Audience member Charisse Carney-Nunes, an attorney with the National Science Foundation, expressed frustration that even targeted outreach programs are now vulnerable to attacks from anti-affirmative action groups. Another participant wondered whether the unique barriers to admission facing African Americans could be effectively addressed by race-neutral solutions. How can socio-economic approaches, she asked, benefit Blacks when they are a minority even among the nation's poor?
Rather than dwell on the shortcomings of existing programs, panel moderator Dr. Kenneth R. Manning, a professor of rhetoric and history of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, urged the group to view the current environment as one offering opportunity to achieve what previous efforts could not.
If there is any good that has come of the last decade of challenges to affirmative action, Leicht said, it is the triggering of more innovative thinking. "It has us thinking there are other ways of doing what we're trying to do."
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