DUKE VS. HICKS LESS BOISTEROUS.

Byline: Steven J. Gorman Daily News Staff Writer

Culminating weeks of political rancor at Cal State Northridge, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and civil rights activist Joe Hicks squared off Wednesday in a debate that painted vastly different pictures of affirmative action.

The two men also offered sharply contrasting images of American race relations at a time when affirmative action programs have come under fire in California and some 20 other states.

Although students billed the debate as an exchange of views on the general subject of affirmative action, it became caught up in the politics surrounding Proposition 209, the Nov. 5 California ballot initiative to end racial and gender preferences in public employment, higher education and contracting.

The central theme of Duke's message was that ``affirmative action is discrimination'' against whites ``better qualified'' than minorities who benefit from racial preferences in hiring and college admissions.

``If the exercise of discrimination against minorities is wrong, then the exercise of discrimination against whites is wrong,'' Duke said. ``Are you supposed to go in and punish young men for the supposed sins of their fathers and grandfathers?''

He went on to issue a warning addressed ``to white people in this country'' that affirmative action policies, unless dismantled, would ultimately relegate whites to that status of ``second-class citizens in our country.''

``You'll be outnumbered, you'll be outvoted, and the discrimination you see today will be nothing compared to that of the future,'' Duke said to boos and hisses. ``You have a right to have your children live in a nation that reflects the values of their forefathers, not become more like Mexico, or Haiti, or Zimbabwe. . . . Because that's where we're headed.''

Hicks seemed almost amused by some of Duke's comments, and at one point turned to Duke and said, ``I should let you talk because the more you talk, David, the more you indicate where your sensibilities are.''

In building his case, Hicks argued that affirmative action programs are necessary to maintain equality of opportunity in a society where ``race remains a factor.''

``Discrimination still remains a part of too many lives,'' Hicks said. ``We cannot practice the politics of denial and say it isn't so.''

He said legitimate cases of ``reverse discrimination'' against whites are rare, and cited statistics showing that whites on average earn higher incomes, are more likely to have earned a degree in higher education and are more likely to have health insurance than African-Americans.

Hicks accused opponents of affirmative action of preying on ``the legitimate economic fears of white men'' in what he called the ``politics of scapegoating.''

Security was tight for the 75-minute debate, held in a 770-seat auditorium of the Northridge Center of the Student Union complex and broadcast live by closed-circuit TV to an overflow audience in the Performing Arts Center next door.

The debate briefly was disrupted early in the program by a heckler who ran down the aisle yelling at Duke. The man was quickly hustled out the door by campus police officers. Toward the end of the debate, banging on the walls of the debate hall from outside could be heard.

Since the invitation to Duke, backers of the ``California Civil Rights Initiative'' promptly distanced themselves from Duke and his extremist views.

To further that effort, Ward Connerly, CCRI campaign chairman and a University of California regent, held a news conference before the debate began at the Van Nuys Recreation Center where he spoke out against Duke's appearance.

``This is an important moment for us to ensure that the voters of this state know that an event which is about to occur in about a little over an hour, roughly 40 days before California's election, the opposition to Proposition 209 will be playing host to a racist in a California debate about affirmative action,'' Connerly told a group of about 40 CCRI supporters and campaign organizers.

``I'm angry that this important opportunity has been wasted by the students and leaders at CSU, Northridge,'' he said. ``Let's be honest, David Duke has no place in California. Duke is anti-immigration, anti-black, anti-Hispanic, anti-Jewish, anti-diversity, anti-interracial marriage, anti-integration, anti- everything Prop. 209 stands for,'' Connerly said.

Duke's appearance also evoked anger and disappointment from the Jewish community.

In a prepared statement, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said CSUN's Associated Students legitimized a ``professional racist and bigot'' by including Duke in the debate.

Meanwhile in Sacramento, Gov. Pete Wilson attacked student leaders for allowing Duke to participate in the debate.

``The Student Senate clearly is not very representative of the student body,'' Wilson said during a brief news conference outside his office.

The Associated Students, the campus group representing CSUN's student body, paid Duke and Hicks each $4,000 for their appearance.

``I cannot find words to express my contempt for this sick racist,'' Wilson said of Duke. ``Perhaps he's more to be pitied than censored. But it will take a better Christian than I am. He does not represent 209,'' he said.

But student body President Vladimir Cerna, who cast the tie-breaking vote in the Student Senate on Sept. 3 to bring Duke to the campus, said he was pleased with the debate.

``I think it was a success,'' Cerna said. ``They both have very good points. If people came here in the middle, not knowing which way to go on affirmative action, I think they had some help.''

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PHOTO Joe Hicks, left, shakes hands with David Duke at theconclusion of the debate.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News