All manners were put aside last Wednesday night as the College Republicans and the College Democrats met for a debate on affirmative action. The debate was held by the two groups in Hallett Hall to raise awareness of diversity on campus and how it is achieved.
Before any actual discussion began on whether affirmative action is a system that should be used, Rodney Lewis of the Office of Admissions took the floor to speak about CU’s policy.
“The University of Colorado believes in and actively participates in affirmative action in order to increase diversity around campus,” said Lewis. “There are no quotas being met through this system, and there are no points awarded to anyone of any certain race using this system.”
Affirmative action is a program that aims to increase the representation of minorities in areas of employment and higher education. The controversy lies is in how this is achieved.
Bryan Rodman, a freshman aerospace engineering major and the speaker for the College Republicans stated that he “is not against support for minorities.”
He said he does take issue with affirmative action because “it should not be a factor in whether a person is admitted into a university or not. The problem with affirmative action is that it discriminates against both the majority and the minority.”
In contrast with Rodman, Jesse Hogue, speaker for the College Democrats and a senior political science major, said, “Discrimination is illegal in the United States. If affirmative action was in any way a form of discrimination, it would not be legal.”
Hogue said people need to ask themselves, “Where should (the United States) be, are we there and what is the cost of getting there?”
Hogue said his way of getting there is through affirmative action and the cost “is very low. No one is hurt by a system that increases diversity.”
Jen Tilden, a junior sociology major, attended the debate in hopes that it would raise awareness of diversity issues for students at CU.
“Affirmative action often gets a very bad rap, but awareness needs to be continually raised,” said Tilden.
