2008 Woodie Awards
Tunnel of Oppression focuses on more classes to increase participation
Roger Sauerhaft
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Campus
As Miami University's Office of Residence Life prepares to put on the annual event Tunnel of Oppression for its third year in Oxford, classes are being targeted as part of an effort to bolster participation.
The intentions of the social justice committee, a committee within the Office of Residence Life, were discussed Monday at university senate.
"We would like students to be more exposed to different issues that are going on in the world," said Jennifer Rybski of the social justice committee. "From the committee's standpoint we want to get more students involved, we want faculty to be involved, we would love for faculty to bring their classes or encourage their students to attend, or even if they themselves wanted to put on a program we're also encouraging that too."
Rybski, who is also a first-year adviser in Thomson Hall, hopes teachers will look to incorporate Tunnel of Oppression into their classes where they see it fit and pertinent to their subjects. She also points to the timing of the event-4-9 p.m. Feb. 26 and 27 in the basement of Havighurst Hall-as reason to believe teachers will not have to take time away from their typical classes. Furthermore, she said few students have late classes on consecutive nights, as the event covers a two-day period, so scheduling conflicts are lessened for this
voluntary event.
"You can't really force somebody into going to learn about social justice issues if they're not genuinely interested in it," Rybski said when discussing if the program would become a requirement for classes in
the future.
According to Rybski, Tunnel of Oppression consists of creating scenes to portray issues through different kinds of multimedia. Typical scenes tend to be skits ranging from three to five minutes long.
"They're kind of just little vignettes of what's going on," Rybski said.
Rybski said the vignettes could include an informational session or a story, either spoken or silent. Issues she alludes to that the program includes are religious topics, personal issues, gender identity and "all of the 'isms'" such sexism and ageism.
The intentions of the social justice committee, a committee within the Office of Residence Life, were discussed Monday at university senate.
"We would like students to be more exposed to different issues that are going on in the world," said Jennifer Rybski of the social justice committee. "From the committee's standpoint we want to get more students involved, we want faculty to be involved, we would love for faculty to bring their classes or encourage their students to attend, or even if they themselves wanted to put on a program we're also encouraging that too."
Rybski, who is also a first-year adviser in Thomson Hall, hopes teachers will look to incorporate Tunnel of Oppression into their classes where they see it fit and pertinent to their subjects. She also points to the timing of the event-4-9 p.m. Feb. 26 and 27 in the basement of Havighurst Hall-as reason to believe teachers will not have to take time away from their typical classes. Furthermore, she said few students have late classes on consecutive nights, as the event covers a two-day period, so scheduling conflicts are lessened for this
voluntary event.
"You can't really force somebody into going to learn about social justice issues if they're not genuinely interested in it," Rybski said when discussing if the program would become a requirement for classes in
the future.
According to Rybski, Tunnel of Oppression consists of creating scenes to portray issues through different kinds of multimedia. Typical scenes tend to be skits ranging from three to five minutes long.
"They're kind of just little vignettes of what's going on," Rybski said.
Rybski said the vignettes could include an informational session or a story, either spoken or silent. Issues she alludes to that the program includes are religious topics, personal issues, gender identity and "all of the 'isms'" such sexism and ageism.
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