Professors and lawyers from around the country convened on campus yesterday to discuss the importance of affirmative action programs in college admissions.
The symposium, entitled "Achieving Equal Opportunity and Diversity in Higher Education," took place at the University Museum of Anthropology. About 60 people, mostly faculty, attended the conference, which ran throughout the day.
Yesterday's meeting was the first of its kind, and event organizers said they wanted the conference to increase the level of discussion of minority affairs at the University.
"The intent is to raise the bar in conversation around diversity," said Egbert Perry, co-chairman of the symposium. "We want to make sure conversation is being held" about the role affirmative action plays in increasing diversity, he added.
The panelists at the meetings included both Penn professors and students.
"They are the leaders in affirmative action," Perry said.
"Some of the experts are the best people speaking on this [issue]" symposium co-chairwoman Patricia Marin added.
Speakers were quick to emphasize the importance of affirmative action in ensuring a diverse community at universities.
"It's been established that without affirmative action, the number of minority students would be almost inconsequential," said James Cott, associate director of litigation for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
However, Harward Law Professor Christopher Edley Jr., yesterday's keynote speaker, said he believes that faculty "have a responsibility to mend it or end it," in reference to affirmative action.
Several speakers claimed that a diverse student body is essential in encouraging people to move beyond their "comfort zones."
"Diversity is a good element," Vincent Eng, legal director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, said. "If we're in a situation with less diversity, what we're doing with a less diverse campus is segregating ourselves."
"The University has to make sure students of diverse backgrounds can be made comfortable," added College junior Shaun Gonzales, political chairman of Penn's United Minorities Council.
Students who spoke at the conference said they believe a significant portion of the burden of increasing diversity falls on the university itself.
"The University's responsibility is to make sure students experience diversity," said Black Student League Chairman Brian Larkin, a Wharton junior.
Speakers and organizers said they felt academic institutions were making strides in admission rates of minority students.
"I was excited to find Penn provides cultural diversities," College senior Jennifer Kwon said.
However, panelists said they thought too little attention is being paid to issues of diversity within the faculty.
"My primary concern is low retention of minority faculty," Kwon said. "Too few minorities go on to doctoral degrees." She added that she believes this is because graduate minorities are not encouraged to look into academics as a profession.
"Diversity is almost non-existent" in the faculty, Gonzales said.
But while Penn was a focus for criticism, the problem stretches to many other schools.
"In the Harvard Law School faculty... there is not a single Latino, not a single Asian American," Edley said. "And we are all the poorer for it."
Opinion was divided among speakers on the best way to address this issue.
"I think it's gonna be very hard to increase the number of minority faculty in certain positions," said Biochemistry Professor Phoebe Leboy, who participated in two panel discussions during the day.
Leboy claimed that the School of Engineering and Applied Science has always had trouble hiring minority faculty, and that it is easier to obtain social science minority professors.
Several other speakers, though, proposed alternative solutions.
"We need to encourage faculty [in math and science] to teach to engage students," said College senior Noga Newberg, an Alliance and Understanding board member.
The James Brister Society, a group of of Penn alumni who advise and assist the University in minority student recruitment, organized the symposium in conjunction with the Office of Affirmative Action.
