Affirmative action, hate crimes, prejudice and students' personal experiences with these three issues came up last night when the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) "Blacks and Jews in Conversation" made a stop at Penn State.

The event began with discussion from three panelists: Jeffrey Ross, director of Campus and Higher Education Affairs for the ADL; Shannon Taylor, director of the discussion series; and Elba Castro, director of Council to the Court Facilities in the Office of Court Administration of New York.

Although only about 20 students attended the forum, which was sponsored by Penn State Hillel and Black Caucus, discussion continued for over an hour.

"Issues come up every day that deal with race, hate and religion, and I want to engage [the audience] and hopefully change this," Castro said.

With the U.S. Supreme Court reviewing affirmative action decisions, this was a hot topic for debate among the students.

"Many students are not educated about affirmative action, and it is very frustrating," Heather Fowler (freshman-bioscience) said.

Fowler added she received a scholarship, and some of her peers debated whether race was a deciding factor in the award.

Along with affirmative action, the topic of hate crimes also fueled some debate.

"Deep, core hatred is growing, and this is a serious threat to our societies and our campuses," Shannon said. "We need to bridge these gaps between people of different cultural backgrounds."

Throughout the night, the audience came to a general consensus that education about different cultures, backgrounds and races needs to happen.

"We have so far to go in bridging the gap between where people come from and where they are going," Loren Filson (senior-science) said.

She also added that the areas around Penn State do not produce much diversity for the campus and the community.

Although a larger turnout was expected, organizers considered the event a great success.

"I thought it was a good program, and I think that we need to have more students of different racial and cultural backgrounds come together," said Takkeem Morgan, Undergraduate Student Government vice president.

Morgan worked within Black Caucus to head the event along with David Meckley, director of student life for Hillel.

The students who attended the forum were given a challenge by the panel.

They were told to go out the next day and talk with three different students on campus.

The goal is to understand the cultural differences between them.

"I hope that the students learn that they themselves can do something about racism, prejudice, bigotry and anti-Semitism," Meckley said.

"I want them to know that they can make the difference."