Cultural Discovery Days promote diversity on Campus
Published Oct. 23, 2007
This past week marked the fifth annual MU Cultural Discovery Days, featuring a series of events sponsored by a number of student organizations seeking to promote diversity on campus. MU students given taste of discrimination Stereotypes, insults and general political incorrectness hit the fan in the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center on Tuesday. But not to worry, it was just for play in The Game of Life. A small group of participants joined Diversity Peer Educators from the Multicultural Center for the role-playing game that puts a spin on living in someone else's shoes. A diverse group of participants assumed temporary identities as members of another gender and minority group. But since they weren't told what their new identity was, participants were left to guess as they visited stations simulating the bank, the department of housing, the department of education and even jail, only to be greeted by stereotypes and roadblocks. Freshman Kamaria Gboro needed a bachelor's degree but was met with hostility when she applied for one at the department of education. Gboro was left to guess that she was playing a Hispanic woman when junior Laura Convery gave her a few broadly stereotypical hints about her identity, asking Gboro if she owned a lowrider. Gboro nodded yes. "Did you steal it?" Convery said. After the game, a discussion of stereotypes and diversity followed, and participants were told more about the character they had been playing all along. Some had become discouraged when they tried when move up in society during the game — by getting an education, a job or a house — because discrimination made it difficult. "You see that there's no way that you can establish yourself in society, so you get frustrated," senior Charlie Calvin said. Although the simulation employed extreme and often exaggerated examples of discrimination based on gender, race and sexual orientation — leading to some humorous moments that had participants laughing — some participants were taken aback. "I guess just because it doesn't happen to me doesn't mean it doesn't happen," junior Lance Pierce said. Love Your Body Day empowers female students The MU Women's Center, along with the Feminist Student Union, sponsored Love Your Body Day on Wednesday to provide women with empowering messages about body image and information about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The goal for the event was to reinforce positive body image and to introduce information on healthy eating and adequate exercise, Women's Center programming co-coordinator Jenny Dills said. The event was supposed to be held at Speaker's Circle but had to be relocated to the Brady Commons lobby and the Student Recreation Complex lobby due to rain. "There were different tables set up across campus where people could answer trivia questions and win prizes," Dills said. Volunteers handed out zines and buttons that carried empowering messages and statistics about eating disorders, and offered ways to combat negative body image. "We hope that participants will learn to love and respect their bodies as they are and realize that media-projected images are generally unrealistic and unattainable by most," said Kim Webb, a health educator at the Student Health Center. Freshman Erin Stevenson said she agreed that women are held to an unattainable standard. "I think girls and women need to be realistic about their body type. Body image should be more about health than appearance," she said. Freshman Sarah Walts also emphasized the importance of women not just judging based upon looks. "Women need to value themselves enough as people to see that they are more than their body," Walts said. Abad raises awareness about sweatshop workers Carmencita "Chie" Abad entered the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center on Wednesday night intending to speak on behalf of sweatshop workers throughout the world. The Feminist Student Union was one of the organizations that sponsored the event. Women's Center Director of Student Life Mary Struble said she was pleased that Abad spoke about her victories instead of her defeats. Following a brief introduction from Struble, about 60 students, staff and community members listened intently to Abad's message. Abad spent six years as a garment worker on the Pacific island of Saipan, a territory of the United States. At that time, workers were being imported throughout the world. Eighty percent of those workers were women. Abad now lives in the U.S. and is working for Global Exchange, an international non-profit organization working to raise awareness about sweatshops. In September 2002, she played an active role in settling a lawsuit against 26 major U.S. retailers to improve the conditions of sweatshops in Saipan. "My story is a hopeful one," Abad said. With the help of students and consumers throughout the world, Abad said she hopes to inform the public on ways to abolish sweatshop abuse. In 1999, the United Students Against Sweatshops organization was established. Abad explained that students can take action by talking with administrators about establishing a chapter at MU. The more people who join the organization, the more sweatshop awareness will be spread, she said. "Investigate the conditions of the producing of college goods," Abad said. She said she hoped students will make sure that each article of clothing from the bookstore is not produced by sweatshop workers in poor countries. Abad encouraged listeners to "think locally, act locally." Feminist Student Union member Dustin Neff explained that the organization brought Abad to speak because there has been barely any consciousness raised about sweatshops on campus. "Everyone is spread out about it," Neff said. "Hopefully with Abad's message, students and faculty will want to become involved in this cause." Women's Center shines light on the beats The Women's Center presented the documentary "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," on Friday in an effort to spotlight trends in rap music that show prejudice toward women. The film explored the messages and rhetoric fed to women by some rap music, but it did so with the critical perspective of director Byron Hurt, a hip-hop fan and an advocate of gender violence prevention. The film was part of the Center's Friday Film Series, which seeks to "promote awareness for different problems that both women and men face." The problems include body image issues, volunteer Solida Wise said. Shown in the Women's Center lounge, Friday's film gave the audience a chance to reflect on issues concerning women when it comes to some prevalent trends of rap music. "The language that's thrown around — bitches, hoes, stuff like that — is awful as it is, but the fact that these men make so much money off this hate-speech sends a powerful message," audience member Marina Thomas said. "It's good to see a man admit that this is wrong."