Students can experience and learn about different types of oppression during the Residence Hall Association's Diversity Week.
"Being in the middle of Indiana, we don't want to realize what goes on in the world," RHA Executive Board President Stacy Ploskonka said. "Diversity Week opens the eyes of students to different types of oppression."
Three main events are planned. The Tunnel of Oppression will be in the Botsford/Swinford Residence Hall Lounge at 8 p.m. today and Tuesday. A multicultural dinner will be Wednesday night at LaFollette Residence Hall Complex Buffet where students can try foods from different parts of the world. The Wall of Oppression will be torn down Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on the University Green.
The Tunnel of Oppression gives students a chance to experience oppressive situations. Participants will put on skits demonstrating situations of minority oppression.
"I think the Tunnel of Oppression will have the largest impact on students," RHA Activities Committee Advisor Vicka Bell-Robinson said. "I think that people will get an opportunity to see first hand how intolerance can affect someone's ability to feel comfortable on campus."
The dinner Wednesday night will include Chinese, Italian and Mexican foods. Students can use their meal card or pay $6.50, Activities Committee member Stephanie Shelton said. Students can complete a trivia quiz and submit it into a drawing for restaurant gift certificates.
Sheets representing the Wall of Oppression will hang outside the LaFollette Buffet and in Noyer Complex all week. Students can write oppressive and discriminatory sayings on them. They will be ripped and cut apart Thursday night, representing the removal of those terms from the community, Bell-Robinson said.
"I think it's going to bring us all together and make us smarter about how the world works," RHA Executive Vice President Brian Collins said.
The Activities Committee began planning Diversity Week after returning from Winter Break.
"I'm confident in their abilities," Bell-Robinson said. "A lot of these students are first year students, and they are going by what they believe it to be in the past and are putting their own twist to it."
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