On Wednesday, the Cardinal Conservatives continued the contentious discussion over affirmative action by hosting a lecture with Ward Connerly, founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly, who founded the Institute to inform the public about racial and gender preferences, chose to speak at the University after hearing about the campus-wide controversy sparked by the Cardinal Conservative’s Nov. 8 affirmative action bake sale.

“I am not a fan of affirmative action bake sales,” Connerly said during the lecture. “I think they do the very thing they call attention to. They have been fashionable on college campuses for the better part of a decade. But one thing I have learned is that the people who sponsor them are not racist. They are people who are trying to call attention to an issue through the process of satire, and sometimes the satire fails and people are unwilling to discuss the issue raised by the bake sale.”

Connerly also discussed his own opinion of the concept and the implications of affirmative action, which advocated a change of focus from race to socioeconomic background.

“There is nothing inherently wrong with affirmative action, but over time it gathered a lot of baggage,” Connerly said. “We should all want to expand access to people with low incomes or people, whose parents never went to college, as there are a lot of obstacles. We have to shed the practice of classifying people on skin color, how they spell their last names, or gender bias. As Sandra Day O’Connor says, we cannot enshrine into our laws something the Constitution barely tolerates.”

A large number of students attended the lecture in the Public Affairs Center (PAC), even filling a second room that broadcasted a video recording of the event. Although some of the questions asked after the lecture expressed annoyance at Connerly’s stance on affirmative action, others enjoyed the talk.

Many remained after Connerly’s speech to discuss affirmative action further.

Aileen Yeung ’14, resident of the Cardinal Conservatives, was excited when she learned of Connerly’s interest in the University.

“Ward Connerly actually contacted me through the American Civil Rights Institute,” Young wrote in an e-mail to The Argus. “He said that he wanted the opportunity to speak to us. It’s such an honor.”

Connerly said that he was happy with the turnout and the discussion on Wednesday.

“I’ve visited many colleges to talk about affirmative action, including Harvard,” Connerly said. “This event at Wesleyan has been the best interaction with students I’ve ever had.”