TECHNICIAN
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Tunnel of Oppression aims to empower Interactive experience brings diversity awareness to campus.
University celebrates diversity Through a series of events this week, N.C. State shows supports for all types of people.
Sarah Dashow Staff Writer
As part of Diversity Education Week, the University is bringing the national Tunnel of Oppression project to campus for the second time. The project is presented by Multicultural Student Affairs and the Office for Institutional Equity & Diversity with contributions from the GLBT and Women’s centers. It aims to bring diversity awareness and education in a more direct and in-your-face way. “The premise of it is to bring awareness to different types of oppression. We are only able to bring certain types of oppression because we have limited space, but depending on where you go, it’s a different experience,” Abraham Dones, assistant director for the Office of Hispanic Student Affairs, said. According to Dones, last year the tunnel decoration was very general, but they plan to make it more personal this year. “There are some real challenges on our campus, and we don’t always have the opportunity to engage in conversation about those challenges... whether it’s sexual violence, homophobic, racist, discriminatory behavior, harassment... I think that we don’t take the opportunity to really sit down and talk about some of the experiences that some of us have had to endure and go through,” Dones said. In particular, the GLBT Center’s space, based on heterosexism, is going to be mainly in response to the vandalism in Harrelson Hall Oct.
insidetechnician
Anna Riley Staff Writer
LEANNA OSISEK/TECHNICIAN
Actors in the Tunnel of Oppression depict scenes of suffering regarding race, disabilities and various injustices on Monday. Audiences moved from room to room to learn about different instances of past and present forms of oppression, ending in an interactive space where viewers could write down thoughts on their experience. The Tunnel of Oppression will continue throughout today and tomorrow in Carmichael Recreation Center’s Play Zone.
“This year the GLBT Center actually did a video of what people experienced on campus ... so it really brought their personal experience versus just a skit,” Rebekah Jaeger, program assistant for the GLBT Center, said. The exhibit will move from room to
room, and each segment will contain a skit or a video that expresses a type of oppression. The rooms this year include topics such as body image, disabilities, racism and homophobia. “I think it helps students who may not see diversity in their everyday.
They walk through campus kind of blindly and they see something happen in the tunnel, maybe not, but they don’t really understand what’s going on. So it shows right in their face,”
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Ram Roast promotes school spirit Students enjoyed a variety of student performances and events at the annual event before UNC game. Elise Heglar News Editor
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viewpoint features classifieds sports
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The annual Ram Roast event was held last night to inspire school spirit before tonight’s basketball game. The Ram Roast became a University tradition after students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill painted the Free Expression Tunnel blue in 2008. The event was initially created to guard the tunnel from being painted but has grown into a more interactive event over the years. “If I walk through my campus and see the entire tunnel painted Carolina blue, it’s sickening to me. It almost feels like my campus has been violated,” Mitch Abbott, senior in engineering and chair of the Traditions Committee, said. Abbott has been helping plan this event since early January. The activities available were very diverse; there were performances by the Ladies in Red, the University pep band and the cheerleaders, to name a few. A University-wide scavenger hunt, called the N.C. State Amazing Race, was also part of the event. Abbott said he hopes students enjoyed all of the spoils of the work put into the event. “I spent an entire year planning this, so I definitely hope the events stick out to students,” Abbott said. Coach Mark Gottfried also made an appearance at the event, stopping by right before free pizza was handed out to those who were attending. The event is co-sponsored by Marco’s Pizza. “It’s nice that we get a sponsorship from Marco’s Pizza. We get to help them get their name out and hand out food to students at the same time,” Jim Gresham, coordi-
BRETT MORRIS/TECHNICIAN
Senior in aerospace engineering Chad Griffin snags a slice of pizza at the Ram Roast in front of the Free Expression Tunnel Monday night. Griffin attended the festivity because he plays saxophone in the band.
nator for Student Programs in Alumni Relations, said. Planning the event, while an exciting experience, can also present some challenges. According to Gresham, the biggest problem faced by those in charge of the event was finding student groups who were interested in performing at the pep rally section of the evening. “The really big challenge is finding student groups for the pep rally,” Gresham said. Gresham said he did not know why
it was difficult to find groups to perform, but cited the night-time commitment and the cold weather as possible reasons for disinterest. One of the main reasons this event is important, according to Abbott, is that it helps instill school spirit before one of the biggest games of the year. “It is really important to me to make sure that N.C. State stays a two sport school and sup
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This week, a collection of University organizations are coming together to celebrate differences among students and cultures with Diversity Education Week. With University-wide support, the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is pairing with the Department of Multicultural Affairs and the GLBT Center, among others, to raise awareness about prominent issues related to diversity and oppression. Beginning last Friday and continuing to this Friday, the University and participating organizations are hosting a variety of events including the Tunnel of Oppression and several presentations on diversity. Over the weekend, the University’s GLBT Center held a GLBT & ALLY student summit that provided information about GLBT issues, education and awareness on college campuses. Additionally, Arts N.C. State sponsored a four-day showing of Rent, a musical that highlights the lives of eight artists who struggle with diversity and oppression issues. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs is sponsoring the Tunnel of Oppression in Carmichael Recreation Center. Yulisa Lin, assistant director for University Housing, said the Tunnel of Oppression is a good diversity education medium because it allows students to see the different forms of oppression and discrimination that plague the world. “It provides students in our community a chance to observe what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. Many people experience different forms of oppression every day,” Lin said. Last night, director and documentary filmmaker Lee Mun Wah used the Campus Cinema to show his film, ‘If These Halls Could Talk,’ a debut look at long-time oppression and diversity issues that have been present on college campuses. According to Mun Wah, “We cannot wait until tomorrow for some charismatic leader to appear who will bring us all together. We each must take a stand and personally participate in this important journey of confronting our fears and begin a conversation not only with those we love but also with those we have been taught to fear.” Also, on Tuesday Mun Wah will host ‘Unlearning Racism in Schools,’ a faculty and staff training session, ‘Only a World Away,’ a discussion on diversity, and ‘How to have a Dialogue Across Cultures,’ a student dialogue group, at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3 p.m., respectively. The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is sponsoring the Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action program on Wednesday. The program is designed to address the realities of disparate treatment and discrimination, and improve management styles when dealing with equal employment opportunity issues. Later this week diversity education continues with programs like ‘Title IX: Gender Equity in Higher Education, Gay Marriage: Is this the Civil Rights Issue for Today’s College Students,’ and ‘Beyond the
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