There had been substantial debate about the intent and result of the action both on The Daily Jolt's forum and throughout the community.
"I felt like we concentrated a lot on Valentine and there were other deeper issues that needed to be discussed," Rajiv D'Cruz '02 told The Student, adding that the issue of privilege had only been raised at the very end of the meeting.
But D'Cruz added that it was difficult to gauge the success of the forum, though he suspected that some people had gained insight, on an individual basis. "Understanding might have been imparted to some people," he said.
"I thought it was successful," said Steve Ruckman '01, who was one of the facilitators. "I had hoped that more of the sentiments expressed on The Jolt were discussed in the dialogue last night, but I thought it was a very important first step in discussion ... It's hard when you're face to face with people."
The discussion began when several students said that they felt the event had been carried out in a confrontational manner.
"Why did it have to be so hostile?" said Aatish Taseer '03. "Did it have to shock people?"
"People were preventing other individuals from sitting down," added another student, one of several who did not want to be named.
But some students said that it needed to be controversial in order to raise consciousness.
"I don't think this many white people would have been in this room if it weren't such a controversial issue," said Vanessa Olivier '01.
Others said that the event had not been hostile at all.
Myrialis Moran-Nieves '03, one of the organizers of last week's event, said that they had specifically decided not to make it into a protest. "We weren't holding hands. We weren't chanting," she said.
"I'm just so pleased that people are here and talking about issues," added Moran-Nieves. "Our main goal was dialogue."
Olivier emphasized that people had not all chosen to participate for the same reason. "We all had different reasons for being involved," she said.
Marisol Thomer '02 explained that she had hoped to show a common cause by sitting with members of the affinity groups. "We kind of have experienced similar things at Amherst College," she said. "Integration wasn't our goal-it was showing solidarity."
Amber Young '01, another of the organizers, said that one of the things that sparked her to help plan the event was many students' negative reactions to the recently-painted graffiti in the gameroom of Keefe Campus Center.
Young said that many students had complained that the graffiti did not belong because it was not representative of Amherst students. "That graffiti does represent a lot of the students here. It does belong here," she said. "Think about us as Amherst College students, too."
Several students said that they did not feel comfortable at Amherst.
"I am on the outside; I'm sort of a trophy," said one student.
"I do not feel comfortable on this campus," added Thomer. "Every time I wake up, every time I go to bed, I don't feel like I belong here."
But a number of students explained that they did not understand what it was about the Amherst campus that made people feel marginalized.
"I've never had to walk into a room and feel marginalized," said one student who identified himself as "as a white, male athlete."
"I would like to know what exactly the marginalized feeling is like," he said.
"I don't understand how it's a white, male athlete campus," said Jon Krause '01, adding, however, that he was not denying that it could be. "What is it that this culture does that makes people feel marginalized?"
Other students reiterated their discomfort and sense of marginalization.
"I wasn't there as a white ally; I was there because I feel marginalized as a blue-collar woman at Amherst," said Area Coordinator Kathleen Broderick, who joined the affinity groups in the annex last week.
Broderick explained her reaction to the campus when she arrived. "When I got here, I realized this is a white man's campus," she said. "That image is, I hope, nobody's intention, yet everybody suffers because affinity groups don't feel validated at Amherst, whether they realize it or not."
"I am certain that the typical Amherst student is a white athlete," added another student.
"I'd never been in a place so white, so upper-middle class," Thomer said of her arrival at Amherst.
Several students questioned the decision of the students to sit specifically in the annex.
"There's a lot of things I don't understand about why you chose the annex," said Yan Tutschka '02.
"People are afraid to go in the annex," explained Moran-Nieves.
"I sat in the annex because I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting there," said another student. "I was sitting there to piss people off."
"Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't feel that animosity. I still sit wherever I want to," said Blake Sparrow '04.
"I don't see people staring at me when I walk in," added Sparrow. "It's just a place to sit."
"I think that the staring that people people are talking about is bullshit," added another student.
Moran-Nieves said, however, that she had heard students questioning the affinity groups' right to sit in the annex last week.
"The larger purpose of the dialogue is to talk about how these different cultures can better communicate," said Zak Yorke '03, who was one of the facilitators of Monday's discussion.
"A recognition that there are different groups on this campus is important," added Tene Howard '01, another facilitator.
"When we group ourselves together ... then we're already taking a step back," said another student.
A different student suggested that the abolition of theme houses might solve some of the racial issues on campus. "Do the Jews go over here?" he said in reference to the division of the campus that he indicated he felt theme houses produce.
Students also discussed the extent to which people had a responsibility to make an active effort to end racism in the College community.
"I don't think that everyone has a responsibility," said Chris Maloof '02.
But others disagreed. "If you're not actively trying to fight it, then you're perpetuating it," said D'Cruz.
"There are a lot of people here who think they're allies, but don't do anything about it. That's no help," said Andy Op't Hof '01. "People need to be stronger allies. And that doesn't just mean that rich white males need to be allies to everyone else. This is everyone's burden."