What the heck is a Tunnel of Oppression?
Last year students received "hope" rocks in the heterosexism room (Photo: Jaclyn De Vries)
Students are invited to face different forms of oppression this Friday at Lee's third annual Tunnel of Oppression.
Identical tours begin in the Rose Lecture Hall at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., with free dinner served between at 7:30.
After only three years, the event has grown from a collaboration of four residence halls, to an event led by multiple student organizations and increased faculty and staff involvement.
This year Say Something, Lee's mental health awareness group, will join Residential Life and Housing and the Student Leadership Committee in leading the event.
While those with mental illness may seem strange to be included in a list of people who face oppression, Kellie Lauzon, president of Say Something, said there is a stigma attached to mental health.
'There are many people who have mental health issues that are treated differently' Lauzon said. 'There are also many people whose problems are minimized because society believes that they are normal.'
Like much of the oppression displayed on campus, Lauzon said she hears people joke about 'being depressed' or 'being bipolar today,' without realizing how it affects people who face those issues every day.
At the event, students will be split into small groups and led by faculty and student leaders through rooms where they will experience what it's like to encounter oppression in subtle and obvious ways.
Each room focuses on a different form of oppression including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ethnocentrism and mental health stigma.
Kelsey Braley, resident director of Cross Tharp, has had a hand in the event since its first year. She said students who attend should expect to be challenged.
'While this can feel really heavy at times, you can also expect to experience hope and support,' Braley said.
The night ends with a conversation with your small group, a time for students to share stories and be heard, to identify injustices and make positive changes Braley said.
'Whether you live in a dorm or elsewhere, your life is and will always be inextricably linked with the lives of others, and we all ' students, staff, faculty, community members ' have to learn how to see ourselves as responsible for the way our world and campus is,' Braley said. '[The} tunnel is a big step in that direction.'
