The central problem surrounding the presence en masse of affinity groups in the Annex last week seems to be one not of understanding, but of knowledge. The distinction is fine but crucial: the problem is not so much that some students don't understand why their peers feel marginalized as that they don't understand what the event was intended to accomplish.

We have received conflicting messages from various sources, evidence of the confusion surrounding last week's events. We have heard from attendees of the planning meeting that the event's original intent was to show solidarity among affinity groups and that the Annex was merely a convenient venue because of its visibility and size; we have heard from denizens of the Annex that affinity group members sat for two-hour shifts and berated one another for letting white students sit near them; we have heard from individual affinity group members that they were there to shake things up and unseat white students; we have heard from innumerable sources that "they were just having dinner." If it is possible to get one answer, we would like a clearer understanding of the purposes of this event, what organizers outlined and how reality differed from the ideal.

Amid disagreement about what actually happened and what was intended to happen, athletes' sensitivity toward the implication-however unintended-that they're being targeted as racist is understandable. But we are also concerned that discussion among non-participants has centered on race, even though groups such as FACE and QUAC participated in the Annex dinners as well.

Many justifications of last week's dinner events hinge on the idea that since they got people talking, they were good. This sounds all right, but it's not immediately obvious that talking about something is positive in and of itself. It's not hard to get people to tender opinions on serious issues, but it's more difficult getting them to talk constructively. To make sure that this happens, we suggest that the Red Room forum not be the last structured discussion of prejudice and marginalization at Amherst.

If after this event people continue through Valentine exactly as they did before, we have accomplished nothing. Monday's forum was a step on the way to making last week's events matter. They can be remembered as one weird little week in Amherst history or as a genuine milestone; it's all up to us. But we need to take the next step well-informed and with intentions clear.