Student leaders failed to reach a consensus on how the University should respond to the results of the first 30 years of affirmative action admissions policies at a discussion panel Saturday.

The debate, sponsored by the Harvard Political Union (HPU), was titled "Affirmative Action: Diversity or Discrimination?" and aimed to expose the wide range of student views on the issue.

Although Eric S. Olney '98, President of the Harvard-Radcliffe College Democrats, supported affirmative action, he agreed it does not address the issue of socio-economic diversity.

"You would lose a lot of the diversity on this campus without affirmative action," Olney said. "You can't address all these issues at the same time. You have to make choices."

One of the challenges facing Saturday's panel was to define exactly what type of and at what level affirmative action should be discussed.

"It is premature to begin discussing whether or not to end affirmative action," said Joshua D. Bloodworth '97, president of the Black Students Association.

"Before we talk about affirmative action we need to talk about the continuing legacy of racism," he said.

Bloodworth urged the panel to consider the roots of discriminatory college admissions policies.

"We must look at students before they get to college, in a sense that teachers tend to favor male over female students and white over black students in their classrooms," he said.

"I also believe we need to consider the need for class-based affirmative action in addition to race-based affirmative action," he said.

Beth A. Stewart '00, a member of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC) and treasurer of the Undergraduate Council, criticized affirmative action.

"The title of this panel would imply that since I am against affirmative action I'm against diversity and for discrimination," said Stewart, the only woman on panel.

"We cannot argue that blacks bring diversity merely by the color of their skin. We do this nation a disservice when we base our search for diversity on affirmative action principles," she said.

The panel also discussed the distinction between class- and race-based affirmative action.

"I feel like at Harvard we have a lot of superficial diversity. Most people who get to Harvard have had a lot of opportunities and a lot have had the same opportunities," said Michael E. Driscoll '98, one of about 45 students and parents in the audience.