Wright State students were given the chance to see oppression through the eyes of those affected by it last week in the Tunnel of Oppression.
Counseling and Wellness Services teamed up with Residence Life & Housing to hold the event in the Student Union.
The annual event was designed to bring Wright State students’ attention to acts of oppression and prejudice that continue to occur in America today, including ongoing racism, sexism, homophobia and other types of discrimination.
The Wright State website said the following about the event:
“Viewers proceed at their own pace as they walk through the interactive experience, which features video clips, audio segments, newspaper articles, posters and live actors.”
Assistant Director of Residence Life & Housing Daniel Schraeder helped to organize the tunnel.
“We worked very closely with counseling and wellness,” said Schraeder. “They’re the ones who helped develop the tunnel. We do hope to show students and help them get a better idea of modern day oppression going on and the history of it.”
Some students visited the event to reaffirm ideals that they already held.
“I keep up with the news and this kind of reinforced what I already knew,” said sophomore Dan Morrison.
Sophomore Katie Wegner had similar thoughts.
“It was very informative and I do think students should visit events like this to get an idea of what’s going on in America and hopefully make it better.”
Freshman Ellen Sherup said that the event was “eye opening.”
“I found it very surreal…and it gave me the chills. It's crazy how even things you don't think about are going on [and] how people are affected by it,” said Sherup.
Many students who had previously attended the event returned to see if the event had evolved.
“I went through it once before as a freshman for a UVC class and so I wanted to come back to see if anything had changed,” said senior Jennifer Benson. “It did cover a few more subjects and it was still informative.”
“This definitely opened my eyes up a lot more about what’s going on,” said sophomore Vanessa Bradley. “I didn’t think it was going to cover as wide a subject as it did. I didn’t even know there was as much going on today. I had no idea there was discrimination towards people with disabilities.”
