'Bell Curve' sparks talk

The ramifications of The Bell Curve, a controversial book on race and intelligence by Charles Murray and Richard Herstein, were the focus of a colloquium entitled "Race and I.Q." held in the W.E.B. DuBois College House last night. Approximately 60 students attended the discussion. Assistant Education Professors Howard Stevenson and Vivian Gadsden led the talk and served as moderators. Stevenson proposed that The Bell Curve supported a fundamental American belief that intelligence can be measured. Gadsden claimed that The Bell Curve was a a tool devised to justify conservative public policy. It builds on ingrained racial prejudices and perennial myths of African-American inaptitude, she said. But Stevenson said that even if most intelligence tests are not used as part of a political agenda, they are irrelevant anyway because human intelligence defies measurement. The Bell Curve uses statistical analysis to assert that differing intelligence levels imply a hierarchical meritocracy of intelligence. According to The Bell Curve, African-Americans score on average fifteen points -- or one standard deviation -- lower than whites on intelligence quotient tests. Members of the Program for Awareness in Cultural Education -- which co-sponsored the program -- then led a discussion centering on the topic of race and I.Q. BiCultural InterGreek Council President and Wharton senior Wayne Wilson said The Bell Curve is damaging to African Americans. "[It is] only re-enforcing current prejudices because of the credentials of the authors," he said.

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