Low attendance didn't stop Justicia Sin Fronteras from going on with its event in the Southwest Film Center on Wednesday.
Twelve people showed up.
"Even though there are very little people here, it is important to at least reach one person," said Vanessa Galindo, group president.
The 12 audience members dwindled to five by the time the panel opened up the discussion to audience experiences.
Chris Harrell, vice president of the group, made one of the audiences' few comments. He said as a white person, he was bothered by affirmative action, because if he was at a job interview with another candidate of color, he felt the other candidate would get the position because of affirmative action.
Student panelist Jennifer Garay responded by saying affirmative action is not about color, but about what's behind the color.
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A minority in the same situation doesn't have the same education, socioeconomic status or the same opportunities as the white person, Garay said.
She said she experienced the issues affirmative action brings up when she attended Columbia University in New York.
Garay said students would say she was only at Columbia because of affirmative action. When she got a high GPA, students would say, "Oh I didn't know they did affirmative action with grades."
She said affirmative action puts a lot of pressure on minorities.
"I started to question myself," she said. "I put more pressure on myself to prove them wrong."
But she said she wanted to make it clear she was not against affirmative action. She is 100 percent for it, she said.
"Even though affirmative action has negative repercussions, even though we put an enormous amount of pressure on minorities, I still think it's needed," Garay said.
The panel included Garay, UNM Vice President for Student Affairs Eliseo Torres and Ver¢nica MÇndez-Cruz, director of El Centro de la Raza.
"I'm very much an advocate of affirmative action," MÇndez-Cruz said. "I am a recipient of affirmative action. I truly believe that I wouldn't be here today had it not been for the support affirmative action has provided me."
The University's student population is 33 percent Hispanic and Latino, 5 percent American Indian and 2 percent African-American, which adds up to a 40 percent minority population.
Torres said the University is ahead of other universities but not where it should be, because the numbers do not reflect the state's minority population.
Student Catherine Jaramillo filmed a documentary on affirmative action from interviews with community members defining affirmative action and their experiences with it.
She said the University actively embraces affirmative action. During the making of her film, she said she spoke with people from the state who were against affirmative action. She said she found it very strange they could be against it and live in this state.
Jaramillo said the reason few people showed up was because of the time of the event and because it wasn't publicized well enough.
The border series continues today at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Southwest Film Center.
