The Tunnel of Oppression
Sponsored by the Department of Residence Life
February 1-3, 2010
3:00pm - 8:00pm
Ensminger Pavillion
Purpose
Designed to raise awareness and promote diversity education, the Tunnel of Oppression is an interactive learning experience for all members of our WSU community. The event takes groups on a tour through a series of rooms where different kinds of injustice and other scenarios are acted out and/or depicted. After going through the Tunnel, participants are brought into a room for discussion and small group de-brief. Attendees should anticipate spending about an hour at the Tunnel as there is a lot of information to take in and reflect on.
The purpose of the Tunnel is to give people firsthand knowledge of some of the discrimination that occurs today. The Tunnel of Oppression is intended to be eye-opening and consciousness building. The rationale is that individuals are unable to fully understand oppression and discrimination until they have experienced it first-hand. The experience should stimulate thoughts, feelings, and emotions around the issues and images presented. History:
The purpose of the Tunnel is to give people firsthand knowledge of some of the discrimination that occurs today. The Tunnel of Oppression is intended to be eye-opening and consciousness building. The rationale is that individuals are unable to fully understand oppression and discrimination until they have experienced it first-hand. The experience should stimulate thoughts, feelings, and emotions around the issues and images presented.
History
The first WSU Tunnel of Oppression was in Spring 2004. Hosted in the basement of Wilmer-Davis Residence Hall, approximately 225 WSU community members attended over a two day span. In 2005 and 2006 it was hosted in Beasley Coliseum and in 2006 we hosted over 400 people in three nights.
The 2007 and 2008 Tunnels welcomed over 600 attendees to Stephenson South and McCroskey hall, respectively. In 2009, it returned to McCroskey hall and again, 600 members of our WSU community were exposed to the thought provoking materials.
The Tunnel of Oppression is nationally used as an educational tool. It reportedly originated in 1993 at Western Illinois University, but now exists in a variety of formats, exploring an even wider variety of topics related to oppression. Our hope is that through learning facts about systems of oppression and emotionally experiencing it in a safer environment, we will encourage and empower individuals to make choices that reduce the power theses systems have on all of us, regardless of our backgrounds.
Please contact us if you have questions:
John Nugent, Callie Boyle,
and Kari Fass
“It was valuable for me to learn about the amount of people affected by oppression and read some of their stories.”
“A very touching thing to have - The Tunnel of Oppression makes a strong point.”
“I realized I sometimes stereotype and I want to stop.”
“Getting to experience the realism of each situation was extremely powerful.”
“I saw things through other peoples' eyes.”
Tunnel of Oppression Resources
Learning Disability Information/Education:
http://www.ldhope.com/articles/statistics.htmlhttp://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/familyresources/l/blld.htm
http://www.about-disability.com/disability-education/
http://www.geocities.com/aneecp/distypes.htm
Depression/Other Mental Disability Information:
http://www.small-business-ideas.org/getting-life-insurance-with-depression.shtml
http://www.upliftprogram.com/depression_stats.html#statistics
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/children.asp
http://www.tolerance.org/
Body Image
http://www.edreferral.com/
http://www.anred.com/stats.html
http://www.usna.edu/MDC/Clinical/eating%20disorders/statistics.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01862/Temp4/celebbmi.html
http://www.bodyshapingtips.com
http://listverse.com/health/top-10-diet-pills/
http://calorielab.com/news/2006/08/25/diet-supplement-pills-ineffective-or-dangerous/
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2006/11/02/diet_pill_double_up.php
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/10110/women/diet_pills_tremendous_temptation_huge_frauds.html
http://www.storyofstuff.org/ video
Domestic Violence
http://endabuse.org/resources/facts/
http://www.childadvocates.org/
http://www.counsel.wsu.edu/
http://community.palouse.net/atvp/
http://www.abanet.org/domviol/statistics.html
http://www.ncadv.org/
http://www.ndvh.org/
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm
Gender/Gender Roles
http://www.who.int/topics/gender/en/
http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/gender/gender22a.htm
GLBTA
http://glbta.umn.edu/programming/
http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=-2
http://www.american.edu/ocl/glbta/documents/Fall%2008%20Newslettera.pdf
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2251236571
http://www.thebody.com/index/whatis/gaymen.html
http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dchs/dv/dvman_crisistb.shtml
http://www.gaycity.org/index.php?page=resources
http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/ER/search.jsp?the_key=Gay+men&the_field=sb&the_lang=a
WSU Resources
http://glbta.wsu.edu/glbta.aspx
http://www.thecenter.wsu.edu/default.asp?PageID=2503
http://www.cub.wsu.edu/community_giesorc.aspx