The diversity seat debate goes back to the creation of the new AAS constitution last spring, when, after extensive debate, the diversity senate seats included in the old constitution were adapted and carried over into its successor.
Since the beginning of this fall, several senators and students have challenged the diversity seats. Currently five students are seeking to oust them from the constitution through a petition and student-body referendum.
There are four active diversity seats on the senate representing the Latino/a, Asian, lesbian/bisexual/gay transgender (LBGT) and international student communities. One group, College conservatives, was denied a seat.
The diversity senator issue has received some recent national press, beginning with a piece by Stanley Kurtz in the National Review Online that ran on Oct. 30. An opinion article by Jeff Jacoby appeared in the Boston Globe on Nov. 17 that discussed diversity senators at the College and at Tufts University. Tonight Theodore Hertzberg '04, chairman of the Amherst College Republicans, will appear on the FOX show "Hannity and Colmes" and debate the show's two hosts. "The debate will be about diversity senators, but I will try to make it about the way diversity is defined," said Hertzberg.
Both Kurtz and Jacoby's pieces have taken notice of the Amherst College Republican's attempt to win a diversity seat for College conservatives.
Kurtz challenged diversity seats as a distortion of democratic values. "Of course the whole idea of 'diversity seats' mocks democracy," he wrote. "Under the guise of aiding minorities, a leftist majority tyranny stacks the political deck by packing the Senate with like-minded votes, over and above what a fair election would have yielded." He chided the Amherst conservatives for attempting to win a seat at all. "The student senate and conservatives alike are caught in the contradiction," he wrote.
However, Hertzberg has said he intended to apply for and be denied a conservative seat in order to demonstrate the absurdity of the seats in general. "This was, from the get-go, an attempt to demonstrate how ridiculous the notion of diversity seats are," he told Jacoby. "They are nothing more than a way of giving preference to favored groups on campus."
Jacoby also came out against diversity seats in his Globe piece.
"But 'diversity seats' at Amherst and Tufts, like diversity policies almost everywhere, are not really about giving voice to the voiceless," he wrote. "Their purpose is to stack the deck, to empower those who can be trusted to toe the leftist line. An elected body that sets aside diversity seats debases real democracy, or course. It also debases real diversity."
FOX News reporter Alisyn Camerota's interviews focused primarily on the existence of diversity seats at the College and the denial of a seat to College conservatives.
Hertzberg argued to Camerota that diversity seats should not exist at the College. She asked him, "Are conservative students silenced on campus?" He told her that conservative students are silenced "in a way," but added that "we can't breed equality with unequal treatment."
He said that "how a person thinks" should be what matters in the senate.
"I hope this gets people thinking about what diversity means on campus," he said, adding that, "Amherst could be a more vibrant marketplace of ideas."
Christ Sorrentino '06, the LBGT diversity senator, told Camerota in his interview with her that he felt that the reason for the LBGT seat was due in part to unaddressed heterosexism on campus. "I felt that if I was able to have this seat then I could shed some light on that problem and also be an outlet for queer students who wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable speaking to their regular senator about an issue dealing with their sexuality," he said following the taped interview.
Ali Hassan '05 is one of the students who are supporting the petition to do away with the diversity senate seats. Though he said that he thinks that the press coverage of the issue is "all very silly," he did grant Camerota an interview. He said later that the existence of diversity seats "implies that Amherst is a community where minority views are silenced."
Alan Vazquez '03, who identifies himself as a conservative but also serves as the diversity senator for the Latino/a community, also spoke to Camerota on camera. "I told her as both a Hispanic and a conservative on campus that I feel that I have to defend my conservative ideas more than my Hispanic culture," he said. "However, I told her, even though there is a need for an increased dialogue for conservatives on campus, the College representatives have both taken the proper course in this serious matter."
Vazquez suggested to Camerota that the reason conservatives did not win a diversity seat was due to Hertzberg's behavior at the senate meeting when the seats were approved.
Hertzberg explained to Camerota in an off-camera conversation that he thinks that the fact that an individual must go before the senate to be approved or denied a diversity seat in the name of a community is another flaw in an already flawed system.
"Instead of allowing the members of these groups to choose their representatives, the senate ends up deciding who should and should not be in their ranks," said Hertzberg.