the discussion by making sure both sides are heard.
It will help ease racial problems among the students and the University, Cruz said.
"There is a misconception that minorities get into colleges and get better jobs due to Affirmative Action," Cruz said.
"Both sides can express themselves," McDonald said. "It will inform ... to allow others to make their own decision."
AWARE and SGA want the panel discussion to be an enlightening experience, not just to give one side more coverage than the other.
Crutcher said the most important factor is, "if they dismantle Affirmative Action, what are they going to replace it with?"
For more information about the discussion or AWARE visit the group's web site. Click here.
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