Spring Break
The Daily OrangeParticipants say tunnel fails to teach diversity
By Colin Dabkowski
Posted: 1/26/04, 2:50 AM EST Section: Feature
A group of about 15 graduate students, professors and intrigued undergraduates assembled in the lobby outside the Schine Student Center Underground on Thursday night. Most had little idea what to expect - only that there would be a tunnel, and it would be oppressive.
At 7 p.m., the doors opened, a short introduction was read, and the group shuffled into the dimly lit space, normally a venue for dance parties and talent shows.
To the right was a black curtain neatly graffitied with an array of slurs rivaling any crack alley in Brooklyn. "Tunnel of Oppression" volunteers left no insult unwritten, lining the curtain with words like dyke, spic, homo, nigger, gook, fag, pussy and ghetto. The group walked slowly by, paying little attention to the wall once they got the idea that it was offensive.
The opposite wall was smattered with statistics and information about rape, hate crimes and other forms of oppression, which most of the group glossed over like a Physics 105 reading assignment.
"This is bullshit," said a student in a greek-lettered sweat shirt as the group walked between the slurs and the stats. "What is all this gay stuff over here? I can't take it," he said, prompting quizzical looks from group members. The student was planted in the group to give tunnel-goers the idea that oppression is all around them - and that it belongs to organizations.
Once the group had its fill of oppressive language, they were herded into the women's bathroom, where the walls were covered with magazine cutouts of waif-like supermodels with airbrushed cleavage. A thin woman with long brown hair stood in front of the mirror, talking to her friend on a cell phone. "You know how Britney has her hair?" she said, her voice inflected with cluelessness. "How does she get that stomach? I'm so freaking fat!" Everyone seemed to know what was coming. Some even rolled their eyes.
She turned around and threw up in the toilet, flushed it and frowned at herself in the mirror.
At 7 p.m., the doors opened, a short introduction was read, and the group shuffled into the dimly lit space, normally a venue for dance parties and talent shows.
To the right was a black curtain neatly graffitied with an array of slurs rivaling any crack alley in Brooklyn. "Tunnel of Oppression" volunteers left no insult unwritten, lining the curtain with words like dyke, spic, homo, nigger, gook, fag, pussy and ghetto. The group walked slowly by, paying little attention to the wall once they got the idea that it was offensive.
The opposite wall was smattered with statistics and information about rape, hate crimes and other forms of oppression, which most of the group glossed over like a Physics 105 reading assignment.
"This is bullshit," said a student in a greek-lettered sweat shirt as the group walked between the slurs and the stats. "What is all this gay stuff over here? I can't take it," he said, prompting quizzical looks from group members. The student was planted in the group to give tunnel-goers the idea that oppression is all around them - and that it belongs to organizations.
Once the group had its fill of oppressive language, they were herded into the women's bathroom, where the walls were covered with magazine cutouts of waif-like supermodels with airbrushed cleavage. A thin woman with long brown hair stood in front of the mirror, talking to her friend on a cell phone. "You know how Britney has her hair?" she said, her voice inflected with cluelessness. "How does she get that stomach? I'm so freaking fat!" Everyone seemed to know what was coming. Some even rolled their eyes.
She turned around and threw up in the toilet, flushed it and frowned at herself in the mirror.
