A letter from Donald Matthews, a philosophy and religion temporary faculty member, highlighted some telling remarks from his classroom experience - including one comment tactlessly insinuating that black men rape white women.

These comments indicate that baseless racist beliefs still are perpetuated. They indicate, above all, that racism cannot simply be ignored.

But the real problem is what to do about it.

As Julian Bond noted in his speech Wednesday night, there is no non-racial solution to racial problems. Long-standing prejudices, the sort revealed in Matthews' classroom, cannot be eradicated simply because we have realized race makes no difference in judging someone's character or abilities.

The trouble is that some people still believe falsely that it does. Their carrying that belief requires that we actively discuss racial issues - not to divide society, but to note the artificial divisions already in place and to work toward eliminating them.

This requires tackling head-on the economic and social inequalities that still linger. This requires confronting explicitly the idea that race, in itself, is the cause of social problems.

To the university's credit, it has made considerable strides in recruiting urban and minority students whose futures otherwise likely would not include a university education.

CMU hosts strong diversity speakers, such as Bond, and its education requirements include studies in U.S. racial relations. Last fall, the A-Senate approved a cultural competency recognition for students' degrees.

Nevertheless, as Matthews' letter shows, these programs and speakers are not always effective. And for some students, they scream paternalism: 'Who is the university to tell me I don't understand diversity?'

No diversity program will be a comprehensive success; it's doubtful the university could ever eliminate bigotry from its campus.

The best the university can do is encourage intelligent discussion on race.

This is facilitated by exposure to other cultures, through courses and discourse with students from different backgrounds.

Recruiting a diverse student body does not entail bringing in unqualified students for the sake of race; it requires extending opportunities to gifted students who, for socioeconomic reasons, do not have as easy of access to higher education.

Especially important is emphasizing the number of horrid, unfounded inferences that underlie racist thinking - in particular, the blind leap that claims race, in itself, causes social problems. Racism is emblematic of poor reasoning.

Some alternative methods, such as Trout Hall in spring 2007 barring students from residential services to 'illustrate' the injustice of Jim Crow laws, fall flat on two counts: The comparisons are trifling, and they are insulting to students as thinkers - they scream paternalism in the worst way. Most people, in fact, are not closet racists.

The university should continue its diversity efforts, with an eye toward refining its approach to treat students as adults and to debunking, rather than just dismissing, racist thought.

Race remains a thorny issue. The solution is neither to label most people closet racists nor to ignore it altogether.

It requires serious discussion on how race still is a problem and what we can do about it.