Over 50 students, faculty and administrators gathered for a forum held in the North Quad A/B Lounge on Tuesday night to participate in a two hour discussion about the nature of diversity at Brandeis University.The discussion was inspired by the racially inflammatory comments that appeared in an Oct. 21 sports column printed by the Justice.

"We're here not to talk about the Justice, but social justice," Community Advisor Rebecca Katz '06 said, who opened the forum.

She said the purpose of the forum was to heal rather than open old wounds, stating that the goal was to address the needs of individuals.

The first part of dialogue involved an activity in which participants were broken up into small groups. In the middle of each group stood ten rather ordinary cups, containing a different kind of bean.

It was explained that each bean stood for a different label. A split pea was considered to represent wealth, while a chickpea was labeled hispanic. Other beans stood for Asian, black, Christian, international, Jewish, queer, wealthy, white and a blanket category of other.

Participants were then asked to take a bean from a labeled cup every time the label described themselves, their families and finally their best friends.

The numerous resulting combinations served to raise discussion about the underlying reasons people obtained their specific blends of beans.

One topic highlighted was wether Brandeis fostered diversity. This lead into the round-circle discussion.

Prof. Harleen Singh (ROCL) who had just participated as a speaker in the colloquium, "The History of the 'N' Word" less than an hour before.

Singh said the mere act of using food was indicative of how at Brandeis not many people place much worth in a handful of beans, a striking contrast with much of the rest of the world.

"What do you think you are going to do with these beans afterward?" Singh asked all present.

Others said Brandeis students are too apt to discount controversy.

"Why isn't Brandeis considered the real world?" a student asked.

One participant answered by blaming the inherent culture at Brandeis for creating a student body too focused on ambition rather than society.

"To fit into the elite places of the oppressive culture, those who manage are the agents - whether willingly or unwillingly - of injustice," the participant said.

The question of responsibility came to forefront as well.

"Is it the minority's job to educate the majority?" one student asked.

In terms of the Justice, answers differed extensively. Out of those who believed that was the case, one said,

"There are some real issues here. There are issues like who has the power to control the media."

Others explained that minority students are too far and too few in between at the University to be expected to do everything.

"If I hear one more person say that black people need to join the Justice, I'm going to scream. Look at how many black people we have," an undergraduate said.

Others called for a change in the way the university is run.

Prof. Gordie Fellman (SOC) said, "the faculty haven't done a creative critique of the curriculum for fifteen to twenty years.