The Brandeis Republicans organized their second annual "Conservative Coming Out Week," which ended Friday and featured a series of events with a common goal: raising awareness of the conservative presence on campus and making conservative students feel more comfortable with their beliefs.The group's leaders called the week's events-which included a speech by Cathy Young, the editor of the right-leaning magazine Reason, a documentary on Ann Coulter and a screening of the movie Primary Colors-well-attended and successful.

Executive Director of the Brandeis Republicans Jacob Baime '08 said that while Brandeis focuses on diversity with regard to race, ethnicity and gender, there is rarely discussion of "the diversity of ideas."

"Most minorities at Brandeis are unafraid to share themselves with the community, but Republicans often fear ridicule for expressing their views," he said.

The events also included a showing of Brainwashing 101, a documentary on academic bias that argues faculty and administrators at many schools press their political views on students.

The movie was followed by a discussion with Prof. Jerry Cohen, the chair of the American studies department, on whether there is liberal bias at Brandeis.

Cohen said there is "not strong evidence of serious bias" at the University, but that the conservatives' complaints about intellectual diversity have some validity.

He said that conservatives at the University "feel isolated and scorned."

"Conservative students say that Brandeis' commitment to 'diversity' is a commitment to racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, the politically correct objects of Brandeis' compassion, but it is not a commitment to genuine intellectual diversity," Cohen wrote in an email to the Justice. "I think that is a serious complaint which I support.