As campuses hire “Diversity Directors” and implement “Diversity Initiatives“, you might naturally assume that all student groups are excited when they can promote real diversity.

You would be wrong.

Joy Chen at UC Berkeley’s California Patriot reports that “diversity” oriented groups were noticeably absent from a forum they requested to discuss race relationship related events:

On Thursday October 6, 2011, UC Berkeley’s Undergraduate Political Science Association (UPSA) held a one and a half hour panel discussion on Affirmative Action and SB 185. The panel speakers were: Shawn Lewis (Berkeley College Republicans-BCR), Andre Louis (Students for Liberty-SFL), Marco Amaral (La Raza), Glynn Custred (co-author of Proposition 209), Ronald Cruz (attorney for By Any Means Necessary-BAMN), Ruben Elias Canedo Sanchez (Student Life Advising Services/Educational Opportunity Program Research Coordinator).

This forum was the first following the bake sale in hopes of creating a nonpartisan event (which would allow for the discussion of race considerations in California Public University). Campus groups including Black Student Union (BSU), La Raza, and Movimiento Estudiantil Chican de Aztlán (MEChA), By Any MeanNecessary (BAMN), Cal Dems, and even the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) wanted the Berkeley College Republicans to discuss the issue of race in affirmative action in a more “constructive” and less “offensive” manner.

However, when push came to shove, the forum was a huge let down. The vast majority of attendees were associated with Students for Liberty and the Berkeley College Republicans themselves. It begs the question: If so many groups found our methods to be so offensive and had hoped that we would have constructive dialogue, why did none of them show up? The same people that criticized our methods failed to attend the discussion they hoped we would hold instead.

But of course, the answer is plain and simple. They are not interested in dialogue which does not come as a surprise. The BCR executive board and board of directors have long known the problem with the left which is that they are willing to do everything short of answering the hard questions. That is why we decided to hold a bake sale.

Berkeley College Republicans held a bake sale to protest California Senate Bill 185, which authorizes the California University system “to consider race, gender, ethnicity… along with other relevant factors”. The bill provides no language explaining how these classification schemes would be considered nor defines what ‘other relevant factors’ would be assessed.