Is there diversity at Colgate? In terms of race, yes, but there is still a long way to go – members of the discussion panel concluded in their Wednesday night debate session in front of over 50 students, faculty and staff members who were not discouraged by the sleet and the raging wind outside Olin Hall. The four faculty members, Dean of the Faculty Lyle Roelofs, Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Chair in Liberal Studies Marylin Thie, Professor of Political Science Staney Brubaker and Associate Professor of Computer Science Alexander Nakhimovsky presented their views in 10-minute speeches followed by a question-and-answer session moderated by junior Pat Kabat, leader of the Debate Society.”Colgate is a community that is intent on valuing difference and strives to be inclusive,” Roelofs said opening the line of arguments. Roelofs described Colgate as “already quite diverse,” and with the new diversity initiative, it can lead the country in terms of promoting diversity. He believes it is our moral imperative to strive for diversity, be equally welcoming and to make Colgate “a place [one] can work and be glad”. He called attention to the fact that we cannot achieve diversity by simple numbers: the “feel of diversity” is important, and in order to achieve that, the culture of Colgate needs changing.Professor Thie gave an introduction to the new Diversity Initiative, emphasizing that the new initiatives does not only mean that more students of color will be admitted. He described that students of majority should make a bigger effort to make minority students feel at home at Colgate by attending events organized by minority groups or through other action. Diversity issues can find their way into the curriculum as well: according to Thie, students will be introduced to the history of people of color in the classroom.”During my 31 years at Colgate, this is the first time there is such an impetus from the top of the administration to promote diversity,” Thie said.The speakers from the right side of the political spectrum, however, were more concerned with the oppression of conservativism on campus.”Can we expect our students to be thoughtful and perceptive if they only hear one side of the argument? Can we expect them to lead the country if they have not heard anyone sympathetic to half of the population? The answer is no,” protested Brubaker against the lack of intellectual diversity on campus. According to him, there are only three openly Conservative members of the faculty, all in the Political Science department, and the rest of the school “ranges from the left to the further left”. Brubaker likened Colgate to medieval universities, “mired in arcane debates on their own” that has no relevance to real life. When Dean Roelofs responded by offering to hire more Republicans, Brubaker rebutted him by saying “Thanks, we don’t need affirmative action.”The conservative speakers agreed that at Colgate, the viewpoint of the right is misrepresented, not only by biased faculty, but also from valued guests. They both denounced the idea of inviting speakers of the radical right, in particular Ann Coulter to campus. “She is not very intelligent,” said Nakhimovsky, who advised having a “sustained argument at a lower cost”, such as having discussions within the school instead of inviting expensive outside speakers. Another common point was the criticism of some of the academic programs at Colgate. Brubaker claimed that departments such as Peace Studies, Africana Studies and Woman’s Studies have “No conservatives, please” written on their doors, while Nakhimovsky proposed the addition of some new courses, such as one on political intolerance and another on totalitarian governments.”Only one type of diversity exists, and that is the diversity in personality,” Nakhimovsky argued when a student asked about the different types of diversity the members of the panel were talking about. In order to attract students with different personal experiences and personalities, Nakhimovsky suggested that Colgate start offering scholarships to soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan as well as an ROTC program.Students discussing their experiences with The Maroon-News complained much more about intellectual one-sidedness than racial prejudices.”As somebody who deeply believes in God, I really felt that my Challenge of Modernity class really oppressed the Christian perspective,” sophomore Jenni Cavazos told the Maroon-News. “I really missed the presentation of the Christian viewpoint about Darwin and Nietzsche, those would have made the discussions much more interesting.”According to the latest online poll of The Maroon-News, 35 percent of our online readers think socioeconomic diversity should be increased at Colgate, closely followed by the 33 percent rooting for intellectual diversity. 28 percent considered racial diversity to be a field in need of improvement, while only 4 percent thought of the need for more religious diversity.However, the solution to one kind of diversity may bring about improvement to other areas as well.”It is clear to my mind that if this college (and this country) can deal adequately with its race problem then it can certainly deal with its biases against gays and conservatives and Roman Catholics” sophomore Nzinga Job said. “It’s only about whether people can think openly.”