University of California Regent Ward Connerly and Harvard Law School Professor Christopher Edley squared off in a heated debate about affirmative action last night at the Kennedy School of Government’s ARCO Forum.

Speaking to the packed hall, Connerly, who was instrumental in securing the passage of Proposition 209 in California, said race-based decisions promote inequality. He said socioeconomic need rather than race should be given preference.

“The thing that sustained me and most of my generation was not affirmative action, but the belief that we were all created equal,” Connerly said. “To look at the color of somebody’s skin and to think we are going to [give that preference], that violates every belief I believe we ought to have.”

Proposition 209 prohibits public colleges and local governments from considering race in admissions and employment decisions.

But Edley, a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and a co-founder of the Harvard Law School’s Civil Rights Project, said affirmative action was crucial to ensuring excellence in any institution.

“We cannot afford to lay aside a tool that is constructive and the door to opportunity for many many people,” Edley said, stressing the importance of diversity in the classroom and workplace.

While Edley said socioeconomic considerations were important, he said the existence of a “color caste” in America was his more overriding concern.

“It is very imporant for Americans not to run away from issues of race,” he said.

Connerly said Edley’s argument overlooked racial diversity that is already prevalent, in part due to increasing rates of intermarriage.

“People are already beginning to melt in that melting pot,” Connerly said.

This social reality, he said, would complicate affirmative action—and leave unanswered the question of what categories racially mixed individuals should be placed in.

Connerly pointed to his own grandchildren as an example; Connerly said they are part Irish, French-Canadian, Choctaw Indian and African.

In the following question-and-answer session, Edley said the phrase “affirmative action” is itself a loaded term. He said conservatives use the term “race preference” while liberals use “affirmative action,” since polling shows that the former lowers support while the latter raises it.

Connerly said he supports non race-specific efforts to educate Americans and to increase racial understanding.

One student who attended the Institute of Politics forum expressed doubt about Connerly’s assertions.

“I certainly don’t buy into a lot of things Ward Connerly was premising his arguments on,” said Charles M.G. Moore ’04, who is vice-president of the Black Men’s Forum.