When questions were called for, hands of different colors shot up in the crowd. Some were rough and calloused, while others were young and graceful but all were ready to seize answers from anti-diversity advocate Jared Taylor.
Taylor, a Yale graduate and the founder and editor of the American Renaissance journal, came to Texas A&M to speak about what he sees as the dangers of racial diversity within America and the University.
Diversity does not achieve the kinds of things [the Texas A&M administration] pretends it will, Taylor said. It doesnt make your education any brighter and it doesnt make you any more competitive. At the same time, its achieved by racial discrimination.
He said race was the most apparent illustration of differences among the human population.
What is diversity? Its supposed to include quite a large number of things: religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, Taylor said. But the one that is most important from an institutional point of view in the United States is race.
Taylor finds this visual representation of difference important and intertwined within the genes of humans.
How would I define race? he said. Well, its like defining dog breeds. Race, for humans, is a function of where your ancestors evolved and it results in biological differences.
Taylor also said race is more than skin deep. Though he said many researchers do not feel comfortable studying possible connections between ethnicity and traits such as personality or intelligence, he believes this relationship exists and works within society, whether it is acknowledged or not.
I suspect that once genomic studies become far more fine-grained, I think it will turn out that there are temperamental differences between races, Taylor said.
Taylor said these variations between races are apparent on a social level.
The United States in the days before diversity was a wonderful place to live in, Taylor said. And thats why other people came. I dont blame non-whites who want to come and live in the United States. Its perfectly normal. Whites in America, and all around the world, have built very agreeable, successful societies. Thats why all of the huge migration streams are from non-white countries which are not such nice places to live into white countries.
Taylor said he mourned the move to diversity and that advocating diversity would ultimately lead to the destruction of the white population.
Any group that does not allow itself to have legitimate interests is going the way of the dodo, Taylor said. Its consigned its way to oblivion.
Many of the students who attended Taylors talk disagreed with his definition of race and the problems associated with it. Silvia Ruiz, senior sociology major, criticized Taylors view of race as a biological construct.
His point of view is very old fashioned, Ruiz said. His definition of race is biological. [It] is a classical definition of race and not a contemporary definition of race and has been disproven by scientific evidence. He used examples of genes to mockingly prove his point.
Ruiz also said she found Taylors claim, that individual racial groups lacked internal diversity, problematic.
I think a great flaw in his argument is that he assumes that all racial and ethnic groups are homogenous among themselves and share all the same interests and views, Ruiz said.
Kamiar Kordi, junior economics and political science major, said diversity is not something to be feared but celebrated.
I think that the inclusion of all people, no matter their race, color, gender or sexual orientation is one of the most important things of A&M, Kordi said. Having the diverse set of individuals come to A&M not only benefits the individual, but the University as a whole.