Student leaders should be congratulated for trying to address ethnic stereotypes.

Last Monday a group of student leaders of various enthic backrounds got together to determine some of the roots of racism.

Answers ranged from ignorance and fear to a low tolerance of other cultures. The reason behind using the terms included a matter of convenience, promoting inferiority and hurting others.

A hearty handshake also should go to the 80 students in attendance.

But this is just the start. Defining a problem is not solving it. Students shouldn’t have walked away from the panel with just a few definitions; they should have been able to turn the information into actions.

Panels are great for getting students to begin their thoughts churning, but those thoughts are only useful if they are acted upon.

Even if the action is as simple as telling someone else about the panel, that at least shows some effort into ridding one of the “roots” of racism – ignorance.

Too often people walk away from a panel claiming they have learned something, without applying that knowledge or even sharing it.

It’s time for people to realize something learned isn’t necessarily something gained if the information becomes dormant.