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Lauren Wimer Photographer
University School of Law Professor Steve Bender (right) talks with judge Paul J. De Muniz before his CODAC lecture on Saturday.
Diversity ruling addressed
in campus CODAC summit
The Center on Diversity
and Community examined
affirmative action and the
changing face of campus
By Nika Carlson
Freelance Reporter
A lecture room full of 120 students
and campus and community leaders
sat silent with grave faces as an elderly
man broke into tears, saying the goals
of affirmative action would not move
forward until he and his generation
i| were dead.
I The Center on Diversity and Com
| munity hosted a summit on Saturday
I to discuss the June U.S. Supreme
. Court ruling, which said that public
universities have a "compelling inter
| est in diversity."
The court determined that it is legal
; to consider race or ethnicity in the
university admission's process when
done in an individualized and flexible
way. The two decisions were the first
Supreme Court deliberations of affir
mative action in 25 years.
Speakers at Saturday's event
I focused on the possible effects of the
ruling and what they might mean for
the future of racial equality.
The summit's keynote speaker,
Oregon Supreme Court Judge Paul
J. De Muniz, said the educational ben
efits of diversity are substantial. He
added that diversity promotes learn
ing and better prepares students for
an "increasingly global world" by
exposing them to "widely diverse peo
ple, cultures and ideas."
ASUO President Maddy Melton
agreed.
"Diversity enriches all our educa
tions," Melton said. "1 think my opin
ion would take that one further. We're
also still making up for being histori
cally and currently discriminatory. I
think (affirmative action) is a neces
sary thing."
The University does not currently
have an affirmative action policy for
undergraduate admissions.
The 12 speakers at the conference
said that despite growth in nation
wide minority populations, people of
color continue to be underrepresent
ed in leadership positions and over
represented in prisons and school
drop-out statistics.
In 2002, the nationwide minority
population was at almost 20 per
cent, according to the U.S. Census
Bureau. By 2050, the Bureau projects
the percentage will jump to almost
half the population.
In spring 2003, 12.6 percent of
University undergraduates identified
themselves as an ethnic minority, up
from 12.3 percent in spring 1995,
according to the University Office of
the Registrar.
The changing face of the nation's
population had many of the confer
ence speakers challenging members
of the audience to examine their own
relationship with diversity.
"If we're talking about affirmative
action and not talking about the sys
tem that creates the need for it, noth
ing will change," said Samuel Brooks,
a member of the Oregon Association
of Minority Entrepreneurs.
Brooks was not alone in saying it
would take more than affirmative
action to solve the country's diversi
ty issues.
"TTie debate over affirmative action
is far from settled," De Muniz said.
De Muniz added that the deci
sions made by the Supreme Court
"reaffirmed what all of us in Ameri
ca know to be true: Race unfortu
nately still matters."
Nika Carlson is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
GO ^
DUCKS!
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EMBROIDERY
344-7288
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Today's crossword solution
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub
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